[Review] Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters

System: Swap
Launch date: January 23, 2024
Developer: Concept Manufacturing unit / Compile Coronary heart
Writer: Concept Manufacturing unit

Hyperdimension Neptunia is a sequence that has been round for a very long time now, and very similar to the online game business that it shamelessly parodies, it’s continuously altering, incorporating new concepts and gameplay mechanics into its premise to remain related. This has not all the time been for the higher, nevertheless. Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, the newest entry within the franchise to make its technique to the Swap, now options a few of the sequence’ finest writing so far, however is let down fairly considerably in different areas, making it a tricky promote for any however these already invested within the sequence.

Sisters VS Sisters takes place on the planet of Gamindustri, a world composed of landmasses dominated over by Goddesses which are impressed by the console builders of our personal world. Regardless of the anticipated friction between the varied nations the world is a principally peaceable one, with the 4 Goddesses and their allies in a position to current a united entrance towards the forces that threaten them. On this installment, after waking from a pressured two-year lengthy sleep, their youthful sisters, the Goddess Candidates, discover that Gamindustri will not be the place that they bear in mind it to be. The land is now being threatened by the Trendi Phenomenon, which ends up in fierce monsters attacking and stopping residents from leaving their properties. Folks have turned their consideration in direction of the rPhone, a brand new system that’s their solely technique of communication in these harmful instances, and religion within the Goddesses has declined in consequence, dramatically weakening them and stopping them from countering the risk. It’s as much as Nepgear and her fellow candidates to find the thriller behind these circumstances and restore the land to its pure order.

For these unfamiliar with the franchise there’s quite a bit to soak up in the course of the recreation’s opening hours, and the narrative of Sisters VS Sisters doesn’t actually decide up till a number of hours into the sport, taking the time to undergo what’s going to really feel like a number of unconnected occasions earlier than issues start to return collectively. However regardless of this gradual, typically complicated begin, I discovered the writing within the recreation to be its best energy: with the regular rise of cellular gaming pushing conventional console gaming into what many understand to be irrelevancy, and within the aftermath of a world pandemic, Sisters VS Sisters presents a setting that’s instantly relatable, and regardless of the sport being initially launched within the west over a yr in the past a whole lot of the story beats and ideas explored listed below are nonetheless extremely related.

This makes the satire and parodies of extra contentious subjects such because the use (or misuse) of AI and cellphone and social media dependancy really feel significantly potent, with the comedic side stopping it from turning into a extra edgy or preachy social commentary. The Neptunia sequence has all the time juxtaposed a extra conventional high-stakes RPG narrative with light-hearted slice-of-life silliness, and Sisters VS Sisters isn’t any exception to this, balancing the 2 completely to ship a novel storytelling expertise that one way or the other manages to deal with the extra critical subjects with the sensitivity they deserve while concurrently giving them a ridiculous spin that may inevitably put a smile in your face; I discovered myself chuckling on a couple of event on the references that I picked up on throughout my playthrough.

Your mileage with the sport’s story and forged as an entire will fluctuate closely relying upon your information of anime and online game tradition, as these are the constructing blocks of Gamindustri and all the main characters that inhabit it (exterior of the Goddesses and their sisters representing console builders comparable to Nintendo and Sony, you even have characters representing sequence comparable to Higurashi, or firms comparable to Compile Coronary heart) however even in the event you miss out on the extra refined or obscure references, it’s unlikely that you simply’ll fail to notice the extra blatant ones of extra standard sequence, which the characters will simply casually drop in the midst of dialog with out lacking a beat. Though there’s little in the way in which of character development and improvement over the course of the story, every character has an already well-defined persona that makes their interactions with each other really feel distinct, and for current followers of the Neptunia sequence there are quite a few references to prior video games that make Sisters VS Sisters really feel extra like a sequel to earlier titles comparable to Megadimension Neptunia VII, versus the extra standalone nature of spinoffs like Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars. It’s a superb leaping on level for newcomers, and a robust continuation in the event you’ve performed any of the prior titles.

The vast majority of the sport’s dialogue is accompanied by delightfully animated and extremely expressive character portraits, and though a whole lot of it exterior of the principle story is unfortunately voiceless, each English and Japanese language choices can be found. The Neptunia sequence dub is certainly one of my private favorites, so this was an inclusion I used to be glad to see make its means again into this recreation, having been absent from the sequence since 2018’s Tremendous Neptunia RPG. Extra voice appearing would have been welcome, nevertheless, and it’s disappointing that it’s used so sparingly: though it has a whole lot of extra interactive gameplay for the participant to become involved with, Sisters VS Sisters most frequently presents itself as a kinetic visible novel, and also you’ll be spending extra time studying than you’ll enjoying in the event you select to interact with its facet content material and plenty of non-compulsory cutscenes – one thing that you’ll most likely wish to do in the event you’re selecting to select this up, as that is the place the sport is at its finest and takes full benefit of its distinctive setting.

Once you’re not watching the interaction between the forged in these visible novel segments, you’ll be exploring the varied areas of Gamindustri, which is able to step by step divulge heart’s contents to you as you progress the story. That is sadly not fairly as thrilling, and in the event you’ve ever performed a Neptunia title earlier than you’ll be seeing a whole lot of re-used map belongings and enemy designs from earlier entries, accompanied by the identical acquainted music. It has turn into a sequence staple at this level, however even when that is your first recreation these parts add a monotony to proceedings that makes exploration really feel extra like a tedious break between the extra fascinating story cutscenes reasonably than a break from them, which I discovered to be significantly grating at instances given the character of the sport’s fight. Maps are both massive empty areas or a sequence of twisting slim corridors, with little selection within the surroundings or the enemies you’ll encounter, with a handful of treasures, warp factors, and switches to open gates to spice issues up. The trail you’ll journey is normally a linear one, and it by no means feels fairly as if it reaches its full potential, as the probabilities to parody well-known areas from franchises are infinite and, sadly, utterly unexplored.

After all you’ll additionally encounter enemies on the map, and fight in Sisters VS Sisters performs out in real-time. You’ll enter battle with three occasion members and assault your enemy with a series of combo assaults, with every transfer costing AP that recharges throughout battle, however not in time so that you can management a single character indefinitely in the event you want to sustain your assaults. You may as well execute particular strikes however, as you would possibly count on, your potential to do that is restricted additional by their elevated energy. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to freely swap between your occasion members at any time utilizing the shoulder buttons, and the overall concept is to do that as a lot as doable to maintain your combo going and stop anybody character from being idle, with the opposite two being managed by a reasonably competent AI in your absence. Swapping in on the proper time will see your new character robotically execute an assault to proceed the combo, at which level you’ll be able to proceed to hammer away on the finish with that character, combo chain intact, till the time comes to modify once more.

When you get accustomed to the overall rhythm of fight and study when to modify between your occasion members it may be fairly satisfying, however I discovered that the novelty of this shortly wore off when each single encounter performed out in precisely the identical means: with my characters stunlocking enemies and even bosses with an infinite string of combo assaults. Sisters VS Sisters lacks any type of problem or steadiness, and though initially your alternative of combo assaults shall be fairly restricted, you’ll achieve ranges and new strikes at a brisk tempo even in the event you keep away from most non-compulsory enemy encounters, making it very simple to inadvertently powerlevel your means proper previous enemies within the space you’re exploring. The dearth of have to grind is certainly a degree on this recreation’s favor, however sadly it doesn’t make the fight any extra satisfying.

It’s price noting that the sport’s efficiency takes a painful hit on the Swap right here, with the sport struggling to maintain up with the motion on-screen. There’s a quick however noticeable pause switching between characters and executing strikes, making fight really feel extraordinarily sluggish no matter what number of enemies are on the display, and the low body price is kind of noticeable and ill-suited for what ought to be a fast-paced fight system that requires your full consideration to get probably the most out of on account of that want to modify between occasion members to maintain your combo going. The stiff and sometimes jerky motion of characters additionally meant that touchdown hits with short-range assaults was truly a problem at instances, leaving me hitting nothing however empty air.

The choice to limit your occasion to 3 characters additionally feels particularly limiting on this case, on condition that there are 4 CPU candidates and you’ll be unable to make use of all of them in fight at anybody time. This will not trouble newcomers to the sequence fairly as a lot, but when this isn’t your first jaunt into Gamindustri it might really feel a bit incomplete while you’re pressured to bench one of many foremost forged members. You’ll be able to assign every of your occasion members a associate to supply passive advantages to numerous capabilities, which is able to enhance as their Lily rank (the sport’s affection system) improves, however the low issue makes this technique really feel extra like a novelty than a vital tactical alternative. Equally the Disc Improvement system, which lets you create disc equipment to equip your occasion members with for extra advantages in battle, offers some added depth to fight, however feels fully pointless because of the lack of problem.

There are additionally 4 several types of quest you could undertake while exploring: Bounties, Merchandise Assortment, Merchandise Retrieval, and NPC Rescue. You’ll obtain these periodically via the Chirper, and most of those might be performed naturally while you discover. Doing these quests will enhance your Share Ratio, which is able to have an effect on the ending you obtain. I discovered it a bit disappointing that the shares had been amalgamated into one pool reasonably than having shares for particular person Goddesses and distinctive endings as has been the case in previous sequence titles, however this does make it considerably simpler to set off particular endings and prevents repetitive grinding to boost the shares of a selected Goddess, so this strategy isn’t fully with out its advantages. I discovered each the Regular and True endings to be satisfying conclusions to the story in their very own means, however for long-time followers of the franchise, this is perhaps price protecting in thoughts in the event you had been hoping for a extra customized character ending.

Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters boasts a few of the strongest writing the sequence has seen but with the proper steadiness between a critical narrative and the quirky slice-of-life humor that the sequence is thought for. However its appeal sadly does nothing to make its fight any extra bearable, which unpleasantly break up the dialogue, and the efficiency on Swap makes enjoying via it tedious at the perfect of instances. Followers of the sequence who’re keen to miss these technical points will discover a recreation full of that acquainted Neptunia appeal, however this can be a powerful promote in the event you’re in search of some participating gameplay between these prolonged cutscenes.

Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters copy supplied by the writer for the needs of this evaluation.