Virgo Versus the Zodiac from Serenity Forge and Moonana is a pixeltastic sci-fi/fantasy JRPG on PlayStation 5. Learn more about it in our Virgo Versus the Zodiac review!
Virgo Versus the Zodiac from Serenity Forge and Moonana is a pixeltastic sci-fi/fantasy JRPG on PlayStation 5. For this adventure, you must help the titular character bring back the Golden Age of Zodiac. Virgo, the Holy Queen – sometimes called Dreadful Queen by the heretics – sets out on a quest to bring back peace, symmetry, and balance. Virgo has a very specific and righteous worldview, and it will be up to you to make all on her path see the light before it’s too late. There are multiple ways your adventure can end since the choices you make along the way will impact your future and that of the cosmos.
The constellations are no longer aligned, which allowed the Zodiacs to reign over their realms without the interference of the strict system settled by the Rulers. For Virgo, this meant nothing more than utter chaos. This conflict is far beyond the point of symmetry that she favors, which is why if things don’t change and the Zodiacs don’t return to the way things used to be… she will stop at nothing until everything that is not in harmony is completely destroyed. She is, after all, Virgo, daughter of Mercury and servant of purity!
The game can be played in one of three different difficulty settings: Stress Free Mode, Zodiac Mode, and Masochist Mode. Stress Free Mode is a great option for those of you who might want to experience most of the game’s story without having to worry too much about battles. Timed hit indicators will move slowly, and you will deal 50% more damage to enemies. Zodiac Mode is the standard experience, balanced just as intended by Moonana to offer a challenging but not unfair experience.
Your last option is Masochist Mode. As you can probably tell from its name, this one is best reserved for those of you who have a lot of experience with JRPGs and who are not afraid of a proper challenge. Battles won’t have any timed hit indicators, and enemies and bosses will pack a punch! Make a mistake, and your opponents will destroy you in a blink. To compensate for this, all of your characters will have an increased critical rate.
When exploring the world, you’ll control Vigo with the left analog stick or the D-Pad. You will interact by pressing the X button and can perform an action with the Circle button. The Square button will be used for jumping. You can sprint by pressing the L2 button, and you can also go into the settings menu to make it so that your character always sprints.
While fighting, you can try to guard to gain Purity. While your Purity is up, you won’t be taking any damage! You should also try to land some perfect blocks while you have some Purity. Doing so will allow you to lower incoming damage while also giving you a counter turn. Land a perfect hit, and you can deal more damage as you break through an enemy’s protection. And if you need a quick pick me up, don’t forget to drink some coffee or enjoy a refreshing lemonade!
Battles end up feeling like a puzzle of sorts, thanks to the attack triangle. There will be purple, green, or red attacks for you to consider during your time with Virgo Versus the Zodiac. Purple is for cardinal damage, green is for mutable damage, and red is for fixed damage. In simple terms, red will beat purple, purple will beat green, and green will beat red. You’ll always have to keep in mind the color of an opponent’s defense as well as the color of their attacks so that you can be ready to counter their efforts and exploit their weaknesses.
This puzzle element is exactly what the team at Moonana wanted to bring to the table. There are no random battles in Virgo Versus the Zodiac, so each fight you enter has been specifically tailored to that specific moment in the game’s story. You won’t be able to button mash your way through a battle since you’ll have to pay attention to the attack type of an enemy as well as the prompt for landing not only a block but also a perfect block so that you can minimize any potential damage to your characters as you use your counterattacks to chip away at their health – or deal the killing blow! This is also very important for your attacks since landing a perfect hit can make a big difference.
As you defeat enemies, you’ll collect energy that will eventually allow you to level up. Once you do level up and increase your rank, your character’s values will increase for hearth, ambition, versatility, patience, destiny, cuteness, and purity. Hearth will boost hit points so that you can sustain more damage before being defeated. Ambition will increase cardinal damage dealt and purity by 1% per point of ambition. Versatility affects mutable damage dealt while increasing both harts and purity by 0.5% per point.
Patience will increase all fixed damage dealt while also increasing hearts by 1% per point of patience. For each point of destiny that you have, you’ll receive a boost to the critical attack bonus by 1%. Cuteness measures a creature’s huggability while also defining the softness of both hair and skin. As for purity, it’s what is used to protect hearts from being harmed. The more purity you have, the more damage it will directly absorb before damage moves to hearts.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac offers a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you to add to your collection. And since this is a Cross-Buy title, if you own a PlayStation 5 console, you can download both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost. This one is a long list with 27 Bronze trophies, 2 Silver trophies, and 6 Gold trophies for you to work on. What will you need to do to hopefully get that shiny Platinum trophy?
There are some trophies that will pop as you progress through the game’s story, as well as for getting all of the different endings that the game has to offer. As for some of the miscellaneous trophies, their objectives include jumping more than 150 times while in a cutscene, jumping 1,000 times, dying on the same battle 3 times in a row, completing all shoot ’em up sections (oh, did I forget to mention there are shoot ‘mm up sections to play through when you take the dangerous route somewhere?), loading a save from the game over screen, finding all friendly NPCs, getting 500 perfect hits, getting 350 perfect blocks, reaching level 50, and having one party member with fully upgraded equipment.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac brings us a pixeltastic sci-fi/fantasy JRPG on PlayStation. As the titular Virgo, it’s up to you to give it your all to help her bring back the Golden Age of Zodiac. Balance, purity, peace, and symmetry are all very important to Virgo, and anyone who stands in her way must either fall in line or be destroyed. Are you up for the challenge? Virgo Versus the Zodiac is out today as a Cross-Buy title, so your $19.99 purchase will allow you to download both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost.
Disclaimer
This Virgo Versus the Zodiac review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Serenity Forge.
