Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom has to be one of my most anticipated games this year. 2013's Wrath of the White Witch, after all, was – in many ways - a dream JRPG. Sure, it had its fair share of familiar systems and grindy combat, but its themes were deep, its characters charismatic and its presentation stunning. What else would you expect from a title with Studio Ghibli-produced 2D cutscenes, a Joe Hisaishi score and a beautiful, cel-shaded visual aesthetic?

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1) You’ll Be a King Dethroned

The boy king. A descendent of King Tom?

2) You’ll be an Ex-President in a Strange Land

"I advise that we run away as quickly as possible."

3) You’ll Also be a Sky Pirate

Tani has spent her life with sky pirates, so she's not to be trifled with.

4) There Are Plenty of Nods to the Original Game...

Underneath Ding Dong Dell, saying goodbye to Aranella.

5) …But This Isn’t Necessarily the Same Ni No Kuni

The entrance to Ding Dong Dell.

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6) Revenant Kingdom is Focused More on Ni No Kuni

Our heroes survey the beginning of a new kingdom.

Fast forward to 2017 and I’ve just been given my first proper look at the sequel – Revenant Kingdom – and it did not disappoint. The game is coming from the same core creative team, and the gameplay demo I saw confirmed that Level-5 hasn’t been afraid to make sweeping changes, as hinted at in the most recent trailer . I also found out a bunch of cool new details about the characters and world. Let’s run through 12 things you need to know about Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom The last trailer featured the three core player controlled characters prominently, but we now know a whole lot more about each of them.The story is centred around the young prince of Ding Dong Dell, Evan, whose father has died, leaving him as king. “Although kind-hearted and clever,” said one of the slides in Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino’s presentation, “people harbour doubts about this shy young man’s ability to rule. In the end, a palace coup takes place and Evan is banished from his home.” His mother figure Aranella – who is seen fighting during the coup in the first trailer – is also (I assume... but maybe not) fatally injured.At the same time, a looming darkness is rising across the land of Ni No Kuni, so Evan’s story will be about him “becoming a mighty king,” but not necessarily in Ding Dong Dell - more on that shortly – and ridding the world of a great evil.The other character we’ve already been formally introduced to is Roland, who is found feeling a little confused as to why he’s in Ni No Kuni in the first trailer from late 2015 , and no wonder, really. Not only is he from Ichi No Kuni, aka “our” world – and Oliver’s from Wrath of the White Witch – but he’s undergone a bit of a transformation. Roland, you see, was “the President of a major country in his world at only 48 years old, [and] enjoyed great popularity,” but when he “mysteriously finds himself in this world, he has become a 20 year old youth.” Quite why, I’m not sure. Couldn’t he just be a bad-ass 48 year old?In any case, he soon becomes Evan’s closest companion and confidante. According to developer Level-5 “he’s smart and has a strong sense of justice. In fact, he tends to tie himself into knots thinking about what the right course of action is.” Roland’s role, then, is as the wise advisor that can help Evan be a good leader.The other member of the triumvirate – who featured prominently in both trailers but wasn’t named – is Tani, and as you can tell based on what she’s wearing (below), she’s a sky pirate. Not only that, but she’s “an orphan who Batu, the leader of a fearsome band of sky pirates, has taken care of since she was a baby. Brought up by a man’s man like Batu, Tani has naturally turned out to be quite a tomboy, though deep down she is more feminine than she lets on.”I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll find out a lot more about Tani’s parentage over the course of the game, particularly given all the crazy reveals in Wrath of the White Witch.Any fans of Wrath of the White Witch who have seen the two trailers to date would have picked up on heaps of references to the original game. The most obvious is that Evan is king of Ding Dong Dell, which is the first city Oliver visits in the previous game. There’s also his full name – Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum. Sound familiar? In the PS3 title Ding Dong Dell had a cat king called King Tom Tildrum XIV. Ding Dong Dell was also a city where cats and humans lived side by side, so Evan’s cat ears – and tail – are a hint that he’s part human, part cat… and perhaps the cat part is his royal lineage.The trailers have also briefly shown Ding Dong Well – which is underneath Ding Dong Dell and was home to King Tom’s nemesis, the leader of the mice, King Hickory Dock. Does the latter have any link to the mice – led by minister Mausinger - that stage the coup? There seem to be a lot of links and references, as you’d expect from a game set in the same world. Or is it?According to Level-5 boss Akihiro Hino, the land of Ni No Kuni in Revenant Kingdom isn’t necessarily the same as the one from Wrath of the White Witch. “We don’t spell this out in the story itself, but you could consider Ni No Kuni as a parallel world,” he told me. “The story seems to take place in the same locations as the first game, only hundreds of years later, but while the names are the same, it’s open to interpretation whether Ding Dong Dell and Ni No Kuni are the same places or not.” When asked about specific characters, like King Tom and King Hickory Dock he reiterated “I won’t reveal whether or not Ni No Kuni 2 is directly related to the first game, but you could imagine that there is some connection.”The primary reason for this seems to be to ensure the game is accessible. “Sometimes with RPGs it can be daunting to play the sequel if you haven’t played the previous game,” he said. “To prevent that problem, we have created a new world with new characters. By avoiding having a direct connection with the first game, it should be more accessible to new players. That principal influenced the way we shaped the game.”This approach has also freed the team up to make sweeping changes to the world and game systems. And one of those changes may well be less of a focus on the idea that souls are linked between Ni No Kuni and Ichi No Kuni. This was one of the central storytelling devices in the original, but it was also a rather convenient one that the team may want to move away from. That would also tie into something else they mentioned…The focus of Revenant Kingdom is the land of Ni No Kuni, as opposed to being primarily focused on the fantasy world but with frequent trips back to Oliver's world, as was the case in the PS3 game. Given Roland is from that world, it seems likely we'll travel there at some point, but that's less central an element this time around.To help ensure we don't miss jumping back and forth, Level-5 is introducing a kingdom building element, which will likely be pretty meaty. No specifics have been given yet, but it’s interesting that it appears that Evan isn’t fighting to reclaim Ding Dong Dell (although I assume he eventually will) but establishing his own kingdom elsewhere.