Touhou Double Focus

Alright, let us begin. Also, this will actually bring up another example of a Metroidvania in the Touhou franchise that does everything much better. Felt it was necessary to bring it up a lot in this review. The engine for Touhou Double Focus is alright. Stamina system is annoying, but could have been more fair if only skills and actual movement reduced it and not your standard attacks. Granted, your standard attack [i]is[i/] considered a skill, but hey. Exploration is tedious for the sake of being tedious, rather than in a way that is more creative such as Touhou Luna Nights. I know it is quite the pedestal to compared a perfectly rated Metroidvania to this one, but the bar is set so high due to Luna Nights also being an older game on Steam side, though not release side since Double Focus predates it by two years outside of Steam. So maybe Double Focus was just unable to understand how a Touhou Metroidvania was meant to work. Another thing too is that Luna Nights fully understood its fan base and my only real complaint with it would be that Cirno is missing from Boss Rush and, even for it being a Metroidvania, is very short. And lacks any kind of post-game past Boss Rush in general, no Hard Mode, a New Game+ where you get to keep your abilities or both. But, I digress. Double Focus' main problem is that the core game is pretty unbearable to trudge through and you really do feel like you are trying to beat it for the sake of beating it and nothing more. And what is even worse is that your controller only has a [i]chance[/i] to work, overall failing a lot of the time. [b]The game makes you sit at the intro every single time you boot it up, even if you try to skip with the keyboard instead.[/b] If I only had a small amount of time to play for a bit, for instance, I just have to accept it will not happen unless I have a full half-hour. And that is under the assumption my controller decides to work correctly in any of those boots. If it does not, the half-hour is wasted doing nothing. I do not care to play with keyboard, especially over how awkward it is and lacking any way to remap it (another plus for Luna Nights having this option). To summarize, I will notice everything good and bad about Double Focus, designated by symbols: + Charm of the Touhou franchise is overall intact with how characters talk to each other. At least, good enough where I enjoyed a lot of the interactions, short as they were. + This also includes subtleties in the menu, such as the adorable sprite adjustments to the sprites whenever Aya has lower health or Momiji does. I enjoy that they look mad at one another depending on who has the lower health. + This is not something I intended to put as a separate note, but feels it deserves it anyway. Being able to hold down to continuously fall through multiple platforms is great and I feel like this should be a standard convention in any platformer. + The art style looks cute in the cutscenes and overall works when being used for stills. - Grammar errors are more noticeable than a lot of other Steam games I have played. - The aforesaid intro being unskippable. This feels like a detrimental flaw in an opening sequence that is [b]four minutes long.[/b] - To add onto that, you will reboot it multiple times if your controller is not read. I tried multiple controllers to clarify mine just had issues maybe, but I realized it worked perfectly fine in Steam and is still within the XInput type, so it makes no sense it should have issues at random. - As previously noted, it does work properly in cutscenes, but in movement, the art style is rough. From Momiji's awkward tail loop you can count the frames on to the very unnatural way characters move, something feels off about it. If I had to give any animation credit [strike](and temporarily break the norm of the "cons" section)[/strike], it would be that Momiji's run animation looks very adorable and the most natural looking out of any other animation in the game. I recommend this game to nobody. If you are a Touhou fan, go play other spin-off games. If you are a Metroidvania fan, you will still not find much enjoyment in Touhou Double Focus and are better off dabbling with other attempts at it such as Hollow Knight. If you were gifted this game and already accepted it, play it so your friend does not feel bad, maybe under the influence as well so that you can get more of a kick out of it. If you desperately want to play a Touhou game in the vein of the Metroidvania genre, go play Touhou Luna Nights. You will get much more for your buck, the price tag is within the range of Double Focus and you will feel much happier with what you paid for. On top of that, it has a significantly better engine, breathtaking remixes and I put it higher up on my own list than even Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. And if you want a more lengthy one, Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony is just around the corner and is a remake combining the original and sequel together. Both much better options than Touhou Double Focus. Though, Scarlet Symphony does have a feel much closer to traditional Castlevania. Avoid Touhou Double Focus at all costs if you respect the Metroidvania genre.

momiji :)

O jogo me pegou de surpresa e foi uma boa experiência. No começo, quando você não está acostumado como rushar o game e tudo mais, pode tender a ser meio chato(principalmente na primeira área do castelo), mas quando tu pega os macetes o jogo fica bem divertido. A história é bem legal também e de fato tu explora o mundo, conhece os NPCs e inimigos de maneira descontraída enquanto fica curioso pra saber qual será o chefe do mapa e o que vai acontecer na história. O jogo tem várias habilidades o que deixa a jogatina personalizável e adorei a Goku vibes. A única crítica a respeito do game (tirando as limitações por ser um game antigo) é o preço, que no Brasil acho que está caro pra krl kk(slc quase 60 pila), tanto que eu peguei numa promo absurda quando tava uns 20 pila.

This is the best game I have ever played To start with, it has Momiji Continuing, it has Momiji And to sum up, it has Momiji Oh, Aya is in this game too I guess but look Momiji!!!!

I can only recommend this on a deep sale, like I nabbed (50% off, about 6 bucks USD) and if you REALLY like the dynamic between Momiji and Aya. It's short, it's charming, and it's reasonably fun. However... The difficulty spikes are kind of genuinely and actually insane. The final boss (unless I'm missing something) takes less-than-chip damage from your attacks and can drop you in about two seconds. And that's with a decent amount of the upgrades. Some enemies can drop you in a single hit, even when exploring early-game areas with late-game upgrades. The challenge is all over the place in this game and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Aquastyle please get more playtesters for your next outing.

[h1]My Touhou Metroidvania can't be this cute[/h1] I got this game for free on the PS4 when I bought Genso Wanderer and loved it so much I bought it on Steam as well to support the developers. It is not a perfect game by any means, but it does many things right and what it succeeds with it excels at! Right of the bat the game catches your eye with its cute characters and colourful backgrounds. AQUA STYLE always nail the presentation and this is no exception. The world is on the smaller side for a Metroidvania, but it is jam-packed with things to discover and exploring it is a joy in and of itself. It is honestly impressive how many Touhou characters they managed to fit into this short game while giving them all room to shine. This is in no small part thanks to the outstandingly expressive animations, it all feels lovingly crafted. The boss battles are another highlight: each feeling unique, and while a bit gimmicky, showcase the characters' powers and personalities. + Outstanding presentation: Beautifully drawn, well animated characters. An extremely adorable visual-design. Voice acting and a musical score that do their job with a few outstanding tracks. + Lots to explore and discover: Tons of characters to find and interact with, some as enemies or bosses others who will help you in the form of skills. + Two playable characters to swap between who play drastically differently. Momiji can run up walls, block attacks and dish out big damage up-close. Aya can dash through enemies and can attack from range. + A bestiary of sorts to fill out with Aya's camera. Some shots require specific requirements to be fullfilled! + Wacky humour that might make you chuckle. [spoiler](To crawl into tight spaces, Shinmyoumaru sits on Momiji's head and controls her like Ratatouille.)[/spoiler] + A nonsensical story to match, presented in cut-scenes and still images. I especially like what they did with the Final Boss. + Loveable cast of characters: As much as Reimu and Marisa are the "main characters" of Touhou, it's nice to see someone else get the spotlight for once. Aya and Momiji are a great fit for this game and also [u]Byakuren is in it![/u] I love this game, but it is not without its flaws and to downplay them would be a disservice to anyone reading this. The game has some pretty serious difficulty spikes. Touhou games are generally difficult and that's part of the charm, but here it's less of a fair challenge to overcome and more of frustrations with the game's design. While exploration is a lot of fun, combat does feel rather stiff. This is due to the game not controlling as smoothly as many contemporaries. It's also a short game with limited replay value. A Boss-Rush mode or New-Game+ would help alleviate this. - Questionable level-design and bad enemy placement. There are enemies who can attack you from off-screen with little warning. - Some hitboxes feel a bit iffy as well, forcing you to block or dodge projectiles rather than outright avoiding them both of which drain stamina. - Stamina drains way too quickly and is a resource used by essentially every action you perform. This leads to a lot of waiting around which kills the pacing. - Movement in general feels a bit floaty and stiff. It's hard to describe but you can definitely feel it. This is further exacerbated by the lack of animation-cancelling. - A rather short game that lacks replay value. No New-Game+ or Boss-Rush. I do recommend Double Focus to Touhou fans as I think most of them could overlook these issues for the outstanding presentation and world this game offers. However, a more general Metroidvania audience might have too many gripes with the gameplay to appreciate the game's pros. I really wish this game got a sequel to tighten up some of its weaknesses and further improve on what this game did right!

文推しなので少し贔屓目の評価になりますが、おおむね良いゲームです。 良い点 文椛が主人公 ストーリーが秀逸 文の声が結構イメージに近い アクションゲームであること SDキャラの完成度が高い 体力減るとバテる描写がある ボロ絵がある 2キャラをうまく使い分けないと進めない点 文のアクションが一々カッコいい 椛のアクションが一々かわいい 悪い点 ゲームパッド認識しない（joytokey･･･しよう！） 自機の当たり判定がやたらでかい 敵が攻撃モーションに入っていないのにダメージが入る（特にでか鎧妖精） 通常移動とジャンプ以外すべての動作にスタミナを要求する

文椛很可爱 但是手感巨差需要点时间才能适应这个切换 而且怪的设计实在是糟 BOSS更是糟到不行 但是文椛很可爱 作为恶魔城游戏是不推荐的 手感相当劝退跑图都会红温那种 但是文椛很可爱

A rather short romp, under an hour if you know what to do, but it's a very polished product and the graphics are very cute.

Коротенькая, но приятная и милая метроидвания в которой можно играть за Момидзи - что ещё нужно для счастья? Да, местами эта игра непонятная, неуклюжая и кривовата, но всё равно это отличный способ с удовольствием скоротать пару-тройку вечеров.