Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk

Back in February, Labyrinth of Galleria released in English. Review sites and word travelling down the grapevine had praise for the game, particularly about the narrative, which caught my interest. Unfortunately, the planets aligned to both leave me bedridden with an infection and unable to purchase the game myself.

Fortunately though: I'd originally bought the prior entry, Labyrinth of Refrain, sometime around its release and had never made much of any progress in it as I'd gotten distracted by something or other back then.

I proceeded to enter a fugue state for like, the rest of the month.

Made by Nippon Ichi Software, their Labyrinth games are dungeon-crawler RPGs along the lines of series like Etrian Odyssey and similar. The player moves along a grid, gradually mapping out the dungeon, while encountering enemies and events along the way. Like with NIS's other RPG games, you can expect a very dense system.

Unique to this series are "covens" that the player can assign their units to. Covens grant stat bonuses, and determine what spells your little guys have access to in battle. Also, see that party in the above screenshot? You can have multiple units in each one of those five slots. Between this, soul transfer, and alchemy mechanics... oh baby, you sure can make some numbers get big.

Another additional touch is that the player has "Reinforcement" points to manage, seen in the top left of the above screenshot. Sending out your brigade costs a number of these points (the lower level the covens are, the more costly), which can be spent both in and outside of combat for various benefits. Want to use an item mid-fight? That's a point. Want to tear down that wall? Five points. Want to put some extra oomph into a unit's next attack or defense? One point per unit, up to three. Want to place an exit nearby, just in case? Fifteen points.

For better or worse, common encounters don't require much strategizing. Most of the challenge in the base story comes with boss fights, designated patrols, or the occasional titled enemy the game throws in for a little spice. Some folks might find this a bit tedious, but I honestly didn't mind. It struck a good balance for the gooey part of my brain that wanted to fill out the map and progress further in the story.

Speaking of.

While you can certainly create the guys in your party and come up with your own characters for them, they're extremely a small part of a much bigger narrative.

The story of Labyrinth of Refrain has been the most difficult aspect for me to pitch. First of all: I've gotta tiptoe around spoilers. It's a very slow-drip kind of story. You're thrown in the middle of things without a single clue as to what's going on, before the plot cracks open halfway through this hundred hour long game and relentlessly spirals onward.

Second... it's really difficult to recommend to other people, without knowing where they've got lines drawn regarding various content. Refrain has a strong stripe of horror running through it and is rated mature for several reasons, not just because of the obligate horny dungeon and enemy designs.

You won't find many noble, heroic types in Refrain. There's like, two characters who kind of fit that bill, and one of them isn't even ten years old yet. This cast is just full of awful people.

The game immediately establishes our leading characters in its opening by having one get attached to a cute widdle lamb, and then the other kicking said lamb down a well as soon as her back is turned. The scene is cheeky, in a way that's reminiscent of NIS's other games, like Disgaea. But unlike the earnest and indulgent cheekiness of that series, there's a constant strange undertone when these moments occur in Refrain. It's weird! Suspicious! I think this game perhaps knows something I don't!

So, when the plot finally starts to reveal its hand: it's a lot.

And it continues to be a lot.

This is far from a happy game. Refrain revels in its darkness, admittedly with something of an undelicate touch. But, if that isn't a hurdle, perhaps you'll have a time about it! The story will not be for everyone, but mechanically it's a very solid dungeon crawler. Working on the map was satisfying, and golly if I didn't like seeing big numbers as a result of my planning.

It's difficult to arrange my thoughts coherently while avoiding the aforementioned wrinkles. The mysteries of the plot were a big part of what motivated me to push through, after all. I'd hate to spoil that for someone else.

When it comes down to it: my brain is very small and can only hold so much attention at a time. I'm old and have the obligations that come with being such, I don't really care to get into most hundred hour long games nowadays. If a game's trying to sell me on triple digit playtime, it's gotta have something to scratch that itch correctly.

And, god, I couldn't stop playing this game.

I kept at it for three weeks straight!!

I even pushed through the post-game, which requires digging into some hidden bosses as well as the various grindier mechanics of the game for survival purposes, because I wanted to see the true ending. Reaching that means roughly 100% completion. This was on the Switch, notorious no-trophy-or-achievement-system-haver, and I still got a little in-game prize stating, "Hey! Wow! You really did it!"

It's not a flawless game by any means, but it's ambitious, and I've always been a sucker for when it's obvious the devs put a lot of effort and care into their work. Of course I was determined to unravel every twist and see things through to the bitter, bitter end.

I'm very excited to dig into Galleria, which is said to be a more refined experience overall.

... but maybe after a break first.