If you have an interest in this game, it's a pretty easy recommend both for people who have played the first Labyrinth title and people who haven't. The 2 games both have standalone stories, so you don't need to play the first one to understand the story for this one.

Labyrinth of Galleria makes a lot of improvements from Refrain, both from a QoL and general gameplay standpoint. Previous issues like not having a bestiary, no autosave, not having access to in-game tutorials, etc. are all issues that have been fixed in Galleria, and while there are still a few strays that didn't get fixed, it is overall a HUGE improvement and makes for a much smoother experience.

Gameplay has also seen some much needed improvements with new mechanics that round out some of the rough edges from Refrain. Stun is an actual bar that you fill up now by attacking instead of just something you can randomly proc sometimes. Classes feel more unique now by having active skills that are unique to them. The player character has some nice new exploration focused skills now that smooth out dungeon crawling. The list goes on.

Overall, while I love Refrain I find Galleria an easier recommend for people who want to give the series a shot without committing to both titles immediately, these are pretty long games after all. Both games have fantastic stories that are well worth experiencing, but Galleria is just a cleaner package overall.

Also this game has a cat class. Play it. Now.