REVIEW

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk Review

by Jake Stewart, October 18th, 2018

The first-person Dungeon Crawler is a genre that has seemingly been lost to the ages. A few sprout up now and again, but the fruitful era seen on older PCs has since been forgotten. Nonetheless, a quality entry in the genre surfaces to help scratch that itch, and incite some deep-rooted nostalgia within all of us.

The story of Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is fairly light, but manages to give enough incentive for the gameplay. Our focus is on a somewhat rude witch named Dronya (or Baba Yaga) and her lighthearted apprentice, Luca. The duo has recently arrived to the town of Refrain in an effort to search the mysterious dungeon that lies underneath. However, you will not be playing as this duo, instead you personally take the role of a magical book, using puppet soldiers to grind your way through the depths below.

Despite not playing as them, Dronya and Luca’s interactions with each other and the townspeople are some of the most enjoyable pieces of Labyrinth of Refrain. Every character has a unique personality, creating some very interesting exchanges during your downtime. The story takes somewhat of a backseat, but these interactions are something to always look forward to when resurfacing to report your findings in the dungeon to Dronya.

From the moment your journey begins, the polished and very attractive art-style will pull you in. Accompanied with varying backdrops, biomes, and fitting haunting melodies, the overall aesthetic of the game is extremely enticing. Character portraits are somewhat similar to those found in another NIS America title, Disgaea. If you’ve played those titles before, you’ll instantly recognize the color, anime-inspired, chibi designs of the character and worlds.

The most prominent part of a dungeon crawler, however, is the dungeon crawling. The gameplay mechanics on their own are fairly standard, taking the form of a turn-based RPG style combat. Truthfully, there isn’t much unique here, and should seem very familiar if you’ve played other JRPGs. Combat consists of a balance between physical attacks, magic attacks, healing, items, etc. Party members from 6 different classes make up your dungeon crawling crew, and can have benefits from heightened attack power, defensive abilities or spellcasting. While the soldiers are merely puppets and will lack much in terms of character, they vary enough in combat abilities to make them stand out from one another.

Interestingly, a range of different skills can be used when traversing the dungeon outside of combat as well. Using your RF meter, certain skills can be used to warp around, break down walls, or escape the dungeon. Every floor has a series of different enemy types and strengths, as well as many different routes that can be used to progress. The incorporation of these abilities adds even further options on the way you choose to play each floor. Unfortunately, this can also mean that you spend way too much time randomly reaching overpowered enemies, dead-ends, and complete confusion on certain floors while searching for a way out.

Equipment is found and rewarded in very high volume, and accompanied with a fairly in depth item fusion system, there can be a lot of time spent in menus for micromanagement. This feature can be somewhat confusing at first, but adds a lot of options if you’re a player who likes to maximize your combat potential, you’ll have plenty to work with here. Alternatively, you may receive punishment from the game in terms of difficulty if you’re someone who tends to steer away from the really tight micromanagement in JRPGs.

Overall, Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is a very well-rounded game. Despite some slight downfalls in terms of navigation and a simplistic combat system, there is a very solid core gameplay loop here. If you’re not a fan of JRPGs or dungeon crawlers, this game won’t change your mind whatsoever, as it sticks to what works rather than deviating from the norm much. For JRPG fans, the interesting dungeons, enjoyable characters, and 100s of hours of content will easily warrant the entry-fee.