MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death
E3 Preview
Colin Burns Colin Burns
06/18/2016

Platform:
Vita

Publisher:
Idea Factory

Developer:
Idea Factory & Compile Heart

Genre:
Dungeon RPG

Format:
Digital/Retail

Release:
US Fall 2016




Screen Shot
Customize your mech to your heart's content.
" MeiQ offers little in the way of innovation, but the systems that are in place are deep and you can hardly go wrong with girls and robots. "

Idea Factory is going out on a limb and assuming that fans of dungeon RPGs are also fans of giant robots. Their latest title, MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death (previously reported as Death Under the Labyrinth), combines these two things to great effect and it is clear that this title was developed for the fans. Customization is emphasized and encouraged, and it seems like the possibilities open the game up for nearly endless replayability.

Your party is made up of girls and mechs. The girls are mages and can be paired with unique mechs called Guardians. Both mages and Guardians can be customized to the extreme to finely tune your own perfect party of elite fighters. You can swap out the "seed" of the mages to upgrade and change basic stats. Similarly, you can change the "core" of the Guardians to do the same thing. You can upgrade and swap out arms for the Guardians and the changes are evident on the 3D model. Equip sword arms, blaster arms, support arms and more. Plans can be found in dungeons and they are used to develop your new gear.

The random battles happen in 3D and highlight a strength/weakness system based on the Chinese zodiac. Water beats Fire. Fire beats Grass, etc. Think Pokémon. Making sure your mages and Guardians are well equipped to tackle a particular dungeon's enemies is the key to success. Dungeons play out in first person and each one has a distinct gimmick that adds a little bit of puzzle solving to the experience. Ice panels or illusions are examples of dungeon-specific gimmicks. There are also a few notable quality of life additions, like being able to change the difficulty on the fly and no penalty for dying.

MeiQ offers little in the way of innovation, but the systems in place are deep and you can hardly go wrong with girls and robots. If you enjoy tweaking character builds and exploring vast dungeons, you'll easily sink tons of hours into MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death.


© 2016 Idea Factory, Idea Factory & Compile Heart. All rights reserved.