Play as Adult Neptune and make games to save the world in Idea Factory and Compile Heart's latest PC entry to the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Review Overview
What is Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution?
In Gamindustri, powerful rival Game Makers clash in a relentless struggle for Shares and supremacy. Into this fierce competition steps a new contender, Neptune, tasked with reviving a once-defunct studio and leading it to success.
To rise above the rest, you’ll need skilled developers, hit games, and smart market expansion. Choose carefully, build your legacy, and aim to become the most successful Game Maker of the year!
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution features:
⚫︎ Affinity system
⚫︎ Game Development system for money and skills
⚫︎ Various mid- and end-game modes and minigames
⚫︎ Chain attacks between characters
⚫︎ Modifiable combo system
⚫︎ Travel by bike
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 Steam |
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 Xbox |
 Switch |
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| TBA | $49.99 | ||||||
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Artworks and CGs are Perfect Combat is Fun… By Mid-Game Every Character Shines Inconsequential Story. Great! |
Bland Stage Designs Earlygame Combat is Horrible UI Looks Dated, Even for the Franchise |
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Overall Score - 80/100
Clunky though its controls and feel may be, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution is a strong entry in a series famous for never taking itself—or anything, really—too seriously. It’s packed with tasteful fanservice, overblown hijinks, the occasional cringe, plenty of funny punchlines, and, of course, the gorgeous character designs the series is known for. Unfortunately, its mechanical shortcomings keep it from being a good starting point for newcomers to the franchise.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Story - 8/10
The Neptunia series has never been one to take itself too seriously, even when dabbling in world-ending threats or darker story beats. Game Maker R:Evolution carries on that tradition, leaning on humor drawn from anime, internet, and gaming tropes, delivered through its colorful, if sometimes uncomfortably stereotypical cast, rather than chasing shocking twists or award-worthy storytelling. But despite the lack of anything meaningful hidden beneath its script, it accomplishes everything it needs to do for those it’s marketed for.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Gameplay - 7/10
Unfortunately, even with the series recently celebrating its 15th anniversary and boasting dozens of titles, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution still feels stuck in its early years. The controls are clunky, the combat actively disrupts momentum (at least until mid-game), and the VN-style presentation remains unchanged from the very first game. Still, it manages to redeem itself quite a lot through its wealth of team compositions and character builds, all of which are easy to explore without excessive grinding, as well as the great mid to late-game combat.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Visuals - 8/10
Having an inconvenient UI, several plain stage designs, and unimpressive visual effects and transformation scenes would have doomed most games to aesthetic mediocrity, if not for the creative hand of the series’ original artist, Tsunako, working her magic. Thanks to her, every character bursts with color and expressiveness, each carrying distinct charms that allow them to shine regardless of who they share the spotlight with.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Audio - 8/10
Despite its stellar voice acting and a soundtrack filled with terrific, familiar, almost signature tracks, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution’s audio is dragged down by woefully inadequate sound effects. They feel muted and lack the punch one would expect from even the most basic of action games. Yes, it may only be one part of the overall experience, but the impact on combat immersion is impossible to ignore.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Value for Money - 9/10
Every Neptunia game guarantees a few dozen hours of gameplay, and Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution is no exception. Yes, it’ll cost you a cent short of $50, but it’ll easily consume almost a hundred hours of your time just to accomplish much of what it offers, endgame included. There’s even the option for a New Game Plus, and the infinite towers for endless grinding.
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Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Review: Confusingly Dated, Absolutely Delightful
As someone who eagerly dives into anything even slightly resembling the mahou shoujo (magical girl) genre, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with the Neptunia series ever since the first game launched on the PlayStation 3. In particular, the trailers showcasing the goddesses Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert’s transformation scenes immediately captured both my attention and my wallet. That obsession has only grown since—I even splurged on the absurdly expensive NEXT series of Vertex figures, featuring the four in their exclusive Megadimension Neptunia VII forms, with the last one releasing late this year or early the next.
That said, the series itself has always been something of a mixed bag. On one hand, we’ve had bangers like Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, Super Neptunia RPG (I liked it, at least), and Megadimension Neptunia VII; on the other, there have also been some eyebrow-raising entries such as Neptunia Virtual Stars and Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos.
So, where does their 2023 entry for the Nintendo Switch—and now its 2025 PC release—Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution fit in? Personally, I’d place it among the stronger titles, though with a few caveats.
For context, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution is one of the series’ many, many spin-off entries, this time featuring Neptune as the lead character. And no, not the younger goddess Neptune who can transform into an adult with floating modules while wielding a Japanese sword. This time it’s the teenage-looking version who, if I remember correctly, first debuted in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory.
… What do you mean, “that’s over a decade ago”?
Anyway, if that sounds confusing, think of her as an older, alternate-dimension version of the main protagonist—one who isn’t a goddess at all, but instead spends her time traveling between worlds in search of rare bugs.
The setting this time places Neptune in a world where regions compete through the creation and sales of games. Thanks to a strange mishap, she ends up as the CEO of a small indie studio after inadvertently summoning three failed goddesses, taking it upon herself to help them fulfill their dream of creating a game everyone can enjoy.
Game creation is the central mechanic of this entry. You can hire developers, assign them to projects with specific genres and themes, and then sell the finished product for capital. While that may sound like the groundwork for an idle RPG, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution is anything but. The games you develop aren’t just a revenue stream—they also double as equipment for the console- and platform-inspired characters, including Neptune herself. In short, making games isn’t just about filling your wallet, but also about powering up your party.
Combat, in particular, borrows many of the bells and whistles from one of the series’ previous titles, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, albeit with a few upgrades. At its core, it’s a real-time action RPG where you can freely customize combos, chain attacks, and unleash skills on the fly. Certain characters can also use Goddess Transformation to access their HDD Forms, which are essentially stronger versions of themselves, while the new EXE and Link Drive mechanics function as ultimate attacks that can be chained together for massive bursts of damage.
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Early Combat is Sacrificed for Later Enjoyment
Is it a big improvement over the mechanics of Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters? No, not really. What makes the combat shine instead is how it integrates with the game development system.
The discs you create during development come with skills tied to whichever developers or creators worked on them. Each character can equip up to four, letting you freely experiment with builds and specializations. For example, you could turn Neptune into a crit-focused powerhouse—because of course the protagonist has to be an offensive juggernaut—or build Reedio into an untouchable spellcaster who can cancel her moves to kite enemies with ease.
Cool, right? The problem is that in giving you so much freedom later on, the game sacrifices its early mechanics—reducing the early hours to an almost unplayable state. I wouldn’t be surprised if new players, unfamiliar with the series, quit before discovering its depth simply because the system feels like it’s actively working against them.
For example, without skills that let you cancel attacks, you’re forced to endure a lengthy recovery period after each combo where you can’t do anything. Sure, it may only be a fraction of a second, but in an action game it feels long enough to get up, brew a coffee, file your taxes, and come back to find your character still recovering.
Making matters worse, the companion AI is almost atrociously bad—more often than not, they just stand around, eat a hit, and contribute little else.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. Once you get past the early game and unlock higher-level developers/Creators, you’ll gain access to skills that let you reshape combat however you want. Until then, though, it’s an uneventful, borderline torturous slog.
Just Use a Controller
Whoever decided on the game’s default keyboard bindings should honestly be questioned by the authorities, because some of them are downright criminal. Really—Symbol Attack (which lets you start battles in your favor) and Cancel are both on Q? Dodge on V? Menu on Right Alt? Jump on E? What?
Yes, you can rebind some of them—but not all. The menu will always be stuck on Right Alt, Cancel will always be on Q, and worst of all, you can’t even bind Symbol Attack to the left mouse button. Absolutely heinous design work.
Thankfully, the game plays far more intuitively on a controller, where none of these issues crop up.
Who Needs A Story When Everyone is Funny?
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution shamelessly continues the trope-heavy narrative style of previous entries, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier with the result. Nothing in the story ever feels urgent, and every so-called “major” incident exists mostly as a setup for a punchline or a hilariously cliché conclusion.
And that’s perfectly fine. Not every game needs sprawling lore or endless YouTube essays analyzing hidden meanings. Stories like this are healthy for the medium, giving players a chance to kick back, laugh, and even cringe a little at the unabashedly banal yet entertaining barrage of jokes and references.
In fact, the inconsequential nature of the plot works to the game’s benefit, leaving plenty of room for its colorful cast to hog the spotlight. Even the newcomers are a delight: Reedio (based on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer) with her scatterbrained, science-y airheadedness; Jagaa (Atari Jaguar) with her obsession with abbreviations and her hilariously bad math; and Pippih (Apple Pippin) with her reckless narcissism—all of them manage to shine even among established fan favorites like Neptune and Noire.
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QoL Provided, QoL Witheld
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution does pack in a number of quality-of-life features to make things easier. For example, you can order games to be developed no matter where you are—even if you’re stuck in a dungeon, hopelessly underleveled against a boss, you can just call back to HQ and put your workers on the job. Very relatable, honestly.
You can also hop on a bike to zip through dungeons faster, a feature recycled from Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos. It’s a welcome addition, though the controls are clunky—not unusable, but far from smooth. I do wish it allowed Symbol Attacks, though.
What’s baffling is the absence of some really basic QoL features. You can’t, for example, equip weapons or armor directly from the shop. Instead, you have to buy them, exit, equip them from the menu, then return to the shop just to sell off your old gear—an unnecessary hassle. Other missing conveniences include the need to manually change your company’s genre from a separate menu instead of selecting it directly in the development screen, the inability to fully rebind keys as mentioned earlier, and, for some reason, the bike using tank controls. Truly baffling.
Is Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Worth It?
If you’re a series fan, yes. Otherwise, try a different Neptunia game.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution is far from an ideal entry point for newcomers. It’s riddled with inconveniences that only longtime fans of the series are likely to slog through with any patience. But for those very fans, it’s practically a direct upgrade to Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters—a title already beloved by many—and one that’s almost certain to satisfy your cravings.
I do wish the series would just commit to the turn-based gameplay, though. All of them were very good.
| Digital Storefront | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Playstation |
Xbox |
Switch |
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| TBA | $49.99 | ||||||
Game8 Reviews
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Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Product Information
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| Title | Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 26, 2025 [PC] |
| Developer | Compile Heart, Idea Factory |
| Publisher | Idea Factory International |
| Supported Platforms | PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Adventure, RPG, Visual Novel |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution Website |
