When I played Mary Skelter: Nightmares a few years ago, I really found the darker, fairy tale aesthetic somewhat fascinating. I had always expected that we’d see more from Idea Factory in this world, but Mary Skelter 2 has surprised me in a variety of ways. Having it available on Nintendo Switch is a great thing though because it lets you take a new Mary Skelter adventure on the go.

I should make you aware, however, that if you buy Mary Skelter 2, you will actually be purchasing it and the original game together for a single low price. Mary Skelter: Nightmares comes with each copy of Mary Skelter 2, presumably even the physical release being created by Limited Run Games. It comes in one of two forms. You can either complete the entire story of Mary Skelter 2 and unlock it that way, or you can download a DLC pack from the eShop that automatically unlocks it.

Now, you’re probably wondering “Why would I have to unlock the original game by playing a sequel?” and the answer to that is, Mary Skelter 2 isn’t entirely a sequel. In fact, Mary Skelter 2 contains many of the same characters from Mary Skelter: Nightmares, except it seems to take place in a parallel reality, where the story shifts focus from Alice’s relationship to Jack and instead puts Jack in a very different sort of scenario.

The premise is simple. You begin the game as Otsuu and Little Mermaid, trying to find another Blood Maiden to join the ranks of Dawn, an organization that seeks to liberate people from the prison areas and expand the “liberated district” of The Jail. The jail is a malevolent prison, overrun by Marchens and Nightmares who torture humans and have corrupted the world around them into a nightmarish hellscape.

Blood Maidens are able to fight back against the Marchen threat, but at the start of the game, Nightmares are unkillable and are a big threat to the Blood Maidens. After finding Jack, Alice, and the other prisoners, they begin to escape until Alice goes into Blood Skelter mode, a transformation of utter madness. In the process, Jack is fatally wounded, but instead of dying becomes a Nightmare, seemingly bonded with Otsuu.

Otsuu and Little Mermaid then begin a quest to find the other (now scattered) Blood Maidens and try to continue their mission to protect people from the Marchen hordes. I am going to take a moment and interrupt myself here, to mention that Mary Skelter 2 and Mary Skelter: Nightmares, are both dark experiences that are not at all suitable for children. In fact, putting Idea Factory’s penchant for fanservice and adult content aside, the subject matter in the Mary Skelter games is far from light and airy in most cases.

During your playtime in the world of Mary Skelter 2, you will see things such as madness, death, despair, and monsters that are far from the light and playful things you might play in Dragon Quest for example. However, this dark, macabre aesthetic starts to grow on you after a while, and fully immerses you in a world far different than our own.

Much like the original, Mary Skelter 2 is a turn-based Dungeon-Crawling RPG that has you exploring parts of The Jail, floor by floor. There are puzzles, which you traverse using each Blood Maiden’s unique ability, as well as things like switches and keys to find in order to progress. Mary Skelter 2 (and the remade Mary Skelter: Nightmares) has smaller dungeons than the original release of Mary Skelter: Nightmares, which I think is very helpful and refreshing.

One of my major complaints with the original was how long some of the dungeons dragged on, so they took feedback from fans and carefully adjusted the difficulty balancing and the length of dungeons.

Combat is the main part of the game that got an overhaul. In Mary Skelter 2, combat is turn-based and you play as Otsuu, Nightmare Jack (who takes actions alongside Otsuu,) and up to five other Blood Maidens, attacking enemies, using skills, and doing other actions. Otsuu (like Jack in the first game) has the ability to use items, however, none of the other Blood Maidens can do so themselves.

There are some mechanics you need to be aware of though in order to survive Mary Skelter 2’s combat. As you deal damage to enemies, striking at their weaknesses or even killing them with overkill damage, they will spray blood that will land on the Blood Maidens. You can have your characters lick the blood off each other to use blood abilities, or you can allow the blood to accumulate.

Letting the blood accumulate eventually results in the Blood Maidens going into Massacre Mode, which changes their form, raises their stats, and gives them unique Massacre skills in the process. However, if you continue to let blood accumulate on them after that, they will gain something called Corruption, which ultimately results in them going into Blood Skelter mode.

Blood Skelter Mode is similar to Massacre Mode, except it makes the Blood Maiden go insane, and you will lose control of the Blood Maiden while she is in Blood Skelter Mode. She will attack enemies and allies alike, dealing large amounts of damage. The only way to reverse such a thing is with Nightmare Jack’s Purge command, which purges the Blood Maiden of corruption. In fact, you can use the purge command before they go into Blood Skelter, so that you don’t have to worry about your party getting wiped out by a rampaging Blood Maiden.

Nightmare Jack’s sanity must also be monitored though because he can take on a Blood Skelter-esque form known as Ripper Jack. The problem is, Ripper Jack can be fixed by Otsuu but since Jack and Otsuu are connected, there are times where Ripper Jack can trigger Otsuu’s Blood Skelter mode. This is a bad, bad scenario which can easily spell doom for your party.

Since Otsuu and Jack take up a single space in the party, you can have either Otsuu or Jack act twice, or give them an action apiece. Jack can stabilize his mental health using Deep Breath, and there are other ways to mitigate the risks of madness out in the field. There are also new mechanics such as the Kagome-Kagome mechanic, where if enemies take enough bleed damage they will turn their back to you, allowing you to do massive amounts of damage.

You can also farm blood crystals out in certain areas of The Jail while you are exploring. If you plant them using the Blood Farm mechanic, you can get powerful weapons, armor, accessories, and more once the plants bloom. Exploring the Jail isn’t all fun and games though. You may come across a Nightmare creature in your travels.

Nightmares cannot be killed by normal means, so in most cases, you will find yourself fleeing from the Nightmare creatures. On normal and hard difficulties, you can’t use your mini-map when a Nightmare is near, however, on the easiest difficulty there is nothing hindering you from using your mini-map effectively.

When you aren’t in battles or exploring the Jail, you can spend time in your Headquarters, where you can talk to the Blood Maidens, give them gifts, and raise their affection level. The Headquarters is also where you do things such as enhancing weapons, buying consumables, changing your Blood Maiden’s job (thereby allowing them to learn new abilities) and even having blood packs appraised.

Appraising blood packs, allows you to see what they offer. Blood packs are found in various places and can provide new skills, stat upgrades, and other boons if you use them on your Blood Maiden allies. Mary Skelter 2 (like the first game) is chock full of content, with multiple endings, lots of side content, and intense battles.

I will say though, that if I had to complain about something, it would be the pace of the story. It takes a lot to get into Mary Skelter 2, and in some respects, it takes a while to really figure out what the end goal is. I also found that with some of the new additions (ie Ripper Jack) it gave you a bit too much to balance.

For example, in a boss fight, you not only have to make sure your characters are at high HP, but you also have to ensure that no one is going into Blood Skelter or Ripper Jack mode. It is a nice challenge of course, but it does get to be a bit chaotic in places

Overall, Mary Skelter 2 is more of what I enjoyed about Mary Skelter: Nightmares. The added bonus of both games being packaged together makes me even more likely to recommend it, as long as you don’t mind dark subject matter and a bit of fanservice here and there.

If you’re an Idea Factory fan or a fan of dungeon crawling RPGs that are quirky and different, then you can’t go wrong with Mary Skelter 2. If you prefer something a little more lighthearted, relaxed, or traditional, then I think you might want to look elsewhere.

A Nintendo Switch copy of Mary Skelter 2 was provided by Idea Factory for this Review

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Mary Skelter 2

$39.99 USD

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Lots of Puzzles
• Great Dungeon Crawling Gameplay
• Multiple Difficulty Levels
• Dark, Unique Aesthetic
• Multiple Endings

Cons

• Story is Slow to Start
• Very Dark Subject Matter
• Fanservice is Heavy