Developed By: Compile Heart
Published By: Idea Factory
Date of Release: October 22, 2019
Price: $39.99
When it comes to RPGs, nothing quite beats the tried and true approach of a first person dungeon crawler. They've been around since the early days of the CRPG scene, but they've really had a resurgence lately with series like Wizardry and Etrian Odyssey. And back in 2016 the original Mary Skelter hit the Playstation Vita with its own fresh spin on the genre and brought a bunch of macabre goodness to the table as well. and now 4 years later Mary Skelter 2 has brought the series to what many people are calling the second coming of the Vita, the Nintendo Switch.
The first person dungeon crawling in Mary Skelter 2 feels just right, with crisp visuals, and an absolutely creepy design to the dungeons. The first person perspective flows smoothly, and the turn-based battles work just as you'd expect. the auto-mapping keeps you from getting lost, and that's going to help with all the backtracking you need to do. The voice acting is great, and the soundtrack perfectly conveys the mood. It's quite similar to the first game, and for good reason as it's not a direct sequel but more of an "alternate universe" re-imagining.
Now Mary Skelter 2 is perfect and all and would be a great value on it's own at the price, but that's not the only thing you get in the package. The entire original version of Mary Skelter is also contained within the game, and can either be unlocked with a free DLC or unlocked after you finish Mary Skelter 2. The developers suggest saving it for after you finish Mary Skelter 2 if you haven;t played it before. All in all there's a lot to love here in this package, and for the price if you're a fan of dungeon exploration it can't be beat.
