Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Review
Release Date: August 10th, 2023 (JP), May 14th, 2024 (NA/EU - PS5, NSW), October 29th, 2024 (Xbox - WW)
Developer: Idea Factory, Compile Heart
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Price: $49.99 (Standard), $69.99 (Deluxe)
The first time I played the Neptunia Rebirth games on the PS Vita, I immediately fell in love. Being one of my introductory experiences on the platform outside of Danganronpa and Atelier Ayesha, it introduced me to a cast of characters I would quickly fall in love with thanks to their quirky sense of humor and satire of the game industry as a whole, representing terminology, platforms, and more in a metaphorical way that surprisingly worked well for all it tried to accomplish. Though the games began on PlayStation 3, it's been now nearly a decade and a half of Neptunia games that have come in all shapes and sizes, including crossovers with the likes of SEGA and XSEED/Marvelous to help expand the popularity of the brand even further. Unfortunately, Neptunia admittedly has always been hit or miss when it comes to quality, and while some do a tremendous job at pushing the series forward (Cyberdimension Neptunia; Super Neptunia RPG), others can feel like bland rehashes. One thing has remained consistent, however, and that is the frequency of the series release schedules. Some years can see multiple Neptunia games be made available, and unfortunately Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution finds itself as a victim of quantity over quality as Compile Heart once again finds itself too comfortable in its ways and not learning from prior annoyances that have plagued the series since the beginning (such as abhorrently long and seemingly never-ending tutorial pages).
For fans that have been around a while, one thing will be immediately clear not only upon starting the game but even simply looking at the box art is that the series regulars like Nepgear, Blanc, Noire, and Vert take a backseat as this takes place in an alternate universe with a more adult Neptune who happens to run Gamindustri. Instead, newcomers Pippih, Jagaa, and Reedio will helm the frontlines with Nep-Nep as they rebuild an ailing industry, building a brand new game company from the ground up and turning it into a huge thriving corporation to help flourish the economy once more. Pre-existing characters will serve as more of a support, so even though they're behind the scenes, they can still be utilized to a degree in combat, though it's nothing major.
The story, as usual, is fairly lighthearted, even with seemingly heavy topics sprinkled throughout, but it's always served as a sort of dressing to the game's progression. Neptunia to me, as ridiculous as it may sound, sometimes feel like a slice-of-life game, though obviously it's highly fictitious. Even so, it feels this way as a lot of the time it's just a bunch of friends and comrades bantering with each other, usually in a humorous way, even when a big bad villain shows up with malicious intent. Neptune in particular is so laid back she's always cracking a joke here and there, and cute antics happen along the way. Despite all this, however, it usually can work to its favor as it can balance all the events well and keeps Neptunia titles chilled out, but unfortunately an excess of it, like in Game Maker R:Evolution, can feel so nonsensical and pointless that you're even wondering what you're even playing through. It's particularly egregious in this case that you may find yourself skipping a good portion of the dialogue just to get a move on, and then realizing that you lost nothing of value and things are more or less where they were before both narratively and functionally.
At the very least, the combat has been improved here, but even that isn't without its faults. While this entry has opted for a more real-time action-based RPG aspect of its combat (still within a specified arena-like circle), the animations and rigging all feel like they're still in their prototype stages. Jankiness of character movement, lack of responsiveness from inputs, an excessive repetition of voice lines, and stiff attacks just give the overall presentation a very poor feel, and I couldn't help but find myself consistently annoyed (almost offended) at how low effort everything was, prompting me to cut a lot of my play sessions short. It's particularly upsetting because this is a title being sold for $49.99 and $69.99 for its Standard and Deluxe editions respectively, yet barely feels like it's out of Early Access for, at most, $17.99.
Another big issue for players is that Neptunia has a history of being half a visual novel. There are no fancy cutscenes or in-game sequences that spend more than ten seconds of time putting on a spectacle, and this isn't usually advertised. This has mostly been fine for me as I'm also someone who loves visual novels (and I rather liked Producing Perfection because of it), but this is another department that has come a long way in the genre and has become increasingly sophisticated over time with the advancement of engines and technology, yet Game Maker R:Evolution really just feels like another Vita follow-up that's stuck in the past (and with a $15,000 budget). This will likely deter a lot of people once they buy the game, especially if it's their first Neptunia title, and it's just another aspect that saddens me, ESPECIALLY since this is also only the second of the Neptunia series to make its way to Xbox after Sisters VS Sisters.
When you're not running around in the more dungeon-based areas, you'll find yourself managing and rebuilding part of Gamindustri, implementing a new studio and company to run and generate revenue to help with the economy. This serves as a light city-builder area—something more akin to management games like Game Dev Story or Two Point Hospital — where you can choose how you'll want to distribute funds, set up your land, delegate tasks, and the sort to help Gamindustri further flourish. It works fine for what it is, but Neptunia's problem has always been an excessive use of terminology to represent things that they wouldn't normally represent, but given its more satirical aspect, it can be forgiven here to a degree. Using Company Points earned through a variety of methods while playing, you can use them to unlock new creators, genres, and just about anything else used throughout development of the new company as this will basically serve as your main currency. This is further enhanced by building on your Nodes, which will help expand a skill tree focused on the development and expansions of your plaza.
Quality is my biggest issue with Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution. Sometimes a Neptunia game comes out that you're extremely excited for, and other times it can just feel so lifeless and banal that it makes you wonder how the series has even made it this far to begin with. I truly believe with the right resources, time, and effort, Neptunia can once again become a staple in JRPG appreciation, but it seems like after 2018 there has been a bit of confusion on what to do with the series moving forward. While I appreciate flexibility while also respecting your roots, I do think reinvention is good once things become stagnant, which I believe to be the case now more than ever with Neptunia's latest release. The characters are immensely popular and charismatic, and they're the reason why I keep coming back time and time again, but it also seems like time and time again that I'm being duped into believing that I would receive something actually worthwhile of my time while so many other titles are competing for that space, especially during the holiday season.
Neptunia has come a long way and yet simultaneously it feels like it's made no progress at all. It's possible that over time my tastes have changed and maybe it's just me as the consumer looking for something more in 2024, but that's also hard to say when I relatively enjoyed Neptunia x Senran Kagura and Sisters VS Sisters which both released 1-2 years prior. Game Maker R:Evolution outside of its battle system really doesn't feel much different than my experiences on Vita and PS3 so many years ago, and I believe that's where the disappointment truly lies as it's just more of the same with little to no appreciation for the property. It's a rush job aimed to keep the characters relevant, but unfortunately it taints the brand by doing so, and I'd be extremely saddened to see the depreciation of Nep-Nep and co. happen over time. With RPGs and the sort becoming more sophisticated and elaborate - anime-influenced or not - Neptunia is unfortunately finding itself going towards the bottom of the barrel in terms of offerings within the genre, and it needs to do something quick in order to regain its footing. The Atelier series - another franchise I cherish deeply - found itself going down this route up until roughly Lulua and Ryza, where it not only reinvented how the games were played but brought in entire new audiences to revitalize the franchise, and that was also reflected by the investments seen on screen where they no longer seemed like upscaled PlayStation 2 titles.
PROS:
The new characters Pippih, Jagaa, and Reedio are enjoyable and fit the cast and world of Neptunia very well
The switch to a more real-time action-based combat versus its historically slow and needlessly janky turn-based arena approach is much appreciated
CONS:
Tutorials once again run throughout hours among hours of playtime, feeling never-ending, with needlessly long explanations for things that can be explained in one or two sentences max, or even without bothering as they come with the core design of a genre.
While this was okay during earlier entries on handheld consoles, there is a massive discrepancy in distribution when it comes to gameplay and story content. It feels like two different games fused together with no blend, meaning you're either getting a dungeon-based RPG or a visual novel with reused renders and uninspired dialogue (you'll find yourself safely skipping a lot of it and realizing you lost absolutely no traction on the story, because it's nonsensical).
Janky combat and flat visuals make it feel extremely low budget, yet is somehow sold at full MSRP, with a more expensive Deluxe Edition to boot.
Our deepest gratitude to Idea Factory for providing us a copy of Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution for the purposes of this review.