My first review of 2023. Yeah, another review of a Neptunia game, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is the most recent game of the franchise, I have finished the PS4 version of the game, and I have a lot to say about Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters. Let's begin!

Story: One of the best stories in the franchise, if not the best story of Neptunia games...Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters has a great story. The story is more or less similar to something previously seen with Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 and Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 in the sense that Nepgear/Purple Sister is the main character and the other CPU candidates (or goddess candidates) take the stage, the game is focused on Nepgear, Uni, Rom and Ram. The game begins with Neptune and the other goddesses going to the PC Continent, in response to a distress call from said place. Nepgear and the other candidates are sent to investigate an abandoned laboratory during the mission of Neptune and the other goddesses, there they find a goddess inside a capsule (Grey Sister), when the goddess is free she almost immmediately puts Nepgear and the other candidates in capsules where they remain for two years...I won't give more details than that. It's an engaging story with several twists and overall the game has a great story, the story is one of the darkest stories of the franchise, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, for the most part, has a dark and serious story, it can be compared to Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2/Re;Birth2 and also Megadimension Neptunia VII when it comes to how dark and serious this story is, in fact, at times, the story is even darker than the story of those games, to be honest, I think that the story could be even better and I don't think that this deserves a 10/10, that said, the story is definitely something like a 9/10 at most.

Graphics: One of the best looking Neptunia games, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters was developed with Unity (like Super Neptunia RPG) and the result is a game with beautiful and shiny graphics (even the PS4 version). The character models for the sisters (Nepgear, Uni, etc...) are brand new, every character that physically appears in previous games with a 3D model has a new model in Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, Compile Heart didn't recycle the 3D models used in previous games and it's obvious to be honest, I really like the new character models. The areas where enemies can be found (or dungeons) look amazing and very beautiful at times, with shiny graphics (specularity maybe?), great textures and yes, a colorful art style. The 2D art mostly by Tsunako looks really nice as always, I love Tsunako's art and here we have even more art of said artist. Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters also explicitly uses Live2D and the 2D art is more animated than usual in this game, the animations are a nice touch...I don't have complaints when it comes to the graphics.

Sound: This is where the review will start to be less positive...Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters has a lot of recycled music, if we don't count the vocal songs used during the opening and credits, the game has 9 or 10 new songs (which includes remixes of other themes apparently) at most, for the most part, the soundtrack is recycled and that's something I don't like to be honest. The music is also unfitting at times, a few locations or moments in the game have music that doesn't fit and it's very jarring. Yes, other games such as Megadimension Neptunia VII and MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies also contain recycled music but the new or original music composed specifically for those games is something and without counting the vocal songs, those games have at least 9 new songs or themes...at least the new music sounds nice, that said, the high number of recycled music means that in my opinion, this category deserves a 7/10 at best. What steals the show here is the English voice acting, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters has a great English dub, the voice actors (actresses for the most part, there are a few male voices in the game) did an amazing job and the game has great acting, it's noticeable the effort of the voice actors in emotional scenes, I really like the English voices and the English dub is better than the few (more or less) new songs composed for the game. A 6/10 for this category is fine, 7/10 if you want to be generous.

Addictive: Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is an action RPG, unlike some Neptunia games, the game doesn't have turn-based combat, and I really like the game because of that, usually, I'm someone who prefers combat in real time, so, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is, in my opinion, more fun than other Neptunia games, that said, I can see why some people don't like Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters as much as I do, not only is Neptunia: Sisters VS sisters a repetitive game (like other games in the genre, yes), it's also a fact that the game runs at 30 frames per second or 30FPS...even if you play the game on a PS4 Pro, the game doesn't run at 60 frames per second unlike previous Neptunia games, Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online is another action RPG but unlike Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, that game runs at 60 frames per second and it's one of the reasons why I like Cyberdimension Neptunia even more. Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters also has less playable characters than other Neptunia games, it only has 10 playable characters, and I could never play as those two new faces (Shanghai Alice and Higurashi) for some reason...I don't know if there are specific requirements or something, but I could never choose those two characters during my playthrough. The combat is functional enough, but another negative aspect or flaw is the fact that you can't cancel animations, in an action game, being able to cancel attacks or animations is important and can make the combat even more fun and fluid, but in Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters you can't cancel your attacks, you can be attacked or take damage during an attack, yes, but you can't cancel those attacks for some reason...I don't deny that the combat is less fun and functional than I would like, and as I said, I understand if someone says that Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is a 7/10 or even less than that...it's just a game I really like even though it has several flaws...

Depth: Different endings (3 different endings maybe?), many optional quests for the most part, accesories to get to customize the playable characters, and unlockable content are the things that Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters has, the game is longer than other Neptunia games, if you don't skip the events throughout the game and ignore the optional quests and events as much as possible, the game should still take you at least 25 hours or something like that. I finished the game in around 42 hours, but I did many quest and watched a lot of optional events. I don't think it's possible to beat the game in 20 hours or something like that if you don't skip the events. An 8/10 at most is fine for this category, considering the things I mentioned.

Difficulty: Another easy game like previous Neptunia games. Like other games of the franchise, you can't change the difficulty in Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, and that said, the game is very easy for the most part, I lost 4 or 5 times throughout the game, the game is very easy and it should be easier than other action games or action RPGs.

Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is a game I really like even though it has several flaws and could be bettter in some areas, the best aspects of the game are the graphics, the story and the voice acting, everything else isn't amazing and could be better. Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is the first Neptunia game developed and/or published after Norihisa Kochiwa resigned as CEO of Compile Heart, even without him, I can say for sure that Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters still has a lot of the DNA and identity of the Neptunia franchise, that said, it could have even more things to show that it's a Neptunia game. Yes, the game has funny moments, the dialogue is very funny and meta as always, but there are barely suggestive lines in the game...I don't like the fact that there isn't a scene of characters taking a bath, or wearing swimsuits or whatever, with the characters making suggestive jokes or talking about the chest of another character, things like that...no one can deny that moments like that are part of Neptunia's identity and appeal, and Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters doesn't have moments of fan service that complement the comedy and humor of the game...yes, the game stil has fan service (mostly in the photo mode, unlocked after you beat the game), one of its content descriptors is ''Suggestive Themes'' but...there is a reason why at least 1 person has described Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters as sanitized Neptunia...it really is tame compared to the other games. If less fan service, among other things, doesn't bother you, I can easily recommend Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, it's a fun action RPG with beautiful graphics and a great story, considering that the game references previous games, not to mention the fact that Cyberdimension Neptunia is even better in my opinion, this might not be the best entry point, but if you are a Neptunia fan, I highly recommend Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters.