The lovely ladies of Belles Fleurs Academy, plus Flora the Holy Blossom
Omega Labyrinth Life is a 3D Dungeon Crawling Roguelike JRPG, developed by Matrix Corporation, and published by D3 Publisher Inc. It was released on digital platforms on August 1, 2019, for Nintendo Switch, and a heavily-censored version for PS4, called "Labyrinth Life" instead. Later, the Nintendo Switch version was ported onto PC via Steam, released on December 10, 2019.Belles Fleurs Academy. Beautiful. Storied. Prestigious. A school exclusively for the children of the richest, the most elite, and the most influential in the world, until today, when it receives its first transfer student: Hinata Akatsuki. Being outside of the upper class, she finds herself awestruck at just how massive and impressive the school grounds are, especially its crowning jewel: the Grand Garden, its flowers perennially in bloom thanks to the power of the Holy Blossom in its center.
Save for a bizarre, underground detour the moment she steps into the campus, she makes new friends quickly, beginning with her seatmate, Berune "Bell" Orenji. But tragedy strikes the next day as a mysterious, ominous miasma falls over the Grand Garden, making it wilt and wither. Shocked, saddened, and with a cloud of suspicion hanging over her head, Hinata volunteers to venture deep into the underground caverns beneath the school, to try to revive the Grand Garden, rescue the Holy Blossom, and figure out just what exactly had happened and how to keep this tragedy from repeating itself.
Gameplay is split into two sections:
- Exploration and combat in randomly generated dungeons, killing monsters, becoming more powerful by absorbing the Omega Power they release on death, and gaining more powerful loot, while you're at it.
- Life in the Academy, socializing with Hinata's classmates, planting and cultivating new flowers in the Grand Garden for crafting materials, and unlocking new skills and permanent, persistent upgrades across dungeon runs.
Like its predecessors, Omega Labyrinth and Omega Labyrinth Z, the game is unabashedly Fanservice heavy, featuring all manner of contrived situations to explain all the many lewd and titillating situations the all-female cast find themselves in—of particular note is the fact is that Omega Power is stored in their chests, and collecting enough of it will make them grow larger, and to ridiculous extents come late-game.
Please direct all character-specific tropes to the Characters page.
This game provides examples of:
- Anti-Frustration Features: The game features a number of welcome conveniences that usually plague the randomly-generated dungeon crawler.
- Though you lose all items and equipment upon death in a dungeon, before diving in you can pay for a GPS tracker to be attached to your most valuable equipment. You need only pay twice its value in Omega Power to get it back from the shop.
- There is a dedicated button to move and attack diagonally. While it can be iffy if your character is in a T-intersection and can't attack through walls without a 2-tile reach weapon like the lance, it does make maneuvering easier.
- While holding down two buttons, you can have the characters move at hyper-speed down a track, until they hit an intersection, an enemy, or a dead-end. This particularly helps as some connecting paths between rooms can get very, very long, and especially the smaller labyrinths within the labyrinth.
- After the first few chapters, you unlock Fairy Mode, which gives you absurdly higher Omega Power per run than a regular crawl with the main characters, without having to worry about setting of traps or hunger, at the cost of being forced to use the fragile fairies Nem and Pai, who have to keep their distance and use their long-ranged attacks to survive most encounters. They also have access to room-clearing skills, should you find yourself surrounded by enemies.
- Size Ups can be skipped, and unidentified items processed in batches for even more efficiency. Sets of items of the same unidentified title will cost the same as identifying one, regardless of enchantments or quality.
- The lengthy Full Blooming minigame can be skipped for a respectable sum of experience points and some Essence.
- Once you finish Momo and Yuyu's initial sidequests, you unlock the Landscaping room and can now plant, water, and harvest all 240-400 available slots in a section of the garden with just a few button presses. There is also an "Auto" seeder, which uses up your most abundant seeds and throws in a few other available types for variety, prioritizing those that can help make up a full 240-400.
- You can fast travel to any point in the campus through a menu, and can access the dungeon and a number of services directly from there.
- You can zoom out and pan across the entire Hub World to look for sparkling items, sidequests, and new dialog with characters.
- The characters you don't choose to control and take with you into the dungeon may sometimes spawn on a floor, and roam and attack monsters of their own accord. Not only do they have a massive defense buff that keeps them from getting killed and consequently spawning an insanely powerful monster for you to deal with, but they will also give you the full experience and Omega Points as if you killed them yourself.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: The special character dungeons are this, with the character going solo, without equipment or items, using drops tailored to their playstyle and a corresponding gimmick—for example, Belrune and the monsters in her dungeon always land Critical Hits, in line with her skill set based on luck.
- Bilingual Bonus:
- "Belles Fleurs" is Italian for "Beautiful Flowers"—appropriate for a school that prides itself on its main garden.
- "Yuri" is Japanese for "lilies," which is both the flower associated with Yurika, and is a very unsubtle reference to the fact that she is the most open, aggressive, and unabashed lesbian of the cast. note
- Breast Expansion: A key gameplay mechanic, as accumulating large amounts of Omega Power makes your character much stronger, and as a side effect, makes their breasts grow to ridiculous sizes. As further emphasis on this mechanic, the girls's tops get unbuttoned and even their bras eventually give way, complete with an animation of their overspilling with the sound of their bra ripping as they do so.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Used as a key gameplay mechanic. Separate from the level gained from XP, larger cup sizes equal proportionately bigger stats, and even special bonuses at milestone sizes like L and Z.
- Callback: While mostly a standalone game, particularly because the previous two installments were never officially localized, there are references to the events of the original Omega Labyrinth and its sequel, such as Anberyl Girls Academy being the sister school of Belles Fleurs; references to its plot, such as the Holy Grail; and returning characters, such as Pai the Fairy, plus The Witch of Desire.
- Cast from Experience Points:
- The Hyper Omega Slash technique is only available at max chest size (Z Cup), and will shrink your character's bust back to their normal size immediately after, taking the stat boosts along with it.
- The Risky Potion brings you back to level 1, but gives you plus 5 to all stats, which is very helpful in some of the later dungeons when monsters and XP are both overflowing.
- Censor Steam: Just enough of it is used by the developers to avoid raising their CERO rating too much.
- Collection Sidequest: All of the sidequests involve searching for certain items, then trading them in for other, more valuable supplies, or either of the two currencies, Omega Power and Nectar.
- Damage Discrimination: Projectiles, spells, and skills follow a few important rules.
- Almost all projectiles, spells, and splash-damage will always hit and effect the first target it comes in contact with or is within its range, regardless of who fired it. An arrow from a Robbin' Hood will harm you as much as its fellow monsters, as you are liable to accidentally shoot your partner in the back if you try to fire at a monster that is just ahead of them. The only exceptions to this are Pai and Nem's basic attacks, and "Lord" tomes that deal elemental damage in a radius around the user.
- All player character skills from Skill Blooms discriminate between friend and foe. If you use Mio's Charged Pineapple, it can hit and detonate on your partner, but the resulting explosion will not damage either of you, just any monsters caught in its area.
- Monsters' area-of-effect spells damage indiscriminately. Should a boss cast a room-size damage spell, they are perfectly capable of wiping out their own mooks alongside you. This does not extend to status effect spells, like Confuse.
- D-Cup Distress: Or rather, Z Cup Distress. Have a character with that size enter the spa, and you can just tell from the looks on their faces that their... enhanced assets... are at least causing slight strain. Though given the game in question, they could just be trying not to get overly stimulated...
- A-Cup Angst: Interestingly, they get much more distressed should you trip a Washboard trap, which turns them completely flat for a few turns and depresses them so much that they can't use their skills.
- Disc-One Nuke: Hinata's Botanical Blaze deals an even 100 damage that ignores defense to most enemies and bosses (200 if she's at 50% health or less.) For a good portion of early game, and even some of mid-game, an attack like this is a godsend. There are other, better room-killing attacks later, but you learn it early enough to qualify as this.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Par for the course, and the game, the developers, and the advertisers do nothing to hide it. The prime example is the "Size Up" mechanic in the English localization: unidentified items are put inside an "Ambiguity Crystal," then imbued with Omega Power to reveal their true nature. This is done by putting the Ambiguity Crystal between a character's breasts, then having them rub it to make it grow larger and longer, until the Omega Power overflows and spews out from the top. Many of the character's dialog implies this isn't a pleasant experience, as they complain before and especially after a Sizing Up, though two of them, Berune and Yurika, seem to get some enjoyment out of it (except when doing it as a Z-cup).
- Taken up to eleven with the Skill Bloom scenes, where the player pokes and prods at the girls bodies, stimulating them more and more until they... "splash" a large amount of drops to be used for watering the flowers. It's allegedly "Concentrated Omega Power."
- Dungeon Crawling: The crux of the combat sections of the game is exploring the randomly generated dungeons, fighting monsters, getting loot, and reaching the end, up to a maximum of 100 individual floors. Some even have special gimmicks.
- Elaborate University High: Belles Fleurs is absurdly rich, and doesn't hesitate to show it, from the fully-equipped and staffed five-star kitchen in the dining hall, the elaborate irrigation system that drains into a picturesque lake, or the numerous sports facilities we see at the edges of the Hub World, like a field track, a tennis court, its own stables, and an archery range, among other amenities. Justified in that it was and still is a school for the ridiculously rich and privileged, and having been around for 100 years means some of its alumni may have been, or are still royalty in some way.
- Fiction 500: The Ginjo Conglomerate, of which Nanami is set to inherit. It's so ridiculously, absurdly rich that any time currencies that aren't Omega Power or Nectar are involved, she can provide Director Rinka with all the funding and research equipment she could ever need, and even offers to sponsor one of Juri's concerts outright (Juri insists on a loan instead). It's telling that even someone from outside the upper class like Hinata instantly recognizes the name.
- Flower Motifs: Belles Fleurs Academy prides itself on its Grand Garden. The name itself is French for "Beautiful Flower". Many major characters are spiritual representations of flowers, especially Flora, the Holy Blossom. Gardening plays a key role in character progression and upgrades for the dungeon-crawling sections. Every playable student has a unique flower associated with them.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Omega Power is the source of power for the characters, and since it is stored inside women's chests, bustier characters have better stats. This does not mean that the less generously endowed characters are any less powerful, just that the others like Yurika have a head-start stat-wise, and can cap out their cup size/power level much earlier.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: In cutscenes, every playable character delves into the dungeon at the same time, and during bosses, it's implied all of them are fighting at once, with Hinata leading. In gameplay, you only have your character plus an optional AI partner, and you will only ever have a chance to meet up with the others in the dungeon; they will attack monsters and give you the experience for free, but all they really offer is a one-time bonus or a chance to switch partners.
- Guide Dang It!:
- Juri is not automatically unlocked as a playable character at the end of the first Fire Cave levels. Instead, you have to complete three sets of her collection sidequests. She is never given any special colours or notice like the other sidequests that unlock unique scenes and dialog, and it is very easy to just ignore her due to the nature of collecting specific flower seeds, of which you'll have plenty of.
- Drops from Skill Blooming can be used to water the flowers, and give them bonus yields without spending Omega Power. You will have no shortage of these as you will be encouraged to do skill blooming regularly, but you will have to figure out which seeds benefit from what kind of drops.
- Harder Than Hard: Cleared all the dungeons? How about delving without any of the character's active skills, and no TfT petals, just a constant supply of Risky Potions?
- Hub World: Belles Fleurs Academy acts as this. With the Grand Garden and your flower cultivation in the center, you can simply go around its circumference to purchase and sell items at the school store, get a free lunch once a day, craft and modify your equipment, change the decorations of the school, "Size Up" some unidentified items, gather some free Omega Power from the spring from time to time, and maybe pick up some side-quests while you're at it.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: During Alraune's first boss-battle, Nem calls out to her true identity, Blue Rose. She regains control of her senses long enough to let the protagonists escape with their lives.
- Inventory Management Puzzle: You are always limited to 30 item slots in your dungeon inventory, not including projectiles which stack. You can attempt to expand this by using Purses, but be wary of their gimmicks, such as being able to put items in but not being able to pull them out until you're outside of the dungeon, ripping on impact with a wall if you happen to fall prey to a "Tub of Lube" trap, or not being storage but instead a portable disposal unit. There's also the matter of having to go through several menus, and making you sure you batch select exactly the amount of space it has left inside...
- Jiggle Physics: Due to the very large breast-focused nature of the fanservice, the character's chests are prone to bouncing and jiggling at the slightest movements. This is most blatant in Tit-for-Tat, where their chests are all you see.
- Lazy Backup: In cutscenes and gameplay, almost to all of the members of the playable cast will be exploring the dungeon along with your controlled "Leader" character, and partner, if you brought one. You can talk with them to gain benefits and items for that floor, and even have them tag along or switch partners. However, if your Leader character gets KO'd, it's instantly game-over, back to the Academy, and lose all your items, unless you have a TfT petal, or the consumable Fairy Blessing item.
- Macrogame: Skill Blooming allows your characters to gain new active skills, passive buffs, and bonuses to their starting to stats. Item crafting lets you create some absurdly powerful gear to compete with the absurdly powerful monsters you can find deeper in the dungeon, and make the first few floors much, much easier. You can also unlock extra facilities to bring valuable Omega Power with you, or start with buffs from the school's spa.
- Makes Just as Much Sense in Context:
- Tit-for-Tat, where in exchange for great rewards or resurrection from death, you play rock-paper-scissors with breasts instead of hands.
- To unlock your character's skills and passive upgrades, you use Omega Power-laced nectar to "Augment" them, which involves teasing and stimulating their intimate areas, until they have integrated it into their bodies, and, ah... released the rest.
- Size Up. How do you identify mysterious magical items and unlabeled potions? You put them into an Ambiguity Crystal or any other suitable vessel, then put that between the breasts of a woman exposed to Omega Power. Have them rub it and infuse it with Omega Power, making it grow larger and longer, until the excess energy erupts from the top half and the characteristics of the items are revealed. Please note some of the "suitable vessels" include Shrimp Tempura, an Eel Plushie, and a Kokeshi Doll.
- Money Sink: Most necessary purchases like new equipment and supplies, item upgrades, and identifying unknown items are pretty cheap, and you will eventually be bringing home Omega Power in the thousands to tens-of-thousands with normal runs. So, the game gives you a variety of completely optional cosmetic upgrades and unlocks, such as changing the character guide on your menu, being able to play Skill Blooming minigames and Tit-for-Tat whenever you please, and specific CGs, like the characters in the spa with specific breast size ranges.
- Nipple and Dimed: To an absurd, hilarious degree, no matter how many times the characters risk having their increasingly massive breasts completely exposed, something will always manage to keep them decent (enough for their M rating). This is especially egregious with their bras come K cup and beyond, where they're audibly and visibly ripped in two from the strain.
- Pun-Based Title: Why "Omega"? Because... the lowercase Greek letter omega (ω) looks kinda like a pair of boobs.
- Punny Name: Very, very, very many examples.
- Enemies almost always have punny names. For example, the turtles with caterpillar treads for legs are "Treadapins." note A monkey-like monster which shoots arrows at you with its bow is a "Robbin' Hood." note
- Several systems in the English localization are puns, such as "Tit for Tat" (rock-paper-scissors, but with breasts), and "Size Up" (which involves identifying items, by rubbing it with the character's breasts, causing the "identifying item" to grow in size).
- The name of the legendary, incredibly powerful Forbidden Technique is "Excalibust."
- Roguelike: Rogue-lite, to be specific. The dungeons are randomly generated, and death without a Tit-for-Tat petal results in your character losing their equipment and all the items in their bag. All characters start at level 1 and their default cup size per dungeon, also. However, there are permanent upgrades that carry across runs.
- Rule of Symbolism: Flowers. It will often be the theme of the character's skills, each playable character is represented by a certain flower, and the Hallucinating debuff makes them see everything as flowers.
- Sequel Hook: After clearing the story dungeons, there is an event with Nanami where she and the rest of the cast have lunch together. Nanami talks about fate bringing them all together, and invites everyone to the Ginjo summer home (and consequently, the Ginjo resort) for vacation. Mei muses that the second chapter of Hina's world-saving will take place there, which is either her being her usual self or foreshadowing.
- Stalked by the Bell: There is a hidden timer in every floor of the dungeon, determined by the size of the randomly generated rooms. If it hits zero, a "lukewarm wind blows," and once it happens three times, and a powerful monster is spawned, capable of One-Hit KO'ing both the characters unless they make to the stairs in time.
- Take That!: The developers seemed to have created a heavily censored, cheaper version on the PS4 for the sole purpose of protesting Sony's overly strict censorship policies. One of the advertisements proudly states that there is a version of the game you can play with your family in the living room, when games of this type are usually enjoyed alone. It probably doesn't help matters that the English localization of Omega Labyrinth Z was cancelled due to said policies.
- Take Your Time: As urgent as a mission reviving the Grand Garden is, you are free to spend numerous in-game days doing whatever you please without consequence.
- Was Once a Man: While most of the monsters in the dungeon are animals, inanimate objects, or plants that were corrupted by strong emotions and Omega Power, there are some that were explicitly human, like the Black Market vendor.
- Wham Episode:
- The first is immediately after finishing the last of the Fire Caves. You are unable to enter the dungeons again, Director Rinka and the game telling you to relax and take it easy in the Grand Garden as all the monsters have been exterminated thanks to your efforts. The next day, the Grand Garden wilts again.
- Finally meeting the Big Bad of the game, Alraune, is impactful enough, but then Belles Fleurs permanently changes as she grows a giant briar castle on the mountain above the school, the crawling vines wrapping around the buildings, the water permanently turning an ominous purple, and a dark cloud hanging over both the main world and the fast travel map.
- Defeating Alraune for the second time reveals the Witch of Desire, manifesting again since being defeated in Anberyl Academy in the past games.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: Aside from Stalked by the Bell mentioned above, adventuring with Hinata and the students causes their Hunger meter to go down the longer they explore. At 0%, they will constantly suffer damage to their health, along with the event log turning red.
