Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society Review

Game: Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society
Genre: Role-Playing, Adventure, Strategy
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam (Windows), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation Vita)
Developer | Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software | NIS America
Age Rating: US M | EU 16
Price: US $49.99 | UK £44.99 | EU €49,99
Release Date: February 14th, 2023

Review code used, with many thanks to NIS America.

From the creators of Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk comes a new action-packed dungeon crawler JRPG. Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society is a brand-new adventure with a compelling storyline and over 50 hours of dungeon-crawling gameplay.

An Unexplored Labyrinth

A young girl, Eureka de Soleil, has come to Galleria Manor looking to land a job advertised in a flyer. In Galleria Manor, she meets Madame Marta, an elderly witch who put out the advertisement for the job. As it turns out, the job is for a medium to oversee the exploration of the labyrinth underneath Galleria Manor. Eureka takes on the role of the medium to guide the Lanterne de Fantasmagorie, a mysterious lantern spirit also known as Fantie, through the dungeons in the labyrinth.

There are stories that no one has made it out of the labyrinth alive, thus the labyrinth has remained uncharted. The portal to the labyrinth is through a man-eating wardrobe who will mince the flesh of any human that dares enter the labyrinth. Menacing monsters prowl the labyrinth. The labyrinth is home to the Curios d’Art, valuable works of art that possess mysterious powers. To combat the monsters and counteract the effects of the man-eating wardrobe, Madame Marta devises puppet soldiers to explore the labyrinth with the help of Fantie and Eureka.

Puppet Soldier Creation

Puppet soldiers make up your Witch Brigade which is necessary to fight the monsters in the labyrinth. To craft a puppet soldier, you need two essential elements: puppet parts and a soul vial. You can choose the facet or role of your puppets such as Aster Crow, Theatrical Star, or Peer Fortress in addition to several others. Some facets focus on offence while others focus on defence, and you can strategize your team based on the facets you choose for your puppets. You can also determine the gender and appearance of your puppets and give them names. I custom-named all my puppets, but there are predetermined names as well.

Each puppet belongs to a Coven that can hold 1 – 3 soldiers. Covens can be Witch Pacts, Fighter Pacts, Healer Pacts, and so on. The type of coven you choose for your puppet determines its speciality in battle, offering different benefits.

Stats can vary for each puppet soldier. HP or hit points is the health of your puppet and DP or donum points is the amount of donum your puppet has. Donum gives you certain advantages in battle, such as being able to heal allies. STR is the puppet’s arm strength or attack power. CON is the core strength, and it affects maximum HP and defence. DMP is donum strength which affects the maximum DP and the strength of the puppet’s donum. AGI is the speed that determines action order and evasion during battles. DEX is dexterity which affects hit power and the critical chance of attacks. Lastly, CHM is charm, and the higher it is, the less likely enemies will target your puppet. All of these stats are random and are determined at creation.

Battle Mechanics and Explanation of Mana

The battle system is quite intricate and can be hard to grasp at first if you are not used to commanding several members at once. However, you will mostly be attacking the monsters or fortifying your coven in battle. There are tutorials explaining the battle mechanics, so don’t worry if you are daunted by the amount of information you need to know.

If the game proves too much or too little of a challenge for you, you can change the difficulty using mana, an important “currency” in the game. Mana is known as the source of magic and it is through mana that the puppet soldiers can assume human form in the labyrinth. Mana is obtained by either defeating monsters or collecting them from mana reserves in the dungeons. Special witch petitions, such as creating mud exits (quick escape from the labyrinth), are unlocked using mana. Synthesizing equipment to make it stronger and more powerful also requires the use of mana. Since so much can be done with mana, make sure to collect as much of it as you can through each dungeon run. However, if your entire team is wiped out, then you will lose all the mana you have collected, so be careful!

A Beautifully Crafted World

There is an enormous amount of world-building in Labyrinth of Galleria, which shows that a lot of time and effort was put into this game. Not only is the dungeon-crawling a lot of fun, but the story that unfolds is quite engaging as well. I love the artwork of the game, especially the designs of the puppet soldiers. Some of the monsters are kind of terrifying to look at, which just shows how well designed they are.

The English voice-actors did a phenomenal job and managed to capture the personality of each character perfectly. The dungeon-style music also provides a nice touch to the game and isn’t too distracting.

Conclusion

Labyrinth of Galleria offers a nice challenge for players looking for a dungeon-crawler RPG. I haven’t played too many dungeon crawlers myself, but after playing this game, I can now say I’m officially a fan. If you are a fan of strategy combat games, then Labyrinth of Galleria is definitely one to add to your collection.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up