My second Touhou game after Luna Nights. I don’t have experience in proper shmups, but this is either a bullet hell or a really hard bullet heaven. But, honestly, this game is underrated and I find many of the negative reviews ridiculous or flat out wrong. C’mon… some of the top rated negative reviews are from people who [i]haven’t even beaten the game on hard [b]let alone normal![/b][/i] This is a stellar arcade game with an albeit modest budget.
I imagine a lot of people come into this game with a shmup mindset, and tried to limit themselves by not using the game’s systems. Release barrier and danmaku rush are sooo important for you to practice and master if you want to beat the game at higher difficulties. Certain spell cards or attacks are crippled with a well executed danmaku rush, and release barriers are crucial for avoiding messes or unavoidable walls of danmaku. At the same time, it’s fair to say that while the game does a good job of explaining how these systems work it doesn’t actually show you examples of how valuable they can be. I struggled on certain attacks until I watched a YouTube video that demonstrated how to properly use danmaku rush.
Azure Reflections does a great job of capturing the charm of these characters. I loved the illustrations and 3D models for all of the characters, and there are some exceptional poses and animations. The VAs were also very good with Marisa’s being my favorite. The soundtrack is just good, but there are a couple of tracks that are standout including its rendition of Heartfelt Fancy.
Finally, here’s a few other things:
- Do NOT play this game at higher than 60 fps, because game speed is tied to fps.
- Buy low price accessories to increase your equip slots, then purchase the accessories that make the game easier. Find a balance that works for you.
- Menu text is messed up in the game with text being cropped out. You can understand what it has to say, but this is partly why I said the budget is lower.
- Friendship ended with Sakuya, Satori is new best girl
