The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 2: The Price of Desire

The Legend of Dark Witch 2, full title The Legend of Dark Witch Episode 2: The Price of Desire (魔神少女 エピソード2 -願いへの代価-, Majin Shoujo Episode 2: Negai e no Daika) is the second game in the Legend of Dark Witch series.

Overall
The nation of Germa, located in the east, has become an unparalleled force in magical research. By far their most feared asset is the group known as "Ich," consisting of their top researchers. Germa sends Ich to neighboring nation Liana to continue their research in secret.

This alarming move by Germa attracts the attention of Zizou Olympia. She descends upon Liana and defeats eight members of Ich, including an ill-tempered small girl, a military veteran, a familiar ditzy teen genius, a robot alchemist, a trendy "big sis" type, a drunken mad scientist, a strange philosopher, and a playful beastwoman. After defeating Ich, Zizou creates a plan for infiltrating Germa's castle; she enlists the help of an elite student, a moody fairy, an information broker, and the nation of Rasil's most fearsome warrior. With their help, Zizou arrives at Vilhelm Castle and encounters Empress Franzer the Fifth. Zizou defeats Franzer in combat, but a resilient Franzer taps into the power of Syega and becomes even stronger. Even with her newfound power, Franzer again loses to Zizou. Franzer reluctantly obeys when Zizou tells her to end her meddling, marking the end of Germa's aggression.

Sola's story
Sola's story has little connections to the overall story.

Sola is on Spring Break, and she's looking for her parents. She travels through all of Liana to try to find her parents, and she even fights Zizou on her way. In the end, when it looks bleak, she finds her parents. Sola is enraged because she didn't know where they went, and then the game fades to black.

Gameplay
The Legend of Dark Witch 2 improves upon the action-platformer gameplay of The Legend of Dark Witch, offering more stages and opportunities to customize the player character's abilities. The game begins with eight stages; after clearing those stages, four more become available. After those twelve stages are cleared, players tackle Vilhelm Castle, which features a "boss rush" followed by the final boss of the game.

Capacity Meter
Above the Slot gauge is a new meter, Capacity. All of the player's weapons, from standard shots to Technical Skills, consume part of the gauge. The gauge rapidly refills over time, but nonetheless discourages repeated use of Technical Skills. This replaces the cost system from the first game, where Technical Skills consumed part of the slot gauge.

Revenge Magic
Another new system, Revenge Magic gives the player access to a powerful attack once they have taken a certain amount of damage. The attack is usable when the gauge is 50% full, but becomes stronger when the gauge is completely filled.

Bosses also have access to Revenge Magics, with these attacks replacing red health-unique attacks in the first Dark Witch.

Slot Customization and Pura Syega changes
Pura Syega has changed from the first Dark Witch. There are four in each stage; instead of outright increasing the number of times that a certain slot can be upgraded, they now serve as currency for the Slot Customization menu. This menu allows players to freely increase their slot maximums, but also purchase entirely new abilities.

Magic Item Shop
Magic Items, single-use items, can be purchased from Al's shop. These include:
 * Life Recover: Recovers some of the player's hearts.
 * Return: Saves the player from a pitfall death.
 * Assist Block: Allows the player to summon a magical block to stand on.
 * Blocking: Automatically blocks all incoming attacks for a short while.
 * Syega Searcher: Points player in the direction of the nearest Pura Syega.

Forbidden Skills
Should the player die a certain number of times, the Forbidden Skills menu will appear below the Magic Item Shop. The available abilities include:
 * Double Tres: Doubles the player's Tres gain.
 * Life Drop: Increases the rate that health items will appear.
 * Keep Installation: Allows the player to retain their Slot abilities upon dying.
 * Recover: Regain health by standing still.
 * Super Power: Triple's the player's attack power.
 * Tres Increase: Increase Tres by standing still.
 * Invincible: The player becomes completely invulnerable to enemy attacks.

Selecting one of these abilities will lock the player from gaining Playing Levels or receiving Syega for that save file.

Difficulty Levels
In addition to the standard difficulty levels (here labeled Casual, Expert, and Lunatic), The Legend of Dark Witch 2 includes a new "Very x2 Easy" difficulty level. This difficulty level eliminates many pitfall traps, allows the player to defeat otherwise invincible enemies, and makes boss battles much easier.

After Talk
The game includes After Talk, characterization-building conversations that are unlocked after clearing each boss.

Minigames
In addition to the returning Poker minigame, The Legend of Dark Witch 2 includes Syegacha and Rudymical. Syegacha lets players spend Syega (and, in the Nintendo 3DS version, Play Coins) to unlock pixel art. Rudymical is a rhythm game where the player, controlling Rudy, slices Boing Boings to the rhythm of several remixed Dark Witch songs. The latter would later be expanded into the spinoff game Rudymical: Dark Witch Music Episode.

Reception
Player reception for The Legend of Dark Witch 2 was extremely positive, though it received a 60% on GameRankings meaning mixed reviews. Fans enjoyed the array of options and greatly expanded length, while others were less-than-impressed by the lopsided difficulty, story, translation, and flat level design.

Dark Witch 2 won all three official popularity votes (2018, 2019, and 2020) and is widely considered the best game in the series.

Trivia

 * In the Steam version, you can get an alternate costume of DW1’s Zizou with Riva’s color palette. This only works when the player is Zizou. When selecting your save file hold “D” and continue to hold it in when entering a level.