Video Game Review: Neptunia Virtual Stars

Third-Person Run-and-Gun/Hack-and-Slash

Developer: Compile Heart

Publisher: Idea Factory

PlayStation 4

It’s hard to believe sometimes that the Neptunia franchise is just a little less than eleven years old, in part due to how Compile Heart has made no fewer than fifteen distinct entries in the series in that decade timespan (to say nothing of remakes and re-releases.) They all revolve, in some way or another, around four goddesses who are essentially personifications of video game consoles having weird, reference-filled adventures. Neptunia Virtual Stars is the latest of these games to be brought west and the latest to feature a third-person action gameplay style rather than the turn-based combat that the series started with.

In many ways, the personality of Virtual Stars remains largely unchanged from previous entries. The characters are as static-yet-charming as ever and find themselves involved in stopping yet another villain hellbent on world destruction and/or domination whose schemes feel largely secondary to the humor elements at play. This isn’t really a bad thing in this case, since I don’t think anyone playing a Neptunia game is expecting a deeply thematic narrative so much as cute girls having slapstick adventures together with a healthy dose of homoeroticism. In those terms this is another fun title, and I actually quite enjoyed a few of the jabs at recent trends in nerd culture. The charm of the series isn’t for everyone, but you probably already know whether you’re the sort of person who can smile at wry fourth-wall-breaking humor and put up with some unfortunate fanservice.

The main gimmick of this title is that it’s all about VTubers, with six of the main cast being fictional VTubers created for the game itself and otherwise being filled to the brim with cameos from real ones. I only recognized some of the ones associated with Hololive, as I’m not big on VTubers, but your experience will likely differ depending on your level of familiarity. I will say, however, that the localization for this entry feels less involved than others. The audio for Virtual Stars is Japanese-only, and while I understand this from a logistical standpoint what with all the guest appearances, I couldn’t help but feel with some of the jokes – especially running gags – that something was being lost in translation. There was nothing utterly nonsensical or incoherent, I understood what was going on, but there was just something ever so slightly off as compared to previous titles.

The gameplay for Virtual Stars is much more of a mixed bag. The player’s party consists of protagonist Neptune and the other three goddesses as well as four VTubers, who control differently from the goddesses. The goddesses have a run-and-gun style of gameplay whereas the VTubers have a more standard hack-and-slash control scheme that’s a little more up close and personal. The combat sections are almost good, but there are a few key areas with problems that bring them down to just being passable. Firstly, there’s too many moving parts to keep track of, to the point that the number of systems continuously being introduced made things feel bloated and confusing. Mobs sometimes respawn in the same places with seemingly no rhyme or reason and many of the enemy types are just plain annoying to fight due to a combination of bizarre hitboxes and extremely fast projectiles, the result of which is that gameplay feels highly repetitive even to a greater degree than other Neptunia games have at their grindiest. In addition, the control scheme and hitboxes for shooting aren’t the best, and using the goddesses can take a while to get used to at first. The game is still easy enough that getting through even the most annoying encounters isn’t that bad, but it’s no fun to have your attacks interrupted five times in a row because you have missiles coming at you from every direction constantly.

There’s some other gameplay elements beyond just the combat, but they feel very much like extras. A hub area slowly introduces a card collecting gacha system and extremely bare-bones rhythm minigame which can also be used to save video clips to make items. They’re fine, but if you don’t want to get super deep into them it won’t make the game impossible to beat or anything.

The audiovisual design is decent enough, for the most part. The graphics are simplistic but still attractive, with bright colors and designs that aren’t over-cluttered. If nothing else, the game is nice to look at. The sound design could’ve used a bit more finessing, as there were a few specific sound effects that would occasionally be way louder than anything else to the point of being unpleasant to hear. Additionally, Neptune and the other goddesses constantly say voice lines while using their attacks, and while that’s not the worst design choice in a game it gets annoying because they trigger constantly given that three out of the four use rapid-fire guns. I was able to largely tune it out after a bit, but everyone once in a while it’d start driving me crazy again.

Despite these flaws, the game isn’t terrible. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it as a starting point to someone who wanted to get into the series, but the Neptunia franchise is one that feels like it’s mostly just been for returning fans since about the third or fourth game. In a way, I can respect that. There may not be much to draw a newcomer into the series, and sometimes they lack polish, but there is still something enjoyable there. Even if you’re like me and consider this series something of a guilty pleasure, Virtual Stars should make a decent addition to your collection.