Mary Skelter: Nightmares

There are many ways this game could’ve come off as just another Japanese DRPG. To its enormous credit, it avoids all those pitfalls, and makes an interesting game in the process.

Mary Skelter: Nightmares provides the dungeon crawling experience fans of the genre crave. The game offers a unique battle system that requires attention and skill to master, many different ways to customize characters, and large dungeons to explore with many hidden rooms and valuable loot.

With a deep combat system, polished gameplay and nicely designed UI and characters, Mary Skelter: Nightmares makes an impression among the many dungeon crawlers on PS Vita. On the negative side, the plot is forgettable and it could be repetitive at some moments.

Mary Skelter: Nightmares varies nicely from your typical turn-based JRPG. With a darker atmosphere than most games, the art and music is really what defines it. If you can overlook some of the repetitive combat and dialogue, this game has a lot to offer and provides an overall great experience.

While it won’t blow anyone away, Mary Skelter: Nightmares is a well put together, enjoyable experience and a worthy addition to any dungeon crawler RPG fan’s collection.

Mary Skelter: Nightmares is a surprisingly effective little dungeon crawler. I enjoyed its creepy, Lovecraftian world way more than I ever expected to, even if the characters lack depth and the lore can get a little goofy in its race to be dark and edgy.

I can truthfully say that Mary Skelter: Nightmares is the very first game I have ever played in which giving a woman multiple meatless pancakes demonstrably raised her affection for my character. I can also truthfully say that it exceeds the level of quality seen in my previous experiences with Idea Factory and Compile Heart. That comes with the significant caveat of a point where the game refused to recognize I had the critical item for progression, until after about 150 tries it finally allowed me through. Cranking the quality up from completely wretched to only somewhat wretched isn’t all that much of an accomplishment though, and leaves me no wiser than before about how these companies remain in business.