Touhou: New World

我東進，我也好想去幻想鄉疼愛靈夢呦 ==

Touhou: New World is an action RPG developed by Ankake Spa and published by XSEED Games alongside Marvelous USA, Inc. Inspired by the long-running Touhou Project universe, the game presents a fresh adventure that combines high-speed real-time combat with role-playing progression while staying true to the colorful charm and supernatural atmosphere that fans have come to expect. Instead of simply adapting existing stories, it introduces an original narrative in which Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame investigate strange events that begin to affect both Gensokyo and the outside world. Their journey soon grows into a larger conflict involving mysterious powers, unexpected allies, and dangerous enemies, creating a story that balances lighthearted character interactions with moments of genuine tension. Combat is the centerpiece of the experience and successfully blends hack-and-slash action with mechanics inspired by Touhou's famous bullet-hell gameplay. Battles are energetic and constantly demand quick reflexes as players weave through dense patterns of magical projectiles while launching close-range attacks, ranged spells, and devastating Spell Cards. Every encounter encourages aggressive offense without ignoring defensive play, as precise dodges and well-timed guards can completely change the flow of battle. Reimu and Marisa each bring their own strengths to combat, giving players distinct playstyles that prevent the action from becoming repetitive over the course of the campaign. Character progression is handled through an enjoyable system that rewards consistent use of abilities. Skills become stronger the more they are used, allowing players to gradually shape each heroine according to their preferred strategy. Alongside traditional stat improvements, the game features a flexible equipment system filled with weapons, armor, and accessories carrying randomized attributes. Discovering better gear remains satisfying throughout the adventure, while the reforging mechanic offers additional opportunities to improve equipment instead of relying entirely on random drops. These RPG mechanics create a steady sense of advancement and provide meaningful incentives to continue exploring every new area. Exploration is more than simply moving from one objective to another. Gensokyo is populated with familiar faces that offer optional quests, hidden discoveries, and special challenges beyond the main storyline. Players can search for lost spirits, help local residents, uncover secrets scattered across the landscape, and participate in optional battles that reward useful items and upgrades. These activities help the world feel vibrant and lived-in while providing additional context for its memorable cast of characters. Fans of the Touhou series will appreciate the many references and interactions, while newcomers can still enjoy the setting without extensive prior knowledge. Visually, the game embraces a colorful anime-inspired style that faithfully captures the whimsical identity of the Touhou universe. Spell effects fill the screen with dazzling explosions of color without making combat feel unreadable, while character models and environments remain expressive despite their relatively modest scale. The soundtrack further elevates the experience through energetic compositions that complement both exploration and intense boss encounters. The presentation may not push modern graphical technology to its limits, but its cohesive art direction and polished animation give the adventure plenty of personality. Boss battles are among the game's strongest moments, requiring players to fully understand movement, timing, equipment optimization, and ability management. Each major encounter introduces unique attack patterns and increasingly elaborate bullet formations that keep the challenge engaging from beginning to end. The difficulty steadily rises without becoming excessively punishing, rewarding mastery of mechanics more than excessive grinding. Players willing to experiment with different builds and equipment combinations will find plenty of opportunities to overcome difficult encounters through strategy as well as skill. The game is not entirely without flaws. Some areas are fairly linear, and the randomized equipment system can occasionally lead to repetitive inventory management as players sort through numerous pieces of similar gear. Certain enemy types also appear frequently enough that combat variety occasionally slows during longer sessions. Even so, these shortcomings have only a minor impact on an otherwise polished adventure that consistently delivers enjoyable action and rewarding progression. Touhou: New World succeeds in transforming the Touhou formula into an entertaining action RPG that appeals to both longtime followers and players discovering the franchise for the first time. Its satisfying combat, meaningful progression systems, enjoyable exploration, memorable cast, and faithful interpretation of the source material combine to create an adventure that remains engaging from beginning to end. While it does not reinvent the genre, it confidently delivers a polished and exciting experience that captures the spirit of Touhou while standing on its own as a quality action RPG. For players who enjoy fast-paced combat, anime-inspired worlds, and rewarding character development, it is an easy recommendation. Rating: 7/10

За три роки, могли би купити цю прикольну гру більше людей.

相比起红辉心水平下降太多，只能说很失望

取り合えずハードで霊夢シナリオの最後まで終わりました。 良かった点。 程よく難易度が整えられておりそこそこ歯ごたえのあるボス。 初見は大体敵の動きや弾幕にぼこぼこにされますが何度か見ると「これか…」と避け方を見つけるのは中々楽しい。 リトライも早めでボスに関してはストレスは少なかった。 賛否がありそうな点。 弾幕の種類はある程度違いはあるものの避け方としては大体同じになり、後半に進むと割と作業になる部分がある。 ガードシステムが非常に重要な反面、敵側がガードできる攻撃をしてくるかどうかが完全に運になり攻略の難度に差が出る。 ガードが難しいと批判があったのかわかりませんが、展開時間が長すぎてかなり温い仕様になってる。 悪かった点。 アイテムが大体ゴミでたまっていくのを売る方が面倒。 後半のトラップのダメージが割と洒落にならない。 そしてマップ途中でしんだ場合はステージの最初からになる為、そこは結構厳しい。

Сакуи нет, но все равно лайк upd: Сакуя есть, поэтому 2 лайка

Buen juego. Me enseñó a esquivar las gotas de la ducha. 10/10

I played this game back in 2023 on the switch and am sad to see that this game is still as janky in every aspect. Firstly while I do like and can compliment the art style of the sprites and the ost, the controls/battle mechanics are really annoying. Not being able to reconfigure controller settings in particular got me messed up for the longest time because why is X the regular attack binding. That, and the huge delay before your character actually attacks which is especially prominent with the regular attack that once you max out the special recharge rates it's probably more efficient to just wait for them to recharge than trying to spam regular combos. Super annoying when you input an attack and suddenly theres a millisecond of a perfect guard window but that's too bad because you're still waiting for your attack animation and you've been actionlocked. Secondly the game is extremely repetitive, like if I wanted to play a good game about breaking barriers I would play Undertale. Literally, 90% of the game is just deactivating walls and fighting the same flowers and killer roombas (spaced out by kilometres so you have to run cross country between enemies to clear an area, might I add), and having to wait for the waves of enemies to spawn in those closed off fights plus the horrendous attack delays really layers on that sense of monotony you get maybe almost halfway through the game. Thirdly, and probably my least important issue, is the lack of value money has in this game. When you're earning ~10k each level, even when you have the forge and the mystery capsules (which aren't really worth much using in my experience) selling excess loot to Nitori later on is comparable to just throwing your items in the bin. I think I would've had a slightly better experience in my playthroughs had the game just given us a "discard" option in our inventory as opposed to having to go to the general store each time. Either that binning option would've worked better, or having a different method of spending money like cosmetics/collectibles. Lastly, and definitely my biggest gripe with this game, is how absolutely annoying Sumireko is and arguably the lack of effort that went into making her a quarter of an iota more likeable in a game ALL ABOUT HER. I know other reviews are bashing on the writing of this game and I wholeheartedly agree, I know Sumireko's character and personality is fairly unpopular to begin with, but [spoiler]when the game ends with you trying to save her on the basis of "friendship"???[/spoiler], as the player I honestly do not care or even understand, I can't really explain it but it's like watching a troublemaking little kid trying to garner sympathy and forgiveness when they've done something wrong by pretending to "run away". Like the game suddenly expects us to feel bad after getting essentially ragebaited the whole time, even though they haven't written her character well enough for her to deserve that sympathy which makes finishing the game sort of unfulfilling. Literally my only motivation to finish the game past my second playthrough was the postgame boss rush. But maybe that's just me not realising I'm a bad person because that's just my opinionnnn EDIT: holy cow, got this on sale and just realised its normally ~$30AUD, absolutely egregious. if you want an objectively better touhou fangame I highly recommend Mystia's Izakaya, for like a third of the price the ost slaps even harder, the writing is actually done properly (omg characters have depth) and money has real value (*ᵕᴗᵕ)⁾⁾