Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk
Beneath a small town lies an endless maze known as the Labyrinth of Refrain. Dusk Witch Dronya arrives, and with her puppet soldiers, endeavors to find something buried deep within. Embark on an adventure as you discover the secrets underground.
Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is a dungeon crawler, rpg and anime game
developed by Nippon Ichi Software and Inc.
and published by NIS America and Inc..
Released on September 18th 2018 is available only on Windows
in 3 languages: English, Japanese and French.
It has received 1,232 reviews of which 986 were positive and 246 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.7 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam and has a 80% discount.
The Steam community has classified Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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Requirements
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Windows
- OS *: Windows 7/8.1/10 64bit
- Processor: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD 520
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 20 GB available space
- Sound Card: Onboard
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
A solid dungeon crawler and one of the best stories I've read. It was an extremely dark and emotional journey but I'm glad I saw it through to the end. 9/10
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+ Great story elevated by great voice acting that is surprisingly grim with heavy themes. + Gameplay features dungeon-crawler staples such as pitfalls, dark rooms, and teleporter tiles, but with a NIS twist. + While you have 5 party slots, you can find a multitude of team compositions called "Covens" to fill in each slot, allowing up to 3 active party members per slot while having additional units in reserve to swap at will. + There is also the NIS staple of "Reincarnation" which is called "Soul Transfer" in this game, which allows you to reset a unit's level for greater stat boosts and skills. - While most mechanics are explained, mechanics such as Act Speed, Magic, Luck, Karma, etc., are explained too little too late, or not at all. I highly recommend a guide if you're lost on what something does. - There are some mistranslations such as "charm will deduct these stats" but the opposite is true, it will increase stats. - Finding the requirements for accessing the post-game, specifically in the 2nd and 3rd dungeon are obscure. Especially when another 1/4 of the game is locked behind it. - Specific Covens are needed to have a chance for specific bosses at endgame. I highly recommend this game if you are familiar with NIS's past games, or are a hardcore dungeon-crawler due to similar mechanics. If you are new to both, don't be afraid to look for a guide for a smoother experience.
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Bloodier and hornier Etrian Odyssey. Relative to those: + Strong emphasis on story from the get-go. + Team construction is an interesting, well-developed system in its own right. - Non-boss fights offer uninteresting turn-to-turn gameplay. - Several mechanics are opaque or obscure. - Some translation issues.
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Refrain is a critically flawed, but beautifully executed game that had me hooked from the start. I haven't played that many turn-based first-person dungeon crawlers like this, but that will certainly change now. The game starts out with some superb voice-acting and interesting characters. It's a bit edgy at times but the memorable characters with a variety of moral compasses/motivations and the fact that you are an enslaved book instead of some dude motivated me to keep playing. You aren't in a cast of adventurers who are looking to explore the world or some shit like that. There is a witch, her apprentice/"niece", the townsfolk with their unique blend of virtues and sins, etc. that are all there for specific but unique reasons that get revealed over time. The main story is fed to you as you progress through the labyrinth and pass some checkpoints that prompt you to resurface, creating a satisfying loop of exploration and story. Each labyrinth itself also has its own characters and stories, tied to the mobs you fight, the environment, encounters etc. that is separate from (though, later on, somewhat connected to) the main story. There is a lot of optional secrets, bosses, loot etc. (gating the true ending post-game that really develops on the story) , and so, every dialogue and VN cutscene was a joy regardless of it being a part of the main or the labyrinth one. Of course, since its from Japan, there are 1000 plot twists, time travel, etc but it was executed quite well with a lot of hints from the beginning, so I found it to be well-written . The cutscenes sometimes being really important, but sometimes just being daily events/meetings to develop the characters got me attached to the cast, though some people could see it as a drag before the tone shifts/the real plot develops. And well, the story being good was really necessary to keep me motivated since the game can really be a grind. 80-90% of combat encounters are extremely quick with very little thought. It can be quite satisfying to grind through these since your build, which has a lot of systems you have to interact with to create, is put to the test. However, it can get tiring and the game does drag on and on sometimes with mundane encounters, especially in the mid to early late game. Umbra is a common complaint, which is the largest labyrinth by far. I ended up dropping the game for months at times, but I always came back and 100%'d it. When the fights are actually a bit more difficult, the fact that things like the game's initiative system is not predictable and, outside of HP and resistances, the only [[Damage Complexity]] (outside of damage elements) comes from hit chance and crit chance makes the fights once again a test of your build rather than mid-combat strategy. Things simply are not very reliable, and there are a lot of one-shots either from your or from the other side. Tanks can choose to fortify before enemy attacks, and are most of the time more likely to get hit, but the boss-fights feature far too many board-wide attacks, which makes them less reliable unless they randomly proc their guarding abilities. So, a lot of fights boil down to your build, and a pinch of chance, but at the very least the builds themselves are pretty varied and interesting, at least for the individual units. The builds being the focus is a bigger strength than one might think, since most combat takes 10-15 seconds as you grind through the levels anyway (if you have a good enough build). Through rebirth, your puppets can take skills/passives with them as they take on a new class. Each class also has different stat growths and weapon preferences. The game is just kind of weird and interesting when it comes to builds. There is a luck stat that increases hit etc, but some skills actually benefit from luck being the lowest category possible, but only that category (or some highest category). Some skills give ATK whenever you dodge, others survive with 1HP, and some either give large boosts on full or very low HP. Chance to attack multiple times, stat % boosts, mana cost modification, etc. etc., there is a variety of skills dispersed through multiple classes which can create good synergies. Combine that with a variety of item slots, trinkets etc. that each can have some very different buffs/debuffs AND can be synthesized, and you have a lot of systems to interact with when doing your builds. However, build synergy is largely limited to the unit itself. Unfortunately, there is very little synergy between units, and the best "coven", which are collections that hold your units with certain buffs, are always those that just enhance your personal builds with a % buff. In other words, there isn't that much synergy between units, other than the guard rate of the tanks. There is a lot of active abilities that can be cast to enhance other units, but units don't really aid each other by existing together that much. I guess this might be a general weakness of turn-based games without positioning in general. I hope that Nippon Ichi uses such build variety / imaginativeness in a game with more complex combat some day to take it to its full potential. At the very least, the gore mechanic is interesting because it leads to dramatic fights. You can have puppets that specifically have builds that cripple the parts of a boss, and by the end when the cycle of one-shots and revivals end, you can often end up in situations where it doesn't make sense to revive anymore and your carry has to 1v1 the weakened boss. It often ends in some "defend before big attack" and attack cycle, but since chance is most important in a 1v1, it can be dramatic at least, if not strategic. Outside of combat, the level design definitely carries a lot of the gameplay. The fact that the labyrinth itself is a joy to map out/complete, "coloring the map", with treasures, and aforementioned stories/NPCs, helps as well. Mechanically, the levels have wall-breaking, verticality between labyrinth levels, etc. that form interesting challenges, and in some cases, traps. In a sense, you are fighting against the environment as much as the trash mobs, and up until you unlock "Mud Exit" getting out of the labyrinth can be a challenge. The enemy designs are very well made and varied too, so that adds to the joy as you progress and unlock new areas. This game could have been perfect if not for the combat, which sounds pretty bad but combat is relatively fast and you interact with the great story and exploration aspects much more often than you might think. Combined with how building your party itself can at least be quite involved, which alleviated some of the boredom of the combat, as well as the superb art, it becomes pretty hard to not recommend Refrain. Looking forward to playing Galleria to see what has changed.
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I haven't beaten the post game yet, but the way people talked about this game made me think this was going to be a dumpster fire. (Mostly those talking about what happens to characters in the story) But it sure was front heavy on those and stopped basically after the part most people where complaining about. I enjoyed it overall it's not a mechanically interesting game for the most part this isn't Shin Megami Tensei or even on the level of something like Final Fantasy 10 in complexity. But it sets a goal of being an DRPG and it gets most of it right. And I liked the story it was nothing ground breaking but it was fun to play through, it probably helped that I had a friend watching me fumble through the game with me. In any case I'd be comfy giving this a 7.5/10
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 29 November 2024 00:34 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 17 December 2024 18:43 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 20:42 |
| Steam reviews | 22 December 2024 15:53 |
Online players
57
Developer
Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.
Publisher
NIS America, Inc.
Release
18 Sep 2018
Platforms