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After two years or so of remakes and spinoffs, a title in the main Neptunia series is about to arrive early next year on PlayStation 4. While she’s sleeping, Neptune has a nightmare about the world seemingly being brought to its end by four giant mysterious figures. After she awakes to find everything is fine, Neptune and Nepgear end up in a different dimension, where it seems her nightmare has become a reality. If you’ve played any of the Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth titles then Megadimension Neptunia VII will look and feel very similar to what you’ve already played already.
The biggest immediate difference is the improvement visually. Neptunia VII is now running at 60fps and everything looks very crisp and clean. The cutscenes now use the character’s 3D models instead of the moving portraits that previous games used which is an improvement I was glad to see. The overworld map screen has been revamped as well, as selecting your location isn’t as simple as selecting where you want to go and immediately head there. The dots on the map representing locations are still there but instead of just picking where you want to go, there’s now a map of paths between each location. As you’re travelling on these paths between locations, Neptune might find an item or end up in a random battle. The battle system seemed the same for the most part but in my experience Neptunia games tend to take a while for the battle system to properly expand. I’m still left with similar complaints to other games in the series, such as showing me the EXE Drive used for special attacks and other related skills when I can’t use them or even able to access the character’s HDD forms yet.
The humour and obscure gaming references the series is known for is still there in spades, not a moment seemed to pass by without a joke or some fourth wall breaking reference. Eventually, while Neptune and Nepgear are exploring the new dimension they’ve ended up in, they meet Uzume who represents Sega’s ill fated Dreamcast console. Uzume’s Hard Drive Divinity form transforms her into Orange Heart. Like the other CPU Goddesses, Uzume’s personality changes when she transforms into Orange Heart. She normally comes off as a rather blunt person but when she’s Orange Heart, she’s much more friendly and bubbly.
If you’re into Neptunia games then it seems there’s going to be plenty here to keep you entertained, but if you’ve already tried them then then isn’t going to do much to persuade you otherwise.
