This review contains spoilers
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While the review inherently has a spoiler warning through Backloggd, I'll digress that this review does have spoilers. Don't read it if you want to go in blind: just trust me and play through it. I absurdly reccomend it.
I'll be frank and start this review with the easiest way to display my affinity for this game immediately: I played around 10 hours straight of this game since release, every day, with some exceptions by the last few days. My college was on strike, and I had no assignments due since release, and with my entire family busier than ever due to the nature of the extended weekend, it was a blessing that I was able to have so much free time that I could sink my teeth into this game with extremely minimal breaks, usually just to sleep and occasionally eat. It's rare for me to do something like this: I absolutely abhor binging, and I'm not made for it. I need a few minutes in-between anything or I'll just get extremely tired. None of this applies to Izumi and NIS's latest entry in the Coven series, Labyrinth of Galleria, a game I've been immensely excited for since before the translation was announced. The amount of praise I've heard, not just in Backloggd reviews but overall through the few but avid fans of the game piqued my interest, and while I enjoyed what I played of Labyrinth of Refrain in terms of its dungeon crawling and gameplay, the writing threw me off due to some of the "fanservice"; I intend to return to the game, but for my original playthrough, it was hard to sit through. And it's obvious by this point, but the excitement I had for this work delivered and more, not just in terms of its overall gameplay, but the story of it as well.
"[Pleasure] Good feelings. One of life's purposes. A gift."
The gameplay of Labyrinth of Galleria is exceedingly similar to Refrain's in pure mechanics, as the combat, exploration, and character building at its core are exactly the same as Refrain's, with just some improvements such as the addition of stunning, and the additional facets; adding up to 24 different classes. I'm personally a fan of Gothic Grattonia, the cannon catmaid, and the Am series, the intersex bishoujo damage dealers and tanks. Their designs are very nice, and their style of gameplay was great as well. This adds a lot of variety to character building, thanks to the main slots of the party being 15, compared to Refrain's 10 classes; while it's not a major issue in Refrain, I applaud the variety.
Regardless, while the gameplay at its core is simply an improved version of Refrain's mechanics, the dungeon design is an entirely different beast. Refrain's dungeons are standard; in the sense of an Etrian Odyssey, where it's required to simply climb to the lowest depths, and the mechanics and aesthetics of each strata are varied. The titular Labyrinth of Galleria's dungeons are entirely different, thanks to the design philosophy that this game embarks. Narthex is extremely similar to Refrain's first dungeon, with the first floor having a near 1:1 layout, with a few differences to allow for new mechanics. Apse, however, is where the game completely changes focus. It is a behemoth, working much more as a pseudo-hub where smaller dungeons offshoot from it, teaching you more mechanics to get deeper into Apse. While the aesthetics may get stale as the dungeon itself can take you a good 20 hours, the actual mechanics of it make it so that it's always fresh, as discovering more loot, Curios, and story the longer the player spends in there makes it a much more expansive dungeon than one would believe at first. I never really got tired of backtracking with the sole exception being the Indigo dungeon, because it's a pain in the ass to return to that B3 for whichever needs necessary. Regardless, things such as the Moon Crest hunt had small rewards tied to it, and I enjoyed the way it continued to develop and change as I continued to unlock more mobility.
Outside of that, the other dungeons are also well designed. While Apartments may be disliked due to the procedurally generated nature of it, I had a similar but different feeling to Apse, where the grind to climb these floors was rewarded by the plot. The endgame dungeons are also fun treks, and the postgame dungeon is intentionally designed to be as grueling and long as possible, but the deeling when you've reached the top is unmatched.
"[Courage] To stand up against danger and difficulties. May lead to reckless demise pursuing success."
But regardless, the gameplay is an aspect of Labyrinth of Galleria; its true appeal relies on its plot. While I could happily have played this game without its cutscenes in an Etrian-styled trek for whatever reasons I imagine the puppets and I make, the true motivator and why I stuck so hard with it during that long weekend was thanks to the cast of characters. I loved to see Eureka in action; saying hello to me and making me lunch. I loved to bring Nachiroux her shit, and help her make that fat stack of money. I loved helping Madam Marta struggle through Galleria Manor, to complete her plan. Because at the end of the day, Labyrinth of Galleria is a game about struggles.
Both in pure gameplay and in story, this game is an immense struggle. It's easy to just get completely destroyed in the titular Labyrinth of Galleria, or to have some terrible luck and have your party incapacitated by broken limbs. It's common to fall down a pitfall and get ambushed by 5 consecutive battes. In the same way we struggle to achieve our goals, the cast struggles. Eureka struggles with her insecurities, not being skilled enough to appear worthy to anyone, especially her father, and doing anything to appear useful. Nachiroux struggles with herself, balancing her mother and her magic, which results to one of the most depressing and heart wrenching series of plot beats. And when it eventually spirals out of control, with an unimaginable scale, with multiple issues that these characters just aren't equipped to deal with, at the end of the day, Eureka and Nachiroux work to try and stay together. And that success relies on us, the player.
"[Conviction] The belief in one's righteousness. The will to believe. Eliminate all other possibilities."
Outside the exquisite combination of plot and gameplay, the aesthetics that Labyrinth of Galleria has are beautiful. This one's kind of obvious, frankly; most NIS games are beautiful, thanks to Takehito Harada's art and art direction, but the designs and music this game provides are the best it has gotten. Shoutout to Club Coven, and Emi Evans's tracks. They're definetly the standouts.
A small problem I did have with the presentation was the UI, more specifically, the wording and presentation of some skills and donum abilities. The text box for them is a little small and it's somewhat hard to understand how exactly do they work, and the wording is often vague. There's a couple notes in the GameFAQs guide that points out the hilarity of it, but it wasn't too much of a problem.
Regardless, though, the issues I have with this game are minimum. To other players, I'm sure things such as the insane difficulty and the postgame dungeon are very much terrible with no redemption. But personally speaking? I really loved it all. I loved the grind, the trial and error, the struggle to surpass these difficult foes. At the end of the day, I wanted to persevere.
I wanted to persevere because I wanted to reach Eureka and Nachiroux's happiness. I wanted them to surpass this time of misery and despair, and be able to create their own world: not Alstella or Alluna, but Uru. Not lives full of misery, but lives of joy that could have them live together.
Eureka was willing to work for three thousand years to reunite with Nachiroux. Why shouldn't I dedicate some hours for that?
"[Hope] To hope and pray for the future. A single flower blooms within the pit of despair."
While the review inherently has a spoiler warning through Backloggd, I'll digress that this review does have spoilers. Don't read it if you want to go in blind: just trust me and play through it. I absurdly reccomend it.
I'll be frank and start this review with the easiest way to display my affinity for this game immediately: I played around 10 hours straight of this game since release, every day, with some exceptions by the last few days. My college was on strike, and I had no assignments due since release, and with my entire family busier than ever due to the nature of the extended weekend, it was a blessing that I was able to have so much free time that I could sink my teeth into this game with extremely minimal breaks, usually just to sleep and occasionally eat. It's rare for me to do something like this: I absolutely abhor binging, and I'm not made for it. I need a few minutes in-between anything or I'll just get extremely tired. None of this applies to Izumi and NIS's latest entry in the Coven series, Labyrinth of Galleria, a game I've been immensely excited for since before the translation was announced. The amount of praise I've heard, not just in Backloggd reviews but overall through the few but avid fans of the game piqued my interest, and while I enjoyed what I played of Labyrinth of Refrain in terms of its dungeon crawling and gameplay, the writing threw me off due to some of the "fanservice"; I intend to return to the game, but for my original playthrough, it was hard to sit through. And it's obvious by this point, but the excitement I had for this work delivered and more, not just in terms of its overall gameplay, but the story of it as well.
"[Pleasure] Good feelings. One of life's purposes. A gift."
The gameplay of Labyrinth of Galleria is exceedingly similar to Refrain's in pure mechanics, as the combat, exploration, and character building at its core are exactly the same as Refrain's, with just some improvements such as the addition of stunning, and the additional facets; adding up to 24 different classes. I'm personally a fan of Gothic Grattonia, the cannon catmaid, and the Am series, the intersex bishoujo damage dealers and tanks. Their designs are very nice, and their style of gameplay was great as well. This adds a lot of variety to character building, thanks to the main slots of the party being 15, compared to Refrain's 10 classes; while it's not a major issue in Refrain, I applaud the variety.
Regardless, while the gameplay at its core is simply an improved version of Refrain's mechanics, the dungeon design is an entirely different beast. Refrain's dungeons are standard; in the sense of an Etrian Odyssey, where it's required to simply climb to the lowest depths, and the mechanics and aesthetics of each strata are varied. The titular Labyrinth of Galleria's dungeons are entirely different, thanks to the design philosophy that this game embarks. Narthex is extremely similar to Refrain's first dungeon, with the first floor having a near 1:1 layout, with a few differences to allow for new mechanics. Apse, however, is where the game completely changes focus. It is a behemoth, working much more as a pseudo-hub where smaller dungeons offshoot from it, teaching you more mechanics to get deeper into Apse. While the aesthetics may get stale as the dungeon itself can take you a good 20 hours, the actual mechanics of it make it so that it's always fresh, as discovering more loot, Curios, and story the longer the player spends in there makes it a much more expansive dungeon than one would believe at first. I never really got tired of backtracking with the sole exception being the Indigo dungeon, because it's a pain in the ass to return to that B3 for whichever needs necessary. Regardless, things such as the Moon Crest hunt had small rewards tied to it, and I enjoyed the way it continued to develop and change as I continued to unlock more mobility.
Outside of that, the other dungeons are also well designed. While Apartments may be disliked due to the procedurally generated nature of it, I had a similar but different feeling to Apse, where the grind to climb these floors was rewarded by the plot. The endgame dungeons are also fun treks, and the postgame dungeon is intentionally designed to be as grueling and long as possible, but the deeling when you've reached the top is unmatched.
"[Courage] To stand up against danger and difficulties. May lead to reckless demise pursuing success."
But regardless, the gameplay is an aspect of Labyrinth of Galleria; its true appeal relies on its plot. While I could happily have played this game without its cutscenes in an Etrian-styled trek for whatever reasons I imagine the puppets and I make, the true motivator and why I stuck so hard with it during that long weekend was thanks to the cast of characters. I loved to see Eureka in action; saying hello to me and making me lunch. I loved to bring Nachiroux her shit, and help her make that fat stack of money. I loved helping Madam Marta struggle through Galleria Manor, to complete her plan. Because at the end of the day, Labyrinth of Galleria is a game about struggles.
Both in pure gameplay and in story, this game is an immense struggle. It's easy to just get completely destroyed in the titular Labyrinth of Galleria, or to have some terrible luck and have your party incapacitated by broken limbs. It's common to fall down a pitfall and get ambushed by 5 consecutive battes. In the same way we struggle to achieve our goals, the cast struggles. Eureka struggles with her insecurities, not being skilled enough to appear worthy to anyone, especially her father, and doing anything to appear useful. Nachiroux struggles with herself, balancing her mother and her magic, which results to one of the most depressing and heart wrenching series of plot beats. And when it eventually spirals out of control, with an unimaginable scale, with multiple issues that these characters just aren't equipped to deal with, at the end of the day, Eureka and Nachiroux work to try and stay together. And that success relies on us, the player.
"[Conviction] The belief in one's righteousness. The will to believe. Eliminate all other possibilities."
Outside the exquisite combination of plot and gameplay, the aesthetics that Labyrinth of Galleria has are beautiful. This one's kind of obvious, frankly; most NIS games are beautiful, thanks to Takehito Harada's art and art direction, but the designs and music this game provides are the best it has gotten. Shoutout to Club Coven, and Emi Evans's tracks. They're definetly the standouts.
A small problem I did have with the presentation was the UI, more specifically, the wording and presentation of some skills and donum abilities. The text box for them is a little small and it's somewhat hard to understand how exactly do they work, and the wording is often vague. There's a couple notes in the GameFAQs guide that points out the hilarity of it, but it wasn't too much of a problem.
Regardless, though, the issues I have with this game are minimum. To other players, I'm sure things such as the insane difficulty and the postgame dungeon are very much terrible with no redemption. But personally speaking? I really loved it all. I loved the grind, the trial and error, the struggle to surpass these difficult foes. At the end of the day, I wanted to persevere.
I wanted to persevere because I wanted to reach Eureka and Nachiroux's happiness. I wanted them to surpass this time of misery and despair, and be able to create their own world: not Alstella or Alluna, but Uru. Not lives full of misery, but lives of joy that could have them live together.
Eureka was willing to work for three thousand years to reunite with Nachiroux. Why shouldn't I dedicate some hours for that?
"[Hope] To hope and pray for the future. A single flower blooms within the pit of despair."