Prepare yourself, this will be a long review, I say this because...this review is probably going to be even longer than other reviews I've written, I have a lot to say about Mary Skelter 2, both good things and bad things, I've written a review of the original game and now, being someone who has just beaten the game as of me writing this, I'll write a review of Mary Skelter 2 for Nintendo Switch. Mary Skelter 2, just like the original game Mary Skelter: Nightmares, has fan service or suggestive content, that goes without saying, it's a game with funny moments like the original game, and in a game like Mary Skelter 2, funny moments are appreciated...a lot. Unfortunately, unlike the original game, which was published both physically and digitally by Idea Factory International, Mary Skelter 2 was, basically, released only as a digital download, at least outside of Japan, IFI published the game digitally for Nintendo Switch, and a physical version will be released soon for the console, but said physical version will be distributed exclusively by Limited Run Games...it's better to buy a video game physically if we want talk about the best option in the long run, but said physical video game, in this case, Mary Skelter 2, will be difficult to buy, or it will become rare or expensive easily, or whatever, but obviously, it would be better if the physical version was distributed by Sega of America, like their other physical releases, and not Limited Run Games...the digital version of Mary Skelter 2 in the west will disappear someday, sure, the game was released physically for Nintendo Switch in Japan, but that version only has Japanese text and audio, and perhaps the version distributed by Limited Run Games will be difficult to get and become expensive in the near future...so, yeah. It's a shame, because Mary Skelter 2 is a game worth playing...at least, you get the original Mary Skelter: Nightmares included, so, for $39.99 or, in my case, less than $780.00 pesos (list price of course), you get both games in the series digitally...not bad, I'd say. Let's begin.

Story: Mary Skelter 2 has a better story than the original game, I'll be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that Mary Skelter 2 is a dark game, I'd be giving this category a 10, it's a phenomenal story, too dark for my taste, even so, I have to give credit where credit is due, Mary Skelter 2 is even darker than the original game, Mary Skelter: Nightmares is already a dark game, but this sequel cranks it up to 11, I don't know if this means that some kind of gas leaked in Compile Heart offices or something...but they created something even darker and insane. The main character is Otsuu, a Blood Maiden who asked Little Mermaid to become her wife when they were younger, for some reason Otsuu asked Little Mermaid to become her wife when she saw her, not only that, Little Mermaid accepted, and so, Otsuu, her prince, became her husband and she protects Little Mermaid at all costs. One of the first things we see are Little Mermaid, Otsuu and Red Riding Hood on a mission to find a new blood Maiden, in this case, Alice, however, after rescuing her, things get bad and they got separated. The game certainly knows how to get your attention from the beginning, and while it's true that the story from Mary Skelter 2 is the same story that was used for the original game, more or less (a living prison, Blood Maidens to find, and an escape to be done), this game manages to have a better story with its alternate universe or ''what if'' story. I won't mention much more, Mary Skelter 2 is a recent game for now, the game must be played to appreciate its story, however, I'll say this...the ending is very, very bittersweet, one of the most bittersweet endings I've ever seen, it's on par with the ending of Blue Reflection or it can be compared with said ending at least, also, I want to mention that, in my experience with video game, it's kind of rare that an M-rated game has nice or positive messages and positive role models or representations, when it comes to M-rated games, one shouldn't be surprised if those games contain unlikable characters or, if they don't contain good characters morally speaking, even the protagonist can be a bad character or something like that (protagonist villain, Travis Touchdown, for example), but here? Despite being an M-rated game, and an M-rated game developed by Compile Heart no less, the characters are very likable and for the most part are positive role models, for a dark game, some of these characters are very kind and it clashes with the dark and messed up world of the game, which is something I really like, I'd say that this game has better characters than Danganronpa Another Episode and Death end re;Quest (other dark anime style M-rated games), at least, when it comes to positive characters or role models...I don't know, perhaps one could say that at times, a few of these characters can be ''goody two-shoes'', but I'm not sure if that is something that should be said, especially considering that supposedly ''goody two-shoes'' can be an insulting term, also, I'm not really familiarized with the term and I don't know if I'm using it correctly or if it even applies for these characters...in any case, Little Mermaid is very kind, and I love her as a character...I can like a character who wants to solve things in the most pacific way possible. As I said, the game has great role models and a few positive messages, the game is even complete with dialogue that says things like ''good intentions may not seem good for everyone'' or something like that. Overall, amazing story with amazing characters (for the most part), a fantastic ending, and positive role models and, of course, at least 1 twist or thing I didn't saw coming, I think I didn't saw 2 things coming, so, yeah, you have to play the game to appreciate its story.

Graphics: It looks better than Mary Skelter: Nightmares, sure, but even so, it's not an impressive or beautiful game, it looks nice, but not more than that. I've said before that I'm not the biggest fan of Kei Nanameda's art style, although I can't deny that it's fitting for the series, I don't like it that much, still, it's not my favorite art style, but I can't say that the character designs look bad, of course, and the CG images look...well, who am I kidding? They look great. Mary Skelter 2 uses Orochi 4, that Engine is, at least, part of the reason why the game has good graphics...unfortunately, the use of that engine is probably the reason why Mary Skelter 2 doesn't run perfectly, it's not that the game suffers of bad optimization...it's the fact that Nintendo Switch wasn't made for Orochi 4 in the first place, maybe, I don't know if that's true or if it's the other way around (Orochi 4 wasn't made for Nintendo Switch), but in any case, the game suffers from slowdown, annoying slowdown, and it must be mentioned, because the slowdown really affects the experience. The game runs at a maximum framerate of 60 frames per second, but often, it suffers from slowdown, at times, it seems that the slowdown occurs randomly and even if the slowdown shouldn't be there, the Temple is especially bad for its slowdown, when you are outside with all those bamboos, the game slowdowns a lot and it's very, very annoying, it's only when you are indoors that the game runs great, are all those bamboos too much for the Nintendo Switch or something? It's true that the slowdown is very consistent in the Temple, but other than that, the slowdown occurs more or less randomly and it can be frequent, Mary Skelter 2 is even a special case where a game suffers from slowdown during events...since when there is slowdown in a video game during the events? This isn't even a cinematic game, and even so, there is slowdown, and during the events, no less...the slowdown during events is very obvious or noticeable, and it bothers me, of course. Overall, if I had to use one word to describe the performance of this game, that word would be ''unstable'', sure, the slowdown is consistent in the Temple and during the events, which is bad of course, but for the rest of the game, the game runs great, with a framerate of 60 frames per second, but there is slowdown more or less, and it happens randomly...so, yeah, Mary Skelter 2 is, unfortunately, an unstable game, more or less.

Sound: The game has a great soundtrack at times, but it's not the best soundtrack in a Compile Heart game in my opinion, not only that, there is the use of recycled music, which is something I really dislike...at least they finally put the theme ''HYPELINE'' to good use, and that recycled theme is used much more in Mary Skelter 2, still, I don't like the use of recycled music that much, and that's...well known, to be honest. I'm giving this category a 7 and not an 8 (unlike the original game) partially because of the recycled music and partially because of the amount (not the quality) of the voice acting in English...IFI tends to publish games with partial dubs, that's totally true, but in the case of Mary Skelter 2, we have...a very partial dub, in other words, a very small dub if we talk about lines spoken out loud...it really feels like Idea Factory International only dubbed a small portion of the game, and that's...probably the case here. Sure, the English voice acting is phenomenal, most characters have their original voices and as such, most voice actors returned to reprise their roles/characters (Sleeping Beauty is voiced by Brianna Knickerbocker, Snow White is voiced by Christine Marie Cabanos, etc), the voice actors did a great job as their characters again, and when there is English voice acting in Mary Skelter 2 during events, it's fantastic, the voice acting sounds very real and convincing...it's amazing voice acting...the thing is, many events in the game only have text if you play with English voices, and...honestly, I think that Mary Skelter: Nightmares has more English voice acting than Mary Skelter 2...that's probably true...Mary Skelter 2 might be the worst dub in a game published by IFI, at least, if we look at the amount of voiced events if you play with English voices...it's a shame, the game really has amazing voice acting, and if we look at (listen to?) the voice acting, it sounds very real and it contributes to the game being effective (as I said, the game is very dark and it can be very sad as well)...I...just hope that this doesn't set a precedent for the dubs in games published by IFI, they tend to publish games with a lot of English voice acting...close to 50% of the game or something like that (at least), but here...they probably dubbed less than 30% of the game...Mary Skelter 2 is the most partial English dub in a game published by IFI, if we consider the amount of voiced events and lines in English, at best, I might be wrong, and it's not the smallest English dub in game published by IFI, but, ''at least''...it's one of the most partial dubs offered by them, that's for sure. I can't deny that the voice acting is great, and I'd have appreciated if the game had more English voice acting, the little voice acting (more or less) we have here might be some of the best I've ever heard in an anime style game, yes, in a way, Mary Skelter 2 has probably one of the best English dubs I have heard in my life...that's one thing in its favor, I guess, the quality of the English dub is excellent.

Addictive: Being a sequel, Mary Skelter 2 has similar gameplay compared to the original game. It's a dungeon crawler and the exploration of the dungeons is always in first person, there is combat in real time, and most mechanics return for this sequel, there are blood soul skills which are activated by licking the blood splattered on the Blood Maidens, the blood splatters are caused by ''overkills'' and attacking enemies (and bosses) with elemental weaknesses, etc. Of course, there are new mechanics, you can farm blood to create blood flowers that give you items, or...something like that (honestly I never used that mechanic), you can use ''jail Control'' to...control (at least to an extent) the bonuses you can receive when you satisfy the wishes of the Jail...it's more of the same with a few new mechanics and features, the mini game Purge makes its glorious return, and you can do a free purge if you want to see a Blood Maiden (any Blood Maiden) partially nude if you so desire. A difference I want to explain is Nightmare Jack, unlike the original game, Jack has transformed into a Nightmare in this game, and he can help during the battles in various ways, he can use items, try to escape from a battle, and, of course, eliminate the corruption accumulated in Blood Maidens, however, in this game, using ''Purge'' to eliminate the corruption affects his ''Mind Meter'', if it reaches a certain point, Nightmare Jack will turn into ''Ripper Jack'' and he will go berserk, attacking everyone including allies, Nightmare Jack can also prevent enemies from...doing anything using the ''Nightmare Zone'', but, of course, that also affects his Mind Meter. Like the first game, it's a nice game of risk and reward, where you have to decide if you want to use certain skills or tactics that can be risky, or if you don't want to take risks and instead use other attacks or skills, even if you don't want to take risks, there is the possibility that you will use ''purge'' to eliminate the corruption during battles, a lot, so, you'll have to try not to affect the Mind Meter too much, which, by the way, is usually affected when a Blood Maiden is defeated. Overall, it's a fun game, more fun than other turn-based games in my opinion, not perfect considering the framerate, for example, but what we have here is well made and Mary Skelter 2 is an interesting game and fun to play.

Depth: It might just be me, but the game is very big, I beat Mary Skelter 2 in more than 100 hours, so, I'd say that if you are playing the game on Easy (more details later) and ignore the optional quests, you can beat the game in at least, AT LEAST 40 or 50 hours, something like that if you are not skipping the events and only watch the events that are mandatory, if you watch the optional events and do some optional quests (to get gifts), which is what I did, the experience lasts a lot...I still have things to do (optional events and CG images to see, for example).

Difficulty: Mary Skelter 2 is even more difficult than Mary Skelter: Nightmares, if you play on Easy, the game isn't a big challenge and most battle should be...easy, but if you play on Normal or, even worse, Fear difficulty, the game can be a...nightmare. I lost many times throughout the game, and I had to swallow my pride to beat this game, there where at least 3 instances where I was playing on Normal difficulty, but in order to defeat a specific boss, I had to lower the difficulty and play on Easy...even the final boss made me lower the difficulty, and in the original game, the final boss is very easy...now then, it's true that I never used certain features or mechanics, I never used ''Blood Devolution'' and ''Jail Trial'', for example, and that...might have something to do with the fact that I lost a lot on Normal difficulty and also that I used many, many hours to beat the game, I was playing Mary Skelter 2 in a...traditional way, one could say, and that also applies for the original game, I never used ''Blood Devolution'' in the original game, and also...only Alice used a different Job, for all the other characters I always used the jobs and skills they have by default...so, if you play the game on Normal or Fear, this category deserves at least a 9, I think...

Usually, for the last section or paragraph, I would briefly mention both the positive and negative aspects of the game, comments like ''the lack of an English dub and the fact that the game doesn't always run at 60 frames per second are things I don't like about the game, but even so, I like the game''...something like that, here, I'll do that, more or less, but also I'll mention one or two things that, I'd say, don't fit in the rest of the paragraphs. Mary Skelter 2 was published completely uncensored in America and Europe, however, the game has a PS4 version that won't be released outside of Asia, IFI published the Nintendo Switch version because that's the version that could be published without censoring the game, so, if you want to play Mary Skelter 2 in English, don't expect the original PS4 version outside of Asia, that version can't be published without having to censor the game (we know why of course, we know why...), I appreciate the fact that Idea Factory International published the game completely uncensored...however, good intentions don't matter when Mary Skelter 2, as a product, leaves something to be desired, and no, I'm not talking only about the very partial English dub, I'm also talking about the translation...Mary Skelter 2 has the worst translation I have seen in a game published by IFI so far, there are many errors throughout the experience, and it bothers me a lot, this doesn't have anything to do with the standard that IFI has established, which is another way of saying that in general, they publish games with great translations and few errors, here, we have many typos (''what to do we afterward?''; ''What's the you have there?''; ''Did you pay my head to...praise me? Thank you...!''; ''Princess? What's Sleeping doing...'' and more), perhaps the many errors are the result of using only 1 person as a translator, and although the credits show several names under the section ''Quality Assurance'', that made me say ''quality assurance? What Quality assurance?'' It feels as if they had skipped the proofreading, as if no one had checked the translation before publishing the game...it's true that the errors in Hameln's dialogue (her slurs) are usually or always intentional, the weird dialogue used by some Nightmares was also intentional of course, and the way Rapunzel talks also has frequent errors or doesn't make sense, the previous things were intentional, but other than those things...I'm sure that the game has many errors that weren't intentional. Also, in my experience...I think that Mary Skelter 2 is the game published by IFI with the largest number of instances in which the subtitles don't match the spoken dialogue and vice versa, which, of course, breaks immersion...I can't say that it happens all the time, but even though the game doesn't have a lot of English voice acting compared to other Japanese games, I think that it happens more in this game than in other games published by IFI, at least a little. So, after writing all this, do I recommend Mary Skelter 2? Well, yes, the game is not perfect and it has several flaws, the slowdown, the minimal (to an extent) English voice acting, the many errors, and the difficulty which can be unfair, also, the game crashed once, sure, we are talking about the game crashing once in an experience that lasted more than 100 hours, so, it's a very minor detail in the grand scheme of things, still I wanted to mention that...even with the flaws, Mary Skelter 2 is a good game, the music is great at times, it's fun to play, the story and characters are amazing, the game has a lot of funny moments...it's a game I definitely recommend, especially if you love Dungeon crawlers, considering that the game was published only as a digital download in the west (if we forget about the physical release that will be distributed by Limited Run Games), I would say...buy the game before it disappears, if you are interested of course, if you aren't a fan, maybe buy Mary Skelter 2 on sale, if it comes down in price again and you are curious, I'd say...go ahead, buy it. Of course, I won't tell you that you have to buy the game, that's up to you, what I can say is this: I like Mary Skelter 2 and somehow I think it's on par or just as good as the first game, somehow...man, this really is a long review...