Idea Factory has been porting many Neptunia games to PC recently such as Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed and Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart, but this is the first time since the Re;Birth remakes that a main series received a PC port. Not only is Megadimension Neptunia VII the latest PC port, it is also one of the latest games launched, with the PS4 version released just a few months prior. And with that comes one of the best Neptunia installments of the franchise.
Steam describes the series:
“New challengers are taking control of Gamindustri, and Neptune’s nowhere in sight. Now she’s gotta help a mysterious stranger fight a colossal new evil, reclaim her Goddess title, and find some time for pudding! Go next gen with Giant Battles and multi-worlds in this JRPG!”
Megadimension Neptunia VII consists of various chapters to create a trilogy story: Zerodimension Neptunia Z: Twilight of the Desperate CPU; Hyperdimension Neptunia G: The Golden Leaders, Reconstructors of Gamindustri; and Heartdimension Neptunia H: Trilogy Finale: Into Legend. The first chapter details Neptune and Nepgear’s adventure as they inadvertently arrive in a different dimension and meet new CPU Uzume Tennouboshi, the personification of the Sega Dreamcast. Together, the trio must fight against the Zero Dimension’s Dark CPU while finding a way to get the sisters back to their original home. The second story consists of a new group called the Gold Third that takes over the CPU’s nations in an alternate reality. The chapter follows Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert as they deal with the new situation at hand. And finally, the last chapter builds upon the developments of the first two where the Zero and Hyper Dimensions are threatened and the Heart Dimension is introduced. All previous questions will be answered in this thrilling finale.
With every new Neptunia game comes new characters. And unlike Hyperdevotion Noire where quantity is focused more than quality, Megadimension Neptunia VII definitely focuses more on the quality aspect. From the start, Uzume was a very likeable character, and her dual personality makes it even better. Though she has a tough girl personality on the outside, she is actually very sweet and girly, as shown when she transforms into Orange Heart. My most favorite character design, however, was S-Sha, a Golden Third member who personifies Square Enix. Because of that, she has a fantasy-like appearance that I greatly enjoy. Along with that, there are DLC characters that embody various intellectual properties such as Million Arthur, God Eater, and Nitroplus.
The game shares a similar battle system as the Re;Birth remakes, but greatly improved. Along with an HDD Form, CPUs can now evolve to an upgraded version called the Next Form. Evolving does not require SP anymore, but rather using up EXE drives. Position of characters during battles also affect gameplay as if the characters are placed in a certain way, they can execute formation attacks at the cost of using EXE drives.
The graphics are completely outstanding, which makes it understandable why the game requires higher PC specs compared to previous installments. Players can adjust graphics and other settings in this version to best fit their needs. The PC version also includes a lot of free DLC packaged in the initial release.