From the very first announcement of Lapis X Labyrinth by NIS America, end of last year. I have been closely following the development of that game. I fell in love with it almost instantly with its fast combat, beautiful levels, and cute characters. Needless to say, it has become my go-to game on Switch after a long day at work with the test version. In fact, that is the idea of exploring the dungeon that keeps me going through the whole day at work. After attending the event of NIS America that excitement increased even more in me.

It is basically a 2D side-scrolling RPG action game. In the world of Lapis X Labyrinth, all you need to do is explore those dungeons to find the sweet, sweet loot in it.  In the game you will be able to create your characters from 8 different classes, include maids, warriors, and gunners. But notice that only 4 characters could go into the dungeon at a time. So the more you have the more options and combinations you could choose from with each class has their own skill set.

From the Switch to the PS4 version

My first experience with the game was on my Switch just a couple of weeks ago, but then I got the chance to try the PS4 version recently. Aside from the smoother framerate, there is not much different from the Switch version. It was nice to see how my favorite game would wield on more powerful hardware.

Lapis X Labyrinth I Have Fallen In Love With This
Choose your team

Just after when I first booted the game up,  I have encountered the same problem on the Switch version. The first dungeon right after the tutorial, the monsters completely destroyed me. My collection of maid and warrior isn't remotely enough powerful. So load up my save, I took a different approach with a new combination of characters. Then when rushing back to the place that I have failed before, I even totally skipped the exposition where I supposed to make more character. Rush to that first dungeon with just 4 characters, I totally dominated it this time.

The combat

The combat mechanic in Lapis is very simple. It is a combination of combos using one button and much more powerful moves which will be activated with a combination of action button and direction button on the control pad. There is also a secondary attack button will give the order to the character on the top to use their unique skill based on their class. Some are attacking move, while others are buff skills. The leader will be the character at the bottom of the stack, but then all four characters are open to receive damage. The most important factor in the battle in this game is who to put on top and bottom of your stack. During my time with the game, I gradually become good at swapping and manage the member of my team.

Lapis X Labyrinth I Have Fallen In Love With This
Combat in the game

In those earlier dungeons in this game, the enemies are simple and quite easy to handle, to me they seem to be just simple light damage sponges to my team. But then there is a trick that Lapis loves to use that is put the players in a small area and throw in many enemies as possible. That's how I have died when I was down with just 2 members. But with a full team, that situation is still manageable for me. At those moments, it is quite hard to keep track of everything because there are so much happening at once on my screen. These moments will even be more hectic on fever mode.

The fever mode ( the slot machine mode)

While I'm not yet too sure about what fever mode does to the game yet. But one thing I know for sure is that it makes the simple RPG game Lapis X Labyrinth into a crazy slot machine. Keep on destroying the blocks and defeating your enemies will release a constant stream of gems for you to collect. Like I said the game gives me the vibe of a slot machine because of all those noises, music, colorful gems and flashing lights.

Of course, there are lots more of  Lapis x Labyrinth, including but not limited to such as key, chests, scores, and much more features beyond the first six dungeons. But which I have seen so far, I am sure that I like this game. They will launch the game on May 28th for both Switch and PS4.