System: Change
Launch date: January 23, 2024
Developer: Thought Manufacturing facility / Compile Coronary heart
Writer: Thought Manufacturing facility
Hyperdimension Neptunia is a collection that has been round for a very long time now, and very similar to the online game trade that it shamelessly parodies, it’s continuously altering, incorporating new concepts and gameplay mechanics into its premise to remain related. This has not at all times been for the higher, nonetheless. Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, the most recent entry within the franchise to make its strategy to the Change, now options a number of the collection’ greatest writing so far, however is let down fairly considerably in different areas, making it a troublesome promote for any however these already invested within the collection.
Sisters VS Sisters takes place on the earth 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 largely peaceable one, with the 4 Goddesses and their allies capable of 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 keep 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 houses. Individuals have turned their consideration in direction of the rPhone, a brand new machine that’s their solely technique of communication in these harmful instances, and religion within the Goddesses has declined consequently, dramatically weakening them and stopping them from countering the menace. 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 may be rather a lot to soak up through the sport’s opening hours, and the narrative of Sisters VS Sisters doesn’t actually choose 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, generally complicated begin, I discovered the writing within the sport to be its biggest energy: with the regular rise of cell gaming pushing conventional console gaming into what many understand to be irrelevancy, and within the aftermath of a worldwide 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 number of the story beats and ideas explored listed here are nonetheless extremely related.
This makes the satire and parodies of extra contentious subjects such because the use (or misuse) of AI and telephone and social media habit really feel notably potent, with the comedic facet stopping it from changing into a extra edgy or preachy social commentary. The Neptunia collection has at all times juxtaposed a extra conventional high-stakes RPG narrative with light-hearted slice-of-life silliness, and Sisters VS Sisters is not any exception to this, balancing the 2 completely to ship a singular storytelling expertise that in some way 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 multiple 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 equivalent to Nintendo and Sony, you even have characters representing collection equivalent to Higurashi, or firms equivalent to Compile Coronary heart) however even if you happen to fail to see the extra delicate or obscure references, it’s unlikely that you just’ll fail to notice the extra blatant ones of extra in style collection, which the characters will simply casually drop in the midst of dialog with out lacking a beat. Though there may be 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 present followers of the Neptunia collection there are quite a few references to prior video games that make Sisters VS Sisters really feel extra like a sequel to earlier titles equivalent 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 if you happen to’ve performed any of the prior titles.
Nearly all of the sport’s dialogue is accompanied by delightfully animated and extremely expressive character portraits, and though a number of it exterior of the primary story is unfortunately voiceless, each English and Japanese language choices can be found. The Neptunia collection dub is considered one of my private favorites, so this was an inclusion I used to be glad to see make its approach again into this sport, having been absent from the collection since 2018’s Tremendous Neptunia RPG. Extra voice performing would have been welcome, nonetheless, and it’s disappointing that it’s used so sparingly: though it has a number of extra interactive gameplay for the participant to get entangled 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 taking part in if you happen to select to interact with its facet content material and plenty of optionally available cutscenes – one thing that you’ll in all probability need to do if you happen to’re selecting to choose this up, as that is the place the sport is at its greatest 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 can progressively confide in you as you progress the story. That is sadly not fairly as thrilling, and if you happen to’ve ever performed a Neptunia title earlier than you’ll be seeing a number of re-used map property and enemy designs from earlier entries, accompanied by the identical acquainted music. It has change into a collection staple at this level, however even when that is your first sport these components add a monotony to proceedings that makes exploration really feel extra like a tedious break between the extra fascinating story cutscenes quite than a break from them, which I discovered to be notably grating at instances given the character of the sport’s fight. Maps are both giant empty areas or a collection 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 often a linear one, and it by no means feels fairly as if it reaches its full potential, as the chances to parody well-known areas from franchises are infinite and, sadly, fully 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 celebration members and assault your enemy with a sequence 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 if you happen to want to sustain your assaults. It’s also possible to execute particular strikes however, as you would possibly anticipate, your capability to do that is proscribed additional by their elevated energy. Nevertheless, you may freely swap between your celebration members at any time utilizing the shoulder buttons, and the final concept is to do that as a lot as attainable to maintain your combo going and forestall 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 mechanically execute an assault to proceed the combo, at which level you may proceed to hammer away on the finish with that character, combo chain intact, till the time comes to change once more.
When you get accustomed to the final rhythm of fight and study when to change between your celebration members it may be fairly satisfying, however I discovered that the novelty of this rapidly wore off when each single encounter performed out in precisely the identical approach: with my characters stunlocking enemies and even bosses with an infinite string of combo assaults. Sisters VS Sisters lacks any form of problem or steadiness, and though initially your alternative of combo assaults might be fairly restricted, you’ll acquire ranges and new strikes at a brisk tempo even if you happen to keep away from most optionally available enemy encounters, making it very straightforward to inadvertently powerlevel your approach proper previous enemies within the space you’re exploring. The shortage of have to grind is certainly a degree on this sport’s favor, however sadly it doesn’t make the fight any extra fulfilling.
It’s value noting that the sport’s efficiency takes a painful hit on the Change 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 needs 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 change between celebration members to maintain your combo going. The stiff and infrequently 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 celebration 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 may increasingly not trouble newcomers to the collection fairly as a lot, but when this isn’t your first jaunt into Gamindustri it could really feel a bit incomplete once you’re pressured to bench one of many predominant forged members. You possibly can assign every of your celebration members a associate to supply passive advantages to varied capabilities, which can enhance as their Lily rank (the sport’s affection system) improves, however the low problem makes this technique really feel extra like a novelty than an important tactical alternative. Equally the Disc Growth system, which lets you create disc equipment to equip your celebration members with for added advantages in battle, supplies some added depth to fight, however feels fully pointless as a result of lack of problem.
There are additionally 4 several types of quest which you could undertake while exploring: Bounties, Merchandise Assortment, Merchandise Retrieval, and NPC Rescue. You’ll obtain these periodically by means of the Chirper, and most of those might be finished naturally once you discover. Doing these quests will enhance your Share Ratio, which can have an effect on the ending you obtain. I discovered it a bit disappointing that the shares have been amalgamated into one pool quite than having shares for particular person Goddesses and distinctive endings as has been the case in previous collection titles, however this does make it considerably simpler to set off particular endings and prevents repetitive grinding to lift the shares of a particular Goddess, so this method 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 approach, however for long-time followers of the franchise, this is likely to be value maintaining in thoughts if you happen to have been hoping for a extra customized character ending.
The Verdict
Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters boasts a number of the strongest writing the collection has seen but with the proper steadiness between a critical narrative and the quirky slice-of-life humor that the collection is understood for. However its allure sadly does nothing to make its fight any extra bearable, which unpleasantly break up the dialogue, and the efficiency on Change makes taking part in by means of it tedious at the perfect of instances. Followers of the collection who’re keen to miss these technical points will discover a sport stuffed with that acquainted Neptunia allure, however this can be a robust promote if you happen to’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.