Review: Virgo Versus the Zodiac (Nintendo Switch)

Virgo Versus the Zodiac invites players into a celestial realm where they assume the role of Virgo. This holy queen is tasked with restoring the Golden Age, an era defined by peace and balance. In this turn-based RPG adventure, players navigate a world teeming with zodiac foes and mythical creatures alike. What does this world of stars have to offer? We shall see.

In the game, you battle through different realms with the goal of defeating all the Zodiacs, as well as different creatures, and stars. On your side are fellow Zodiac Pieces, Ginger the Cookie, and stars Algol and Spica. The character designs and personalities of these characters are really good and the different characters’ attitudes react very well with each other.

When starting the game, you get to choose from three different modes: Stress Free Mode (easy), Zodiac Mode (normal), and Masochist Mode (hard). After a brief introduction to the story, you are thrown head-first into combat. The combat system may be unforgiving, but it’s a testament to the game’s commitment to challenge. Even on normal mode, you’ll need patience and skill to succeed. Each victory feels earned, making it all the more satisfying. Some bigger fights take strategy to beat and require you to plan out what you want your fighting characters to do.

The amount of character customization in this game is amazing. There are a plethora of different weapons and equipment that each character can use, and a bunch more that only one or two characters can use. With each piece of equipment scaling off of a different stat, you can easily pick and choose which item you want to give to which character.

Each new area introduces a fresh assortment of enemies, coupled with a noticeable increase in difficulty. This difficulty increase is short-lived, however, due to the strength and new equipment you gain in each new level and realm. But it then comes right back to slap you in the face in the next realm. The new areas have some older but buffed-up enemies from previous realms, as well, so it’ll be good to remember the enemies you fight.

Also, each realm has its own soundtrack and different music to match the area you are in. Not only is the music stunning, but it’s also very well suited to the immediate area.

I would rate Virgo Versus the Zodiac a 10/10, but outside of combat are troublesome glitches and bugs. Some walls you just glitch through and get stuck in until you reload a saved game. Those saves have to done manually as there is no auto-save feature. So, if you forget to save and you get stuck, you’ll have to reset a far distance back (which happened to me multiple times). In certain areas when this happens, you can skip past an entire segment of the game. This would be amazing for speed runs, but it’s not great for a normal playthrough.

Still, there’s a lot enjoy in Virgo Versus the Zodiac when glitches don’t interfere; the alignment of pixel art with hand-drawn characters and the depth of world-building are impressive. If you’re up for the challenge and can overlook the bugs, this celestial adventure is worth the 15 hours or so it takes to complete it.