Following up a surprise darling with more of the same is a genuinely difficult position for a sequel to be in, and Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society finds itself squarely there. Developed by Nippon Ichi Software as the follow-up to the unexpectedly beloved Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk, this dungeon-crawling RPG carries over the series’ distinctive wall-smashing exploration and dense, story-heavy structure, and largely succeeds on its own terms even as the element of surprise that made its predecessor feel so fresh is understandably gone the second time around.
Eureka, a cheerful young woman with a talent for finding lost things, answers a help-wanted ad that leads her to a remote manor housing a labyrinth full of magical treasures known as Curios. Working alongside the witch Madame Marta and her ghostly assistant, Eureka can’t safely enter the dungeon herself, so she instead crafts an army of soul-infused puppet marionettes to explore on her behalf, digging deeper into a mystery-tinged fairy tale that gradually reveals darker, more complicated undercurrents the further the story progresses.
The narrative unfolds across three distinct arcs, and the quality across them varies considerably enough that opinions on the game as a whole often come down to which arc a given reader happened to connect with most. The first arc, centered on a genuinely touching relationship between two women navigating loss and connection, stands out as some of the strongest, most emotionally focused writing the game offers, delivering a self-contained story that lands with real weight on its own. The subsequent arcs expand the scope considerably, introducing the titular Moon Society and a wider cast of new characters, but the story grows noticeably messier here, juggling more plot threads, more exposition, and a central antagonist that reads as considerably weaker than the compelling emotional core established earlier.
The final stretch pushes further into dense science-fiction and anime-inflected territory, layering on exposition heavily enough that the pacing suffers, and the ultimate resolution lands as more mixed than triumphant. Where Labyrinth of Refrain closed on a genuinely emotional, well-earned note, this entry’s ending pivots toward tying up a wide net of side characters and NPCs instead, and for readers who didn’t find themselves as invested in that wider cast, the finale can land with considerably less impact than the first arc promised. Being a direct sequel carries an inherent burden here too: the genre-deconstructing tricks that made the original feel so subversive, wall-smashing exploration foremost among them, no longer land as novel the second time through, even though the storytelling itself remains genuinely inventive within a niche genre that rarely attempts this much narrative ambition.
Eureka anchors the story with real warmth, and the returning emphasis on giving named, developed characters real screen time, rather than treating your party as faceless stat sheets the way most dungeon crawlers do, remains one of the series’ clearest strengths. The witch Madame Marta and several key figures from the first arc specifically carry genuine depth and get proper emotional payoff by the time their individual stories conclude. The manor setting itself is rendered with real atmosphere, arguably an improvement over the town setting from the previous game.
The wider cast introduced across the second and third arcs is where the writing stumbles more noticeably. Several new characters, including the Moon Society’s own members, come across as underdeveloped relative to how much narrative weight the story asks them to carry, and the antagonist driving much of the back half’s conflict lands as one of the least compelling villains the series has produced. It’s a genuine step down from how tightly focused and emotionally resonant the opening arc manages to be, and the unevenness across the full cast keeps the story from sustaining the same quality bar throughout its considerable length.
When the prose commits to smaller, more intimate stories, particularly in that standout opening arc, it delivers genuinely affecting, well-constructed drama that elevates the entire experience well beyond typical genre expectations for a dungeon crawler. The whimsical, occasionally very dark fairy tale sensibility carried over from the first game remains intact, and the anime-inflected humor and character writing throughout still land well even on a second outing.
The back half’s shift toward heavier exposition and more convoluted plotting is a real weakness, though, piling on lore and explanation at a pace that slows momentum rather than building it. Falling into more standard science-fiction and anime tropes during the final stretch also represents a step down from the more distinctive tone the opening arc establishes, making the writing feel less consistently sharp across its full runtime than the strongest parts of the story would suggest it’s capable of.
The art direction stands as one of the most consistently and universally praised elements of the entire package, striking, detailed, and distinctly stylized in a way that elevates even routine dungeon-crawling sequences into something visually memorable. That quality holds steady across nearly every account of the game, regardless of how those same accounts feel about the story or combat systems underneath it.
The dungeon crawling itself remains a genuine highlight mechanically, with wall-smashing, gap-jumping, and hole-dropping abilities giving exploration a satisfying sense of actively subverting the genre’s traditional maze design, even if that subversion no longer carries the same shock of novelty it did in the original game. Combat and character-building systems, by contrast, draw the sharpest and most consistent criticism across the board. The sheer density of mechanics, multiple stat growth types, several distinct categories of critical hits, an enormous web of passive skills with often cryptic descriptions, overwhelms even experienced dungeon crawler fans, and more than one account describes playing for dozens of hours without fully understanding systems the game expects you to engage with regularly. Auto-optimize options help mitigate the worst of the micromanagement, but the game still demands considerable time spent in menus for anyone hoping to engage with its systems meaningfully rather than relying entirely on automation.
The opening arc delivers real emotional resonance, built on a genuinely touching relationship that lands with more sincerity and craft than most RPGs manage even with far more screen time dedicated to their central relationships. That high point casts a long shadow over the rest of the game, though, and the emotional investment built through the later arcs’ wider cast doesn’t consistently match that initial peak, particularly given how much of the finale’s attention shifts toward tying up side character threads rather than delivering another emotionally focused, tightly constructed payoff.
The overall experience rewards patience and genuine investment in its systems and story, and readers willing to push through the more mechanically overwhelming and narratively uneven stretches describe the cumulative experience as addictive and rewarding, even if the highest emotional highs remain concentrated in that first, strongest arc rather than distributed evenly across the full length of the game.
Verdict
Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society succeeds as a worthy, if inevitably less surprising, follow-up to a genre-bending original, delivering striking art direction, a genuinely emotional opening arc, and dungeon crawling mechanics that still feel satisfying even without the shock of novelty that defined the first game. Its later arcs introduce a noticeably weaker antagonist and a wider cast that doesn’t develop as consistently as the story’s early highlights, and its overwhelming density of combat and character-building systems will be a genuine barrier for anyone without patience for heavy min-maxing. For dedicated fans of dungeon crawlers willing to meet its systems on their own demanding terms, and especially for anyone who fell for Labyrinth of Refrain the first time around, this remains a substantial, if uneven, continuation of a genuinely distinctive series.
