Neptunia reVerse

Compile Heart, and the Neptunia series in particular, have the kind of negative reputation that begs you to push through and find the treasure that keeps these games releasing a full decade later. Sadly, if there is a diamond in all this rough, it’s not to be found in Neptunia ReVerse. The repetitiveness of the core experience is unlikely to win over non-fans, and longtime fans will feel disappointed, if not insulted, by the lack of changes from Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, and PlayStation 5 exclusivity proves the final nail in the coffin for this remaster in search of an audience.

Neptunia ReVerse is a must-buy for anyone who has wanted to get into the long-running series, but didn't know where to start.

Neptunia ReVerse feels more of a test of how the PS5 hardware works for Idea Factory & Compile Heart rather than providing players with a new experience, and after ten years the game is starting to show its age. References to the bygone era of PS3 & Wii, cut scenes being given a spit and polish rather than recreated, and the issues with a sub-one second load between battles just gives the impression this is an aging port and not a modern day enhancement. The game is very self aware and the core game is still pretty fun to play albeit with repetitive sections and a little bit of a grind to cope with. Arrange Mode offers up a challenge and remixes the dungeons and items found within but overall Neptunia ReVerse suffers from typical “first game in the series-itis”; there’s a lot of good building blocks which have since been fleshed out and better implemented in the newer titles.

Neptunia ReVerse is a bad game. What few redeeming qualities it has, are completely overshadowed by the sheer weight and magnitude of its negatives. This is a bland, repetitive, and sometimes disturbing jaunt through a world that is not worth experiencing. Neptunia can ReVerse out of my PS5 and find sanctuary in the nearest bin.

For newcomers to the series, Neptunia ReVerse isn't a bad starting point. The story is breezy and the overall gameplay is good, even if you have to deal with uneven difficulty. For veterans, the new fishing minigame is cute, but Arrange mode throws off the balance and isn't much of an incentive to return to the game. Overall, it isn't a bad PS5-exclusive RPG, but you might want to wait for the team to develop something new for the platform.

I enjoyed my time with Neptunia ReVerse. It was great seeing these loveable characters interact with each other again, and I appreciated how much this game improved upon the original. ReVerse is such a significant improvement over Hyperdimension Neptunia, that if your only experience with the first game is the original, I highly recommend picking this one up to see how much it changed. If you’re new to the series, this is probably the best way to get into the Neptunia franchise, seeing as how this is a remake of the very first game. If you already played Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, I think you can skip this one since the story is essentially the same. I think $50 is a bit high for an upgraded port of a PS Vita game, so I recommend waiting for a price drop before picking this one up. Neptunia ReVerse is available right now for PlayStation 5.

Hyperdimension Neptunia is celebrating its 10th anniversary! The CPU's make their PS5 debuts in Neptunia ReVerse, a remake of the 2014 Vita remake. With new hardware and functionality, this is the series' chance to make a big impression heading into the generation. However, it ends up having a hard time balancing improving and remaking, resulting in an effort that's faithful to a fault.

Neptunia ReVerse is a very fun RPG, with intense combat and a good balance of difficulty and accessibility. It has a lot of extra content in the form of collectibles, side quests and the fishing minigame, which can entertain the player for quite a while. The story is not that complex, but it is strongly supported by the charisma of its characters, humor and fun combat mechanics. Although not extremely innovative, it is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good JRPG and wants to know or revisit Neptunia's universe origin.

Neptunia ReVerse is a remake with no purpose to exist. Despite being built on the foundation of a good game (which guarantees its quality), it doesn't bring any valid addition to the experience, making it a game that doesn't justify its existence and its release on PS5 when a compilation with the original remakes would make more sense.

Neptunia ReVerse has enjoyable combat and engaging RPG systems, but it's not worth enduring the "fan service" to experience them.