The Nintendo Switch so far in its first year has quickly become the new home for JRPGs, One of the companies that is helping lead this push is fan favorite Nippon Ichi Software America, aka NISA. With a couple of games on the system and many more to come, NISA is making their presence felt on the Switch. One of those games that is helping lead the charge is Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk.
I put a spell on you
Enchanting story- For a dungeon crawler, Labyrinth of Refrain’s story is actually pretty entertaining. The game stars a witch named Dronya and her apprentice Luca. The two of them travel to an isolated and forsaken town called Refrain. The reason they are there is to investigate rumors of hidden treasures and secrets that lay in a labyrinth underneath the town. No one knows who built it or why, but those who have tried to enter and explore the labyrinth end up dead to a deadly miasma that flows throughout the area. But this nor the eccentric townsfolk that Dronya meets deters her, for she has the cursed tome Tractatus de Monstrun, a book that was written by the only person to delve into the labyrinth and made it back out alive. That and an army of puppet soldiers. As the story progresses you will meet all sorts of strange characters, both living in the town and somehow living in the labyrinth.
Interesting spin on dungeon crawlers- For the most part, dungeon crawlers follow somewhat the same formula: a player leads a group of adventures into a dungeon to find loot, a group of adventures are in a dungeon and have to escape, etc, etc. Labyrinth of Refrain however puts an interesting spin to its dungeon crawling. One example is that Dronya isn’t the one exploring the labyrinth. The one that are doing the exploring are not living beings but her puppet soldiers. As I mentioned, the miasma in the labyrinth kills all living things that enter the area and try to explore. However the puppet soldiers are not made of flesh but are of wood and have spirits bounded to them. While they can be damage and destroyed, upon returning back to the surface, the puppets can be repaired. This allows players to be bolder when exploring the labyrinth. Now you might be thinking “OK, but if no humans can enter the labyrinth, how can you lead the puppets?” The answer is that you are the Tractatus de Monstrun. Apparently your soul somehow is trapped inside the book. So, when Dronya sends the puppets down into the labyrinth, she chucks you down as well.
Master of puppets- As I mentioned earlier, the ones that are doing the exploring of the labyrinth are the puppet soldiers. I also mentioned that since they are not made of flesh, they are able to take on more damage than the normal adventure and allows the players to be more bolder in their exploration. I’d like to get into more detail about them and how they are set up. Like most dungeon crawlers, players will be able to fill their party (called a brigade in game) of five from six different classes. These classes are Aster Knight (knight), Shinobushi (ninja/fighter), Theatrical Star (bard) Marginal Maze (mage), Peer Fortress (tank) and Mad Raptor (ranger). After you picked your class, then you set up their settings, such as their nature, stance, how will they grow when leveling, skills and other aspects of the character. Once this is done and before the puppet is placed into a Coven, you then pick a soul pact. A soul pact grands the puppets different skills and depending on the pact increase the number of puppets in a Coven. These pacts force players to think carefully on how they want to attack the dungeon. I enjoyed not having to worry about losing my characters to permadeath, which gave me more time to think about how do I want to set up my brigade.
Bending the labyrinth to your will- Most dungeons and labyrinths in dungeon crawling games have certain sets of rules in place. Well Dronya spits on your rules as she is a very busy witch and has no time for rules. In Labyrinth of Refrain the player will have access to Witch Petitions. These petitions grant special skills, alter the difficulty and many other useful or harmful actions. At a dead end but know that there is a hidden path behind the wall? Just smash though the wall with a Witch Petition. Is the dungeon proving to be a bit much or not challenging enough? Then use a Witch Petition to change the difficulty.
Similar art style to the Disgaea series- The Disgaea series has a really distinct art style that stands out from other JRPGs. When you think of “anime” games, more often that not the first thing to come to mind is the Disgaea. Big expressive eyes, brightly colored hair, cute secondary characters and of course the sexy waifus and husbandos. This style has continued on to other games that NIS has developed, which Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is one of those games. Luca’s design is super cute, while Dronya exudes a mature sexy presence. The designs for the puppets are also top notch, with my favorite being the female tank. Her armor looks like some type of desert scone.
Bad voodoo magic
Small nitpicks- Around this point I would start to state a couple of things a I didn’t like about the game and some of if flaws. However Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk doesn’t have that many major flaws about it other than some very minor nitpicks. Such as it starts to get repetitive after a while. That’s countered by my time invested in the game. Another nitpick I have is that there is a lot of back tracking between the floors of the labyrinth. That too is countered as you get further into the game, a Witch Petition that allows you to create alternate exits will appear.
Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk probally is one of the best dungeon crawlers that I’ve played so far. The story is enchanting, it put a new spin to the genre, and not worrying about permadeath is great. Letting the players shape the rules of the labyrinth was a great idea and of course the art style is awesome. I did have some minor nitpicks, but they did not undermine my overall enjoyment of the game. Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is out on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, but I highly recommend getting the game on the Switch.
9/10
