Mary Skelter: Nightmares Wiki
Mary Skelter: Nightmares Wiki
Mary Skelter: Nightmares Wiki
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Mary Skelter 2

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“ A sequel that asks, "What does it take to escape from fate?" ”

—-Line from Idea Factory's official Mary Skelter 2 website

Mary Skelter 2 (神獄塔 メアリスケルター2, Kami Gokutō Mearisukerutā 2) is a dungeon-crawling role-playing video game developed by Compile Heart, released for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in Japan, with english releases for the Nintendo Switch and PC.

It is an alternate story to the original Mary Skelter: Nightmares, which was remade on the Switch as free DLC. The game saw a North American release on October 22nd of 2019, with the European release only a day later. The game itself is only available for digital distribution on the eShop, though physical copies were sold on the website Limited Run Games. On January 13th 2022 it was released via Steam and GOG for the PC.

A prologue short story was released and translated from Idea Factory and fills in some of the gaps and references in the game, starting from when Little Mermaid met Otsuu until five years before Alice and Jack are discovered. The English version can be read and downloaded here, and is also readable through the "bonus" section in Mary Skelter: Finale.

Plot[]

"I think it will prove interesting if you keep what we shared here secret."
This section contains major spoilers for the story of the Mary Skelter series. Read at your own risk.

Mary Skelter 2 holds an odd relationship with its predecessor, in that it's recommended to play Mary Skelter 2 before playing Mary Skelter: Nightmares.

The Jail - a living prison that feeds on the humans trapped within its confines.

The Jail appeared a number of years ago with the caving of the city around it.

Now twisted creatures known as Marchens and Nightmares roam its halls.

Otsuu and Little Mermaid are a part of a group of humans known as "Dawn" attempting to survive these horrors. They succeed in saving Alice and a young man named Jack on one mission.

However, on their return back to base, Alice goes mad and begins attacking those around her.

Alice strikes Jack, who was trying to protect Otsuu and Little Mermaid, knocking them down a chasm.

Later, Otsuu and Little Mermaid awaken from the fall only to find Jack on the verge of death...

And so begins the tale of escaping from fate.

“ Unable to confirm. Everyone has now forgotten. I apologize, I was mistaken. Only you can still remember. The past cannot be changed. But the future may change the past. I am not lying. I was created to only tell the truth. It is your turn to steal away her future. I will see you at the next tower. I was created to only tell the truth. ”

—Last message of the game

The game follows Otsuu and Little Mermaid on their quest to escape from the Jail, and starts with them and Red Riding Hood exploring the City Streets searching for Alice. After finding Alice as well as Jack, the group fall into the Underground Cavern and are all separated. Otsuu quickly meets up with Little Mermaid, but they find Jack heavily injured, and he turns into a Nightmare shortly thereafter. Otsuu and Little Mermaid encounter another group of prisoners who have escaped from the Jail, as well as a Blood Maiden by the name of Hameln. After fighting and befriending Hameln, they set out to locate Red Riding Hood and Alice, only to find the Liberated District — the home of the Blood Maidens and other Jail survivors — completely destroyed by a mysterious Nightmare. The group decide to build their own "Liberated District" in the Underground Cavern where Hameln resides.

The rest of the game follows Otsuu, joined by Little Mermaid and Nightmare Jack, as they explore the various Areas of the Jail, and encounter old and new friends along the way.

At the end, after the party have grown the Jail Tower enough to allow them access to the surface, they are once again confronted by the same Nightmare that destroyed the Liberated District. Otsuu realizes that the Nightmare is actually Alice, who much like Jack turned into a Nightmare following their initial separation. Nightmare Alice merges with the Nightmare side of Jack, turning him back into a human in the process but also morphing into the Love Nightmare. After much struggle, Otsuu and her party defeat the Love Nightmare, but are confronted with the true Nightmare of the Jail Tower. Otsuu's party, no longer having any strength to fight it, all attempt to flee, but are all killed after each of them attempts to buy time for the others. Eventually, once only Otsuu and Little Mermaid remain, Otsuu herself also turns into a Nightmare.

Otsuu reveals to Little Mermaid that she was originally a Nightmare inside an alternate world, she and Little Mermaid had grown close after Little Mermaid saved Otsuu from Marchens, but after learning of Little Mermaid's death Otsuu became devastated. Otsuu climbed to the top of the Jail Tower to reach something called the Witchcraft, a special white Core that could grant the user any desire they wished, and used it to create an entirely new world where she could be with Little Mermaid.

After learning of this, Little Mermaid convinces Otsuu to use the Witchcraft once more, this time to revert the world to how it originally was. The two walk towards the Witchcraft hand in hand, and the world is reverted.

The reverted world is the timeline in which Mary Skelter: Nightmares takes place. Little Mermaid is killed by Red Riding Hood after Little Mermaid enters Blood Skelter, and Otsuu remains unaware of this fact for many years.

Gameplay[]

For the most part, Mary Skelter 2 holds the same basic gameplay that defined Mary Skelter: Nightmares. Dungeon-crawling and the timing of dungeon features work on a turn-based system similar to the likes of Etrian Odyssey. Blood Maidens have special field abilities used to solve puzzles and navigate dungeons. By attacking the weaknesses of enemies and/or overkilling them, the player could accumulate Blood, allowing Blood Maidens to access the powerful Massacre or Blood Skelter states depending on their Corruption. Nightmares make a return as an unkillable boss requiring quick thinking to escape rather than by brute-forcing the solution.

Compared to Mary Skelter: Nightmares, the dungeons of the game are done in reverse order, and the game generally takes double the time to complete.

New Features[]

  • Kagome-Kagome Effect: By attacking enemies with a weapon with the "Bloodshot" effect, you can accrue a lot of Blood and force the enemy to turn their back on you. Backstabbing enemies deals more damage and garners more Blood, and they must waste a turn to face you once more.
  • Battle Gimmicks: Starting a battle near a gimmick such as spikes can trigger them mid-battle. Gimmicks cannot be destroyed in battle.
  • Critical Notice: A system where you are told when a character's next attack will be a critical hit. It comes in three tiers, with increasing power the flashier the notice is. Combos and weapons with the "Strike" property are more likely to trigger Critical Notice.
  • Nightmare Jack: Jack is turned into a Nightmare early on in the story, but miraculously retains his sanity. He'll fight alongside Otsuu to escape the Jail with his unique brand of Nightmare powers. This allows Otsuu or Nightmare Jack to act twice within the same turn.
    • Using Jack's abilities will deplete his mind gauge. If his mind falls too low, he may become Ripper Jack, which is essentially Jack's version of Blood Skelter, wherein he uncontrollably attacks allies and enemies. Entering Ripper Mode 3 times in the course of a single battle results in an immediate Game Over.
  • Embrace Command: A Blood Maiden can use the Embrace command on any Maiden in Blood Skelter or Ripper Jack. This will cause all of the targeted character's attacks to be directed either towards the enemy or the Embrace user. It can be both a gamble to try and make use of a berserk combatant or a sacrifice to protect a critical party member.
  • Jail Trial: after reaching chapter ?, before leaving for a district you can select different "trials" which are debuff you during combat (which can be permanent or activate per combat with a percentage chance) but grant other bonuses. E.g.: 15% battle risk: ATK/Def 15% down, but gold gained +15%
  • Control Jail: after chapter ?, you can find jail pieces which you can set to the jail. These pieces have a chance to replace options when you satisfy one of the Jail's desires and you get to roll the bonus wheels. This way you can increase the likelihood of receiving bonuses you want, e.g.: full party heal, particular blood crystals etc.

Concept Art[]

Trivia[]

  • An English release of Mary Skelter 2 on PS4 was originally planned, but was cancelled due to Sony not wanting it on their platform in the west.
  • Mary, a character introduced in the follow up Mary Skelter: Finale was originally planned to be introduced in this entry, though it was seemingly scrapped for unknown reasons.
  • Translating the game's Japanese title (神獄塔 メアリスケルター2) into English, the title instead reads as "The Prison Tower: Mary Skelter 2"

External Links[]

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