Mugen Souls Review: Mo’ Moe, Mo’ Problems

There are plenty of JRPGs that have successfully withstood the test of time; games like Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Persona 3 & 4 that, while not perfect, were just so good at “getting things right” that going back to them doesn’t feel like a massive step backward in terms of the evolution of the JRPG genre (generally speaking, anyway). Because of that fact, I always enjoy giving older JRPGs a shot. It’s always a great feeling when you play a game from 10, 20, or even 30 years ago and think to yourself “wow, how did I miss this?” Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case for me when I sat down with the Switch release of 2012’s Mugen Souls.

A God-Tier Awakening

At the very least, you get an A for effort.

Mugen Souls follows the story of Chou-Chou (pronounced “shoo-shoo”), the self-proclaimed “Undisputed God of the Universe”—a bizarre claim made even more so by the fact that she literally has no memories of her past. Chou-Chou’s goal? To take over the 7 Worlds! Her reasoning for doing so? Because they looked like pretty, sparkly lil’ gems when viewed from a distance! …No, really, she just wants to conquer them because she thinks they’re pretty. And she actually has the means to do it thanks to her magical mastery over moe—a power so great that it allows her to make (almost) anyone (or anything) into her faithful underling!

As the company behind the Neptunia series, developer Compile Heart has never been one to shy away from over-the-top storylines. Mugen Souls is no exception. Admittedly, its brand of humor might not be for everyone, as it largely revolves around slapstick and, *ahem* “adult themes” (which is basically a Compile Heart standard at this point). Regardless of whether or not you’re into that kind of stuff, though, it’s hard to deny that the game skillfully commands its comedic timing. And its overarching story about a self-proclaimed god who’s so powerful that she can bend not just living creatures, but inanimate objects to her will—and her ever-growing menagerie of peons—is as interesting as it is wacky.

Walk of the Worlds

Mugen Souls’ “worlds” leave a lot to be desired.

Chou-Chou’s world-conquering plan is definitely ambitious, and the story following her and her ever-growing cast of peons is anything but boring. Unfortunately, the same thing can’t exactly be said about the gameplay itself. Operating in a style mimicking the core Neptunia series (and other CH games) almost exactly, Mugen Souls has a gameplay loop that is short, repetitive, and not-so-great when it comes to holding player interest. Each world that you visit isn’t actually a “world” in terms of exploration—with each world consisting of a few small, uninspired maps with treasures, enemies, and cutscene points scattered about. There are also 10 points scattered around each map that allow you to subjugate whatever map you’re on so that it, too, becomes your peon—something that’s both amusing and interesting conceptually but fails to develop past anything but a few dialogue boxes and stat checks. I understand that this game wasn’t exactly cutting-edge, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Compile Heart, but there’s really no defending how lackluster exploration is.

It’s also worth noting that this game—like many other Compile Heart Switch ports—has a framerate problem that plagues every exploration segment in the game; something which doesn’t seem to be an issue on the PlayStation 3 at all. Admittedly, the dropped framerates during world exploration are tolerable (and I use that word loosely, here), but the amount of choppiness that goes while you’re walking around on the G-Ship—the game’s hub world—is really bad. I really don’t know why Compile Heart has continued to have this issue with Switch games, but I really wish that they’d fix it.

Moe Melee

Finally! Another game where I can fight a Giant Enemy Crab!

Mugen Souls’ battle system is… well, it’s a lot. At its core, it features the same combat that most other Compile Heart games do—meaning that it’s turn-based and takes place in an open, circular battlefield where things like player and enemy positioning are important—but things go way past that at a fairly quick pace. Before long, the game introduces things like the “Blast Off System” (later featured in Death end re;Quest) which lets you ricochet enemies off of other units and objects in the field, and field crystals that give off various effects when characters are next to them. Most importantly, however, Mugen Souls features something called a “Moe Kill.”

I guess I haven’t really talked about it too much just yet, but, within the world of Mugen Souls, moe is king. And, while most people are relegated to certain types of moe, Chou-Chou has the ability to transform into one of seven different forms—each with their own distinct look and personality—all for the purpose of overwhelming her opponents with moe so that she can better turn them into her peons. This subjugation process is known as a “Moe Kill,” and it’s something that the player can do in every battle. Why? So you can create more peons, which means more power for Chou-Chou! Unfortunately, as neat as it sounds, Moe Kill’s execution isn’t the best. The Moe Kill process itself is fairly confusing—with the player needing to pick specific phrases during their Moe Kill in order to properly subjugate opponents (which doesn’t always seem like it has much rhyme or reason). It’s also entirely at odds with everything else in the game. If gaining peons is so important, all I’ll want to do is Moe Kill enemies. And if all I’m focused on is that then what’s the point of all of the other combat mechanics? It’s really something that they should have divided up better… a bit late for that, now, I suppose.

Finally, players will occasionally have to go toe-to-toe with opposing forces via turn-based airship battles. Contrary to everything else that I’ve discussed related to combat, these battles are actually both competent and fun. Players have a number of attack, defense, and utility options available at their disposal and need to pay attention to what enemies or allies say before each turn in order to predict what their opponent is going to do. In that way, it’s kind of like a more complex version of rock-paper-scissors. But, hey, no complaints here!

So Much Soul, So Little Body

I really don’t like having to pick on Mugen Souls as much as I did throughout most of this review. All-in-all, it was a fun JRPG with an entertaining storyline. I also understand that this game is a remake of something that came out a decade ago. And, heck, this game even has every bit of DLC (of which there is a lot) that was released during its initial run included for free! Unfortunately, neither of those things can entirely make up for the game’s misgivings. If you’re a fan of Compile Heart or JRPGs with weird and wacky stories, it might be worth giving a shot. I would, however, caution those out there who only want to spend their time playing RPGs with a bit more… well, quality.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: Switch (Reviewed); Publisher: Eastasiasoft; Developer: Compile Heart; Players: 1; Released: April 27, 2023; ESRB: M for Mature; MSRP: $39.99

Full disclosure: A Mugen Souls code was provided to Hey Poor Player by the publisher.