Virgo Versus the Zodiac is a unique RPG entry with a fun story and engaging, if sometimes confusing, mechanics. It encapsulates the classic RPG feel while bringing novel elements that modernise the gameplay.

By far the best parts of the game are the music and art. Every track in the OST is rocking, and the animated sprites are gorgeous. Seriously, I was blown away by the OST as soon as the title screen faded in, and every battle had me losing chunks of health trying to absorb the combat animations. The characters are no slouch either, although they're all quite silly, so don't expect any serious worldbuilding - there are times when the story gets a little more serious but it always seems to be a side note. Speaking of the story, it can be a little haphazard at times. I found it overall enjoyable, though, and most importantly, fun to follow along with.

Now onto the not-so-bright parts. Virgo has a few glaring gameplay issues, the biggest of which is overcomplexity. As soon as you start the game you're bombarded with numbers. Each character has tens of statistics, with just as many equipment slots, with each item having several stats themselves and countless status effects - you get the idea. Although it becomes more manageable after playing for a while, it's an overwhelming amount of information to throw at a new player and could understandably dissuade them from playing further. The higher level of customisation this offers the player IS nice, but thoroughly unnecessary, especially as you get further into the story and become more powerful.

Having said that, the main combat gameplay loop is immensely satisfying. My neurons were activated every time I hit a timed prompt perfectly. The slick animation and sound design that followed was a nice additional reward. The counter system is cool, too, and adds strategy that fits in well with the timing-based gameplay. (There is something to be said about the difficulty of these systems, but Virgo offers an in depth options menu to tweak its difficulty so that players of any skill level can have an enjoyable experience.) I feel like the mechanics were so close to greatness; I still found the overall gameplay enjoyable despite its overcomplexity. A little bit of streamlining would have gone a long way.

One last thing I want to touch on is polish. Virgo seems to be a bit lacking in this regard, with frequent visual and audio bugs. I'm not sure if this was actually a bug, but music did not change during some battles, instead continuing to play overworld audio, which was jarring to me. Other than that, it was nothing major enough to disrupt my experience, just audio cutting out strangely and sprites not rendering/overlapping in the wrong order.

Virgo took me around 30 hours to play through once, which puts it in full-length RPG territory. It does require some patience, but I would still recommend giving the game a try regardless; it can't hurt to at least experience some of the fantastic music and flashy animations it has to offer!

Virgo Versus the Zodiac is a unique RPG entry with a fun story and engaging, if sometimes confusing, mechanics. It encapsulates the classic RPG feel while bringing novel elements that modernise the gameplay. By far the best parts of the game are the music and art. Every track in the OST is rocking, and the animated sprites are gorgeous. Seriously, I was blown away by the OST as soon as the title screen faded in, and every battle had me losing chunks of health trying to absorb the combat animations. The characters are no slouch either, although they're all quite silly, so don't expect any serious worldbuilding - there are times when the story gets a little more serious but it always seems to be a side note. Speaking of the story, it can be a little haphazard at times. I found it overall enjoyable, though, and most importantly, fun to follow along with. Now onto the not-so-bright parts. Virgo has a few glaring gameplay issues, the biggest of which is overcomplexity. As soon as you start the game you're bombarded with numbers. Each character has tens of statistics, with just as many equipment slots, with each item having several stats themselves and countless status effects - you get the idea. Although it becomes more manageable after playing for a while, it's an overwhelming amount of information to throw at a new player and could understandably dissuade them from playing further. The higher level of customisation this offers the player IS nice, but thoroughly unnecessary, especially as you get further into the story and become more powerful. Having said that, the main combat gameplay loop is immensely satisfying. My neurons were activated every time I hit a timed prompt perfectly. The slick animation and sound design that followed was a nice additional reward. The counter system is cool, too, and adds strategy that fits in well with the timing-based gameplay. (There is something to be said about the difficulty of these systems, but Virgo offers an in depth options menu to tweak its difficulty so that players of any skill level can have an enjoyable experience.) I feel like the mechanics were so close to greatness; I still found the overall gameplay enjoyable despite its overcomplexity. A little bit of streamlining would have gone a long way. One last thing I want to touch on is polish. Virgo seems to be a bit lacking in this regard, with frequent visual and audio bugs. I'm not sure if this was actually a bug, but music did not change during some battles, instead continuing to play overworld audio, which was jarring to me. Other than that, it was nothing major enough to disrupt my experience, just audio cutting out strangely and sprites not rendering/overlapping in the wrong order. Virgo took me around 30 hours to play through once, which puts it in full-length RPG territory. It does require some patience, but I would still recommend giving the game a try regardless; it can't hurt to at least experience some of the fantastic music and flashy animations it has to offer!