Mary Skelter: Nightmares

This game is amazing! Such Creativity! It's not that ordinary, boring, slow Dungeon Crawler! And finally the battles are turn based, not real time! Okay, there are so much conversation, the game is half visual novel (there are conversations that 40 mins long, but not boring at all), and the story at least interesting! I can just recommend!

Starts off very interesting..Grows to a wild story and not just an asset flip! I really hope there is a part 2 or even 3. This game reminds me of games like Etrian Odyssey, Orcs & Elves (ds).

As of this review I have about 12 hours in the game. So far, I love everything in game. Interesting enemy design, fairly good characters, and reasonably enjoyable music. I have never played a dungeon crawler prior to this, even though this isn't strictly a dungeon crawler. It's a blend of a dungeon crawler, anime RPG, and a visual novel and it pulls of what it does quite well. It's a lot of fun, and has no real bugs or glitches. My rating is due to me getting stuck and not being able to find a way to progress, at all. I just cannot make it through the first part of chapter 2, I have hit a wall, and there's no way forward. There's no guides online, there's no forums, there's no useful walkthrough videos. I'm just stuck. Someone on Steam had been stuck due to a potential glitch, but he restarted the game and was able to progress. I'm just stuck, even after restarting the game. There is something about needing to use a bomb on a tree in the northern part of the graveyard (chapter 2), but there is no such thing. there's some basic trees that serve no role outside of detailing the environment. It's unfortunate. Hopefully, whoever buys the game in the future will be smarter than me and not have these issues. There's a lot of entertainment to be had from this, and it deserves to be played.

I've already played the entirety of Mary Skelter: Nightmares, twice actually if you count the remake included with 2, when I played this standalone version I did so on steam, where it would crash every freaking hour, honestly not so bad so long as you save often which I did but still plenty annoying, so thank god the GOG version doesn't crash, it feels amazing roaming the halls of jail without having to put down rabbit hole every 10 minutes just to be safe, the only downside is the lack of controller support, but you can probably find a workaround via remapping tools. Thank god it doesn't crash.

My favorite genre of games happen to be the turn-based dungeon crawler, such as Shining in the Darkness, Etrian Odyssey, etc. This one stacks up pretty well... you've got story, decent and interesting battle mechanics, varied dungeons and rewarding exploration. The other reviews do a pretty goob job of setting up the story, it reminds me of something like Warhammer Mordheim, where the city ("Jail" in this case) has been transformed by evil and it's up to you to purge it and escape. Pros: - Lots and lots dungeon to explore - Secret areas do exist, usually accessible without a headache - Grinding is optional, by playing through each dungeon you generally level up in line with the enemies, although the first level of a new area can be harrowing for the first few battles - Interesting boss/nightmare system where if you get caught before completing the dungeon, you have to run like hell without a mini-map (great tension inducing moments, although you can keep the mini-map on if you want to wimp out) - Varied character compositions, jobs and skills - Dungeons are pretty animated and visually appealing (or creepy sometimes, those gnomes in the graveyard) Cons: - Respecing and skill options can be confusing between all the characters - The art style is anime, although every female character is VERY sexualized, and there's the side quests of decorating and making all of them fall in love with you. Part of the game is to prevent the characters from getting "corrupted", and to "purge" them of this, you have to "smear your blood" all over their barely naked bodies (while you're "smearing" with your mouse, their clothes disappear). If you're into that sort of thing, that's fine, but be aware this might not be the best game to play in front of your parents/wife/kids, etc. It's like there's a cheesy anime dating sim attached to this game. - Sometimes the interactive dungeon objects disappear (but you can still use them). It's somewhat annoying, but not game-breaking.