Warning: This review may contain mentions of violence, death, and other adult content. Reader discretion is advised.

The Mary Skelter series is one of Idea Factory’s more unique IPs of late. Between it and the Death End Re;Quest games, I’ve been really interested in Idea Factory’s RPG offerings. Now, the finale of the Mary Skelter Trilogy is here, but does it provide a satisfying experience? Well, let’s get into discussing that.

Before we get into the meat of things, I should mention that if you haven’t played Mary Skelter: Nightmares or Mary Skelter 2, then you’ll greatly benefit from the “Before Story” mechanic. By selecting the Before Story option on the main menu, you can experience every cutscene from both games (selecting them however you want) and even experience the true endings. This is important if you haven’t beaten the games yet, or if you have but it has been a while.

It is also important to note that the Mary Skelter series (including Mary Skelter Finale) is not suitable for children. While the characters are based around fairy tale characters, the subject matter in Mary Skelter games involves things like madness, death, blood, and other sensitive content. There are moments of humor and levity, but the series itself is not suited for kids at all.

After the events of Mary Skelter Nightmares (which is technically after Mary Skelter 2), the Blood Maidens and Jack escape the Jail, only to discover more Jail-like structures and an unforgiving wasteland waiting for them. The group finds themselves scattered after an attack by a mysterious group known as Massacre Pink, and each group is drawn to a new Jail. Can they find their way back to each other and survive?

This is the premise of Mary Skelter Finale, and it is the basis that the game’s mechanics are built on as well. The group is split into six groups at the start, and you have to switch between each team in order to progress. Sometimes progressing forward with one group will enable another group to progress as well. It starts out where you only have access to one group, but as time goes on you’ll switch between different perspectives.

This is called the Zapping system. You may need a certain Blood Maiden’s ability to progress, so switching between parties when you are stuck is important. It might seem complicated, but it actually works pretty well, and it is easy to figure out where you left off with a specific party.

Familiar mechanics from previous games return, such as the Blood Skelter mechanic, where Blood Maidens take on a berserk form if Marchen blood is allowed to accumulate on them. Jack or the other Blood Youths can use their blood to help the Blood Maidens and keep them from getting into a Blood Skelter state or can get them out of it before they attack party members.

You can also farm Blood Flowers in the dungeon to get materials to strengthen your Blood Maidens and make weapons or equipment. Overall, the progression is the same, level your characters, equip them with the best equipment you can, and survive the Jail. Hostile enemies are around most corners, as well as traps, Nightmares, and a new threat known as Insectmares.

Insectmares swarm the Blood Maidens, causing certain abilities to be disabled or other negative effects to happen. You will have to spray them with Marchen Blood to get the Insectmares off, and sometimes this will even turn those negative debuffs into positives for you.

Another new mechanic comes in the form of Jail Trials. You can optionally set Jail Trials to increase the difficulty by lowering party stats, preventing saving, preventing item use, or more, in order to gain bigger stat bonuses and other rewards. Personally, I think this is great for grinding later on, but I wouldn’t advise it in the early game.

You can also customize the Jail Roulette from previous games with the Control Jail feature. By collecting Jail pieces, you can change what bonuses are on the wheel. These new mechanics add even more customization and variety to an already robust RPG system. Between the different jobs your Blood Maidens can have, customizing skills, weapons, and equipment, there is a lot to play around with to customize your own playstyle.

To elaborate on that a little more, as in previous games you can assign jobs to your Blood Maidens. You can change their job from time to time, but the more they level a job, the more skills from that job they can obtain. Different jobs have different unique passives abilities and attacks, so learning and setting a variety of skills is important.

The key to surviving in Mary Skelter Finale is taking advantage of as many of these systems as possible. It is by no means an easy game, and it is a dark story as well. However, if you’ve played and enjoyed the first two games, I think this will be just as enjoyable. Normally I would be turned off by narratives that require you to switch between multiple parties, but this actually works really well.

It lets you explore multiple groups of characters in a way that you might not be able to otherwise. In fact, the storytelling (despite the dark plot) is one of the strengths of Mary Skelter Finale. The characters are unique, the dialogue is fun despite the occasional overuse of fan service, and Mary Skelter Finale has plenty of replay value as well.

Overall, I think if you enjoyed the other Mary Skelter games, Mary Skelter Finale is a great option. The Before Story mechanic also makes it a good option if you just want to dive in with the finale after watching the story of the first two games yourself. RPG fans shouldn’t miss out on the Mary Skelter series, and Finale is no exception.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Mary Skelter Finale was provided by Idea Factory for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Mary Skelter Finale

$49.99

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Great Gameplay Mechanics
• Engaging Progression Systems
• Dark Fantasy Atmosphere is Done Well
• Cast of Interesting Characters
• Multiple Difficulty Options

Cons

• Bits of Fanservice are a Little Excessive and cringey