Now well and truly into its second decade of entertaining audiences, Compile Heart’s Hyperdimension Neptunia continues to deliver gaming experiences that answer the question: “What would society look like if it were based on the console wars?“. Since the release of Megadimension Neptunia VII in 2015, the series has focused more on spin-off works exploring different genres from the turn-based RPG mechanics of the past. These ranged from the Warriors-like 4 Goddesses Online, to the side-scrolling RPG Super Neptunia RPG. Now in 2023, publisher Idea Factory International has delivered a new action RPG work titled Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters on the PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. While still considered a spin-off, it is the first game in more than half a decade that feels like a fully-fledged flagship chapter in the franchise and presents what made the original releases great alongside its own unique systems. But has the heyday of the Neptunia franchise now passed? Read on to find out.
Once again taking place in the world of Gamindustri, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters involves a new conundrum that puts the harmony of the four nations – Planeptune, LaStation, LeanBox, and Lowee at risk. Something befalls the PC Continent, and while the CPU Goddesses go off to investigate, their little sisters – the CPU Goddess Candidates – go off on their own quest close to Planeptune. But the encounter with a mysterious entity in an equally mysterious abandoned laboratory sees the quartet put into a deep sleep, only to be awoken two years later. With Neptune assumed dead and the other three goddesses occupied with their nation’s problems, it falls to the CPU Goddesses to do their part to tackle the rising threat of Trendi Outbreaks and the new rPhone.
The story is comparable to other mainline releases in the Neptunia series, which never reach the serious peaks of emotion their synopses sometimes indicate but are fun romps that are all about not-so-subtle references to games, gaming consoles and the gaming industry as a whole, surrounding characters which fans have grown attached to that across them all cover pretty much every common character trope. For the first time since Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk.2, it was a welcome change to have the emphasis put on Nepgear, Uni, Rom and Ram – who more often than not get shunted as secondary characters or omitted entirely from some of the spin-off games. The comradery, cuteness and closeness of the four of them make for a more light-hearted and entertaining experience. Of course, those who enjoy the romps of the more mature Goddesses will not be left wanting the entire game, with them incrementally added to the narrative, and to an extent taking on slightly more supportive roles which would oft be held by the candidates.
Despite still being a mostly casual romp, the overarching narrative exceeded my expectations, especially for a spin-off game which have typically been of mixed quality. Without sharing anything in the way of spoilers, the twists did hit their marks, the newly introduced story-important characters such as Maho and Anri contribute well to the tale, and the new ‘Makers’ characters Higurashi and Shanghai Alice were entertaining love letters to the works of 07th Expansion / Ryukishi07 and Touhou Project / Team Shanghai Alice respectively. Even if there is nothing award-worthy in the tale presented, again, it is all about the enjoyable experience.
Being the first instalment in the Neptunia franchise released for the PlayStation 5, I was interested to see if they would revolutionise the visual quality comparable to Compile Heart’s substantial jump in quality between the PS3 and PS4 eras. Overall, elements that typically worked in the series’ favour such as character designs, CG artwork, Live2D character models and environmental backgrounds all looked pretty. However, while the layout of their dungeons are more creative than before and not just linear areas from start to finish, they still feel like they were output from a random dungeon generator. To an extent, they could be considered a little worse, as they are usually dry, generic-looking areas that have increased in scale with zero landmarks to treat the eyes. This style was charming enough with their first forays into 3D RPG’s such as Trinity Universe and Hyperdimension Neptunia, but I feel Compile Heart could do a lot, lot more in this area.
As with other games in the series, customisation is a big deal in Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters. Although the ‘Deluxe Edition’ swimsuit collection is nothing to write home about, far from the designs of the earlier games, there is a lot of accessories/headwear you can obtain through the game, to make each character stand out to your tastes. It is something you can easily pass over if you are not concerned about it, but nevertheless a welcome inclusion.
For the first time since 2018s Super Neptunia RPG, Idea Factory International opted to commission an English dub for this game, rather than choosing to go with the Japanese audio. Given how long the series had run for, this was a wise decision, and it was good to see that after all this time, a majority of the game’s voice cast returned. The English dub was a mixed bag in my opinion, not so much around casting, but I felt that audio levels were off, some one-liners were often overused way too much or that an extra pass on the spoken line would have been welcome. One such case was with one of my favourite characters in the series, Rom, with some of her lines being a little bit too shrill/high pitched to my ears – rather than her typically subdued and shyer tone.
Keeping with my comments that Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters feels more like a mainline game in the series than a spin-off, I would argue Compile Heart could have gone with introducing a typical turn-based RPG mechanic to the game. In some aspects it feels like this was originally the plan, transitioning over to what was delivered mid-way through development. However, the experience is perfectly serviceable as an action RPG, even if you can find better games in the genre on the market. Although it would make sense for battles to feature four characters at once time, given there are four CPU Goddess Candidates, instead players will battle with a party of three characters – performing a pre-defined combo route of attacks, alongside a range of skills that are periodically unlocked as each character levels up. Each character has a maximum number of AP (Action Points) to perform attacks, which are recovered as time passes, and typically you would switch between your three on-field characters to take advantage of their strengths, special abilities and extra supply of AP they didn’t use while the AI was in control. With such low amounts of AP in the early chapters, the system can take a while to warm up to, as characters eventually become able to perform more than one combo at a time. Within this system, additional Neptunia-themed features are made available, including the ability to transform into each character’s Goddess Form, perform dedicated EXE Drive attacks and more to help turn the tide of battle. To make up for only having three characters on the field at once, the Lily System also turns, allowing each standby character to give their linked main character a boost. All in all, a no-frills action RPG combat system which is decently implemented but forgettable, complemented by a few special quirks to set it apart from other games in the genre.
For those who played the very first release of Hyperdimension Neptunia on the PlayStation 3, do you recall the disc system, where you could couple special disc attacks with artwork from your hard drive? Well… sadly it is not back in the same form , but they are having another crack with the disc system. As you complete quests, you unlock different scouts, who can be used alongside a chosen game genre and collected items to craft unique game discs. Each character can equip up to four discs, providing a range of buffs and other perks based on the combination used, Sure they are just another “accessory” for each character, but it is a fun, themed way to integrate them into the game rather than just adding another equipable item type to the in-game store, and encourages completion of the minor quests which can easily be overlooked.
As you progress through Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters and into its end game, other opportunities to test your skills become available. This includes the limitless dungeon “Neptral Tower” for those who want to explore through even more generic-looking dungeons or the usual dedicated arena mode where you can both tackle some of the game’s tougher battle challenges and hone your skills in a training mode. Most importantly, albeit not gameplay related, is a new Photo Mode which gives players a lot of freedom to use the character models and environments to take their desired in-game snap. Although not offering AAA-game levels of flexibility in terms of photographic techniques, the flexibility of making your desired seen more than makes up for it. If you are like me and into capturing in-game photographs, you may find yourself spending much longer than expected plugging away at it for the desired image.
For fans of the series, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters in my opinion is the developers heading back to the series’ roots, being less experimental / tacking a different genre to the game, and instead capturing what made the game enjoyable in the first place – video game references, tropes and memes, bundled together with a low-stakes entertaining narrative and a smorgasbord of cuteness and charm. But just heading back to the games’ roots is not enough, and for the series to continue to be enjoyable, I believe Compile Heart needs to tackle some of the series’ weakest elements – such as dungeon designs – to stand out in the future among the growing number of titles in the market also featuring trope-filled and quirky experiences. Here’s hoping they move forward with another mainline instalment, as there is much more they can work with after such a long time gap.
A digital PlayStation 5 review code for Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters was provided by Idea Factory International for the purpose of this review.
Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is now available to purchase on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and digital-only on the PC via Steam.
