Mary Skelter Finale is, as the name suggests, the finale to the Mary Skelter saga. The original Mary Skelter launched back in 2017 and was followed by the sequel Mary Skelter 2 in 2019. Now we finally have the finale available on PC and if you’ve been following this franchise, you’re in for a treat.
Following the story of the blood maidens, Mary Skelter is a franchise that was a breakaway from Compile Heart’s more lighthearted games such as HyperDimension Neptunia. Mary Skelter dealt with some really dark themes and was a breath of fresh, albeit dark, air. Mary Skelter Finale thankfully follows the formula and delivers everything we’ve come to expect from the franchise and more.
Mary Skelter
In Mary Skelter, players will have access to a rather large cast of characters. You will have to swap between your parties of characters as you explore dungeons and face off against foes. This is done throughout the game but the parties do eventually converge and that’s when things really get going. Each of the members of the party can swap jobs and perform different roles in their respective teams. This is essential to progressing and you will have to implement some strategy here.
Changing your character’s job also changes their outfit. The character designs are rather visually appealing and there’s a lot of variation on offer here. Being a Mary Skelter game, players are to expect a dungeon crawling between some long dialogue scenes. These visual-novel scenes tell the story of Mary Skelter Finale and you will be required to read a lot of text. If you’re not a fan of games that rely on reading lots of dialogue, Mary Skelter Finale will not appeal to you.
If however, you are a seasoned veteran of anime and manga media, Mary Skelter Finale’s great storytelling will keep you entertained throughout. There’s a lot of tropes specific to the genre that shine through here and while it might be cliché at times, it’s still rather enjoyable. The lore behind Mary Skelter is quite a rabbit hole with a lot of jargon and terminology that newcomers will have to learn.
Thankfully the game includes a recap of both the previous games and includes the DLC from the previous game “Locked Up in Love”. Locked Up in Love is a ridiculously wholesome DLC which features the Mary Skelter girls in a high school romance setting. Fans of romance anime and manga will really enjoy this as it provides players will tiny snippets of fanservice material that is sickly sweet and very different to the blood, guts and gore of the actual Mary Skelter game itself.
Dungeon Crawling Strategy
Circling back to the gameplay of Mary Skelter Finale. The core gameplay plays out much like its predecessors. You will still explore a dungeon and face off against Nightmares or monsters. Players will then have to take turns and select attacks or abilities to perform. Blood magic comes into play with players having the ability to trigger a Massacre Mode or a Blood Soul skill depending on the situation.
While exploring dungeons, you will also have to make extensive use of your characters various unique abilities. These are required to progress and there’s also the need to “zap” between characters and parties due to key items or progression blocks that need to be overcome. The dungeon pacing can therefore be a bit tedious and slow at times.
The gameplay itself is very straightforward though and it’s not hard to get to grips with. Using your different party members and getting the rhythm of pulling off attacks, building your blood gauge and using your abilities is enjoyable.
The graphics of Mary Skelter are heavily reliant on the character designs since the dungeons themselves are rather lacklustre. However this isn’t a game that relies on amazing graphics but rather focuses more on the storytelling and strategic gameplay elements.
The soundtrack of Mary Skelter Finale is quite good with a lot of tracks that are catchy and that never really annoy you while dungeon exploring. The music fits the mood of the story too and is applied to great effect during more intense segments. The voice acting is exceptionally good in Japanese with an all-star line up of very prominent Japanese media voice actors lending their talents to the characters here.
The English voice acting cast is also pretty good but it’s a shame that not all the lines in the game are voiced. It’s a bit jarring going from a fully voiced story segment to one that has no voice acting at all so rather just stick with the Japanese voice acting since there’s far more lines voiced by them.
Final Verdict
Overall, Mary Skelter Finale is definitely more Mary Skelter. That’s not a bad thing and while the game doesn’t break the mold, it doesn’t need to. Fans of the genre and of the franchise will enjoy this game especially since it focuses a lot on the characters and their personalities really shine through. The major antagonistic force in the game is quite interesting and you will want to see the game’s conclusion.
Newcomers might have a bit of a tough time learning the concepts and will have to wade through a tonne of content to get up to speed but it is possible here. Mary Skelter Finale is a game that will keep you entertained for hours and hours on end. The PC port does have some issues with crashing though so do be warned. You’re probably better off purchasing the Nintendo Switch version since the handheld console’s portability factor does help alleviate some of the tedium with the dungeon crawling.
Mary Skelter Finale Trailer
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Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co
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