RJ's Platinum Collection #109: The Caligula Effect 2
Achieved on 8/16/2026 at 6:33 PM
Way back in 2023, I played an RPG called The Caligula Effect and greatly enjoyed myself. I enjoyed myself so much that I went out and bought the sequel, and yet somehow, I never actually played it. I recently stumbled upon some Caligula Effect fan art, and I decided that was a sign for me to finally get the Platinum to the sequel to one of my favorite hidden gems of a game!
The Caligula Effect 2 takes place five years after the events of the first game. Once again, we take the role of a silent protagonist who discovers their high school life is nothing more than a false reality - we are trapped in a fake world called "Redo" created by a Virtuadoll (basically a Vocaloid) named Regret. We discover this thanks to the arrival of another Virtuadoll named χ, or "Khee", who claims to be the daughter of Mu, the Virtuadoll from the first game who created the original fake reality of Mobius, who is being blamed in the real world for all the people who have become trapped in Redo.
Don't ask me how the hell an AI can have a child, but Khee is here now, and chooses the protagonist to aid her in destroying Redo in order to clear Mu's name. To help, she grants the protagonist (I chose the male protagonist and gave him the name Utaro Kariya) and several others the power of the Catharsis Effect, which are magical weapons that represent each person's personality. Using these powers, the group form the second incarnation of the Go-Home Club, whose mission is to defeat Regret and her loyal followers, the Obbligato Musicians.
My first thought upon beginning the game was "Holy crap, I forgot how FUN Caligula Effect's battle system is!". How it works is that you decide on each party member's actions, then the game gives you an "Imaginary Chain" to predict how successful everyone will be. I quickly got into the swing of the game and focused on first completing the main story while completing as much side content as possible. By the time I beat the final boss, I had unlocked 28 trophies.
1/49: Welcome to Redo - Answered Regret's call.
2/49: Our World Now - Used χ-Jack for the first time.
3/49: Daily Life Begins Anew - Completed the Prologue.
4/49: Never Saw It Coming - Landed a successful Sucker Punch for the first time.
5/49: Coup de Grace - Used an Overdose Skill for the first time.
6/49: Go-Home Club Activities START! - Completed Chapter 1.
7/49: Test Your Luck - Participated in the lottery for the first time.
8/49: Philanthropist - Cleared a Solo Quest for the first time.
9/49: Lost Souls For Sale - Sold a Stigma for the first time.
10/49: Master of Surprise - Landed over 50 successful Sucker Punches.
11/49: Combo Commando - Landed over 100 successful Risk Breaks.
12/49: Behind the Curtain - Completed Chapter 2.
13/49: Nice Doing Business - Made a transaction using χ Points at the χ Shop for the first time.
14/49: WIRE Guru - Sent a large number of texts on WIRE.
15/49: Friendly Neighborhood - Made over 100 friends.
16/49: Be Who You Wanna Be - Completed Chapter 3.
17/49: Extracurricular Affair - Cleared "Extracurricular Affair".
18/49: Guarding Guru - Performed over 50 successful guards.
19/49: Stay Winning - Won over 200 battles.
20/49: One-Track Mind - Completed Chapter 4.
21/49: The Greater Good - Completed Chapter 5.
22/49: Depths of the Heart - Completed a person's Character Episode.
23/49: Investment Ban-χ-ing - Attained a total of 10,000 χ points.
24/49: Selfish Decisions - Completed Chapter 6.
25/49: Pulling Heartstrings - Completed Chapter 7.
26/49: Hustled and Bustled - Cleared "Hustled and Bustled".
27/49: The Part-Time Tyrant - Cleared "The Part-Time Tyrant".
28/49: Hopes Rewarded - Completed Chapter 8.
This was genuinely one of the best sequels I have ever played. It took literally everything about the first game and improved upon it. The Go-Home Club were great, the Musicians were great, the plot twists were great, the combat was really fun - I was having so much fun by the time I beat the final boss!
But enough praising this game, it was time to get the rest of the trophies in my Clear Save file! Well, most of them.
First, I had to finish out the Character Episodes for the entire Go-Home Club. These are little side plots that help you understand each member of the cast better, and you unlock them by leveling up their affinity. The only way to do that is in battle, though, so I had to grind out battles using the only two characters I had not finished the Episodes for, those being Ryuto and Marie. Once I finished their final episodes, I popped the trophy.
29/49: To Each Their Own - Completed all Go-Home Club members' Character Episodes.
Next, I decided to start working on the Causality Chart and all of the quests. Like the first game, you can speak to NPC's walking around Redo, befriend them, and complete quests for them. Unlike the first game, you are REQUIRED to befriend all NPC's and complete all quests for trophies. Thankfully there are only 201 NPC's in Redo, as opposed to the over 500 from the first game.
So I first started by completing all the Group Quests I did not complete during my original run of the game, which got me another 10 trophies.
30/49: Love, Loss, and the Omega Nebula - Cleared "Love, Loss, and the Omega Nebula".
31/49: Prince of Lettuce - Cleared "Prince of Lettuce".
32/49: Counter Champion - Landed over 100 successful counters.
33/49: Extra! Extra! Journalism Club Showdown - Cleared "Extra! Extra! Journalism Club Showdown".
34/49: For the Love of Regret - Cleared "For the Love of Regret".
35/49: Eat Your Heart Out - Cleared "Eat Your Heart Out".
36/49: Birth of a Salesman - Cleared "Birth of a Salesman".
37/49: Songstress Unleashed - Learned all available skills for χ.
38/49: From Nurse to Worse - Cleared "From Nurse to Worse".
39/49: Group Therapy - Cleared all Group Quests.
Next I decided to tackle all of the remaining Solo Quests. These are the quests for the 100 NPC's who do not have anything to do with all of the Group Quests, and they mostly involve things like finding specific items or beating a certain number of enemies. In doing this, I would also finally complete the Causality Link chart, which meant actually speaking to every single NPC in Redo at least once.
This proved to be a bit annoying, as I had some NPC's I hadn't encountered yet that were almost impossible to find. Eventually I did manage to locate every one of them, and slowly make my way through the remaining Solo Quests.
40/49: Trigger Finger - Successfully activated over 200 Trigger Skills.
41/49: Building Bridges - Completed the Causality Link chart.
42/49: Topical Conversationalist - Obtained all WIRE conversation topics.
Eventually I was down to only two Solo Quests left, and their requirements were leveling the protagonist up to Level 60, and for learning 50 passive skills, which you unlock by gaining skill points in battle.
Now, I was at level 48, so I knew getting up to Level 60 might take me a bit of time, so I thought a good way to do that would be to take on the Tower of Prometheus. This is a special challenge you unlock after beating the game consisting of a 100-floor tower full of deadly enemies. Naturally, I assumed the associated trophy would involve beating the Tower, so I had prepared myself for a long grind as I tried to tackle this beast.
But nope, it actually turns out you get a trophy just for entering the Tower of Prometheus, not beating it. I was very surprised when it popped the moment I entered the first floor.
43/49: To The Other Side - Challenged the Tower of Prometheus.
Deciding I didn't actually want to play 100 floors of non-stop battling, I instead chose a much quicker way to level up - fighting all the bosses over and over again, which is another feature unlocked by beating the game. This didn't take me long at all actually, because even though all the bosses were much higher leveled than before, I had given my party enough good equipment to wipe the floor with all of them.
Fighting Regret proved to be the best way to level up, as she gave over 80,000 XP with each defeat. So I just fought her over and over, and once I hit Level 60, I went outside of the Tower to grind some fights until I had unlocked 50 passive skills. Then I just had to go finish off those last two Solo Quests, and BOOM! I had completed every single Quest in the game and had 100% affinity with all 201 NPC's.
44/49: Executive Privilege - Acquired over 50 Passive Skills for the Protagonist.
45/49: Heart of Gold - Cleared all Solo Quests.
46/49: World Peace - Achieve ★ Affinity with all residents of Redo.
Now I only had two trophies left - one for starting a New Game+, and one for unlocking all of χ's cover songs in the game. Whenever you beat a boss, χ can sing a cover of the boss's theme song as the Go-Home Club's battle music. Since I played the entire game all the way through, I had all the cover songs for Regret and the Obbligato Musicians.
The only one I was missing was the song you get for beating the Bad Ending boss. In Chapter 6, there is a point where you must choose between killing someone or sparing them. Obviously, the correct choice is sparing them, but if you choose to kill them, you get two boss fights in a row that lead to the Bad Ending. So I started up a New Game+, and thanks to being absurdly overleveled and being able to skip dialogue, I was able to reach Chapter 6 and complete the Bad Ending - and officially get the Platinum - in less than an hour and a half.
47/49: Redo Redone - Began a second playthrough by loading Clear Save data.
48/49: χ Signature - Acquired all of χ's cover songs.
49/49: The Caligula Effect 2 - Acquired all trophies.
I wish this series was more popular. This was an amazing game, and it greatly improved on every aspect of The Caligula Effect from the first game. I loved this game so much, while I was playing it, I got hyperfixated on writing my own hypothetical third game. I may or may not post this idea on my Tumblr, we will see, I am struggling with Chapter 3's plot at the moment, hehe.
But yes, I definitely recommend The Caligula Effect 2 to everyone! Hell, get the first game too! This is a good series with unique combat and great characters! Play these games people!
Rating: 10/10
