A sequel to a game that I played recently and absolutely loved, Labyrinth of Galleria is really a phenomenal experience that is a bit hard to talk about without spoiling some of its intricacies. While I won't include any story spoilers, I'm going to mention some aspects of its structure, so be warned in case you want to go completely blind.
It wouldn't really be an overstatement to say that the most important part of this game is the story, as the narrative plays an integral role to everything, and it's probably one of the most ambitious JRPG stories I've had the pleasure to experience. The start is quite straightforward, charming but with hints of a darker side to every little thing, but as things continue to escalate, context is provided, and twists start to unfold, a lot of the fundamentals of the game completely change, and some of those changes were an absolute shock to me. I think the tone is very similar to Labyrinth of Refrain overall, which is something I adore, but the game's novelties make it a very different experience. While the story is probably a bit too ambitious, and some parts are definitely a bit messy for what it's worth, I found the emotional impact of the finale very deserved, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Nice cast that I really became attached to, especially Eureka and Nachiroux, and the music accompanying it is really great as well.
The game is also significantly longer than Refrain, with a good amount of that extra time belonging to the endgame. As a proper sequel to it, Galleria has a lot of QoL improvements and a more proper vision of what its endgame should be. Both the normal and the true ending basically require you to do everything up to this point, and both of them felt like big difficulty spikes to a relatively easy game otherwise. You basically need to have a good understanding of how to raise and set up your team, what are all those systems the game has, and how to be able to efficiently farm equipment and exp later. And yeah, Galleria has a lot of mechanics, probably more than your average JRPG, it's definitely a bit intimidating seeing all those stats and options, but on the other hand, it's absolutely satisfying when you manage to master them, understand what the game asks you to accomplish and make use of everything to successfully reach its beautiful finale. I also had a ton of fun trying different team combinations, as there's a really big amount of units to play around with.
And yet there's another time consuming aspect that I'm really conflicted about, and it's probably the biggest addition to Galleria over its prequel. The devs seemed to really love the idea of randomized floors, a mechanic new to the series that is used in several dungeons. What I really loved about Labyrinth of Refrain was the handcrafted dungeons, full of personality, cool encounters and their own themes and stories. Sadly, while there are some decent dungeons in Galleria, I wouldn't say that any of them are like that. The aforementioned randomized dungeons are a big part of the game, and the non-random ones, while they introduce a metroidvania-esque style of exploration that I really liked, are kind of a drag in this. There's really not enough variety or interesting ideas, and sadly, this creeps into the presentation and the pacing of the story, multiple times even. The randomized dungeons especially, while they introduce a very different way to play a familiar DRPG, are a bit too long sometimes, and full of traps and deadly encounters that can easily make you lose a lot of progress if RNG isn't on your side.
Overall, despite a definite feeling of exhaustion after managing to reach its finale, clocking almost 100 hours, I absolutely loved it and I can't recommend both of the Labyrinth games enough to fans of JRPGs that are searching for a good story and mechanically rich games. I was never interested in dungeon crawlers, but I'm a big fan of the genre after them. Galleria oozes style and personality that you rarely see. I really hope more people will play them, as they feel somewhat underrated in my opinion, but the complex and tiring aspects of them probably don't help. But if that's a barrier of entry that you can surpass, definitely go for it, and I feel you'll find the experience really rewarding.
It wouldn't really be an overstatement to say that the most important part of this game is the story, as the narrative plays an integral role to everything, and it's probably one of the most ambitious JRPG stories I've had the pleasure to experience. The start is quite straightforward, charming but with hints of a darker side to every little thing, but as things continue to escalate, context is provided, and twists start to unfold, a lot of the fundamentals of the game completely change, and some of those changes were an absolute shock to me. I think the tone is very similar to Labyrinth of Refrain overall, which is something I adore, but the game's novelties make it a very different experience. While the story is probably a bit too ambitious, and some parts are definitely a bit messy for what it's worth, I found the emotional impact of the finale very deserved, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Nice cast that I really became attached to, especially Eureka and Nachiroux, and the music accompanying it is really great as well.
The game is also significantly longer than Refrain, with a good amount of that extra time belonging to the endgame. As a proper sequel to it, Galleria has a lot of QoL improvements and a more proper vision of what its endgame should be. Both the normal and the true ending basically require you to do everything up to this point, and both of them felt like big difficulty spikes to a relatively easy game otherwise. You basically need to have a good understanding of how to raise and set up your team, what are all those systems the game has, and how to be able to efficiently farm equipment and exp later. And yeah, Galleria has a lot of mechanics, probably more than your average JRPG, it's definitely a bit intimidating seeing all those stats and options, but on the other hand, it's absolutely satisfying when you manage to master them, understand what the game asks you to accomplish and make use of everything to successfully reach its beautiful finale. I also had a ton of fun trying different team combinations, as there's a really big amount of units to play around with.
And yet there's another time consuming aspect that I'm really conflicted about, and it's probably the biggest addition to Galleria over its prequel. The devs seemed to really love the idea of randomized floors, a mechanic new to the series that is used in several dungeons. What I really loved about Labyrinth of Refrain was the handcrafted dungeons, full of personality, cool encounters and their own themes and stories. Sadly, while there are some decent dungeons in Galleria, I wouldn't say that any of them are like that. The aforementioned randomized dungeons are a big part of the game, and the non-random ones, while they introduce a metroidvania-esque style of exploration that I really liked, are kind of a drag in this. There's really not enough variety or interesting ideas, and sadly, this creeps into the presentation and the pacing of the story, multiple times even. The randomized dungeons especially, while they introduce a very different way to play a familiar DRPG, are a bit too long sometimes, and full of traps and deadly encounters that can easily make you lose a lot of progress if RNG isn't on your side.
Overall, despite a definite feeling of exhaustion after managing to reach its finale, clocking almost 100 hours, I absolutely loved it and I can't recommend both of the Labyrinth games enough to fans of JRPGs that are searching for a good story and mechanically rich games. I was never interested in dungeon crawlers, but I'm a big fan of the genre after them. Galleria oozes style and personality that you rarely see. I really hope more people will play them, as they feel somewhat underrated in my opinion, but the complex and tiring aspects of them probably don't help. But if that's a barrier of entry that you can surpass, definitely go for it, and I feel you'll find the experience really rewarding.