If you are an anime fan, somewhere during your search through sites that deal in art, anime news and such you would have come across the Touhou series. I have but never knew exactly where Touhou came from. After I did some digging, I found out it is a bullet hell type series of games. I always thought it was an anime. I am happy to say I got the chance to try out Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity and finally experience the characters and the bullet hell gameplay for myself. This is our Touhou Scarlet Curiosity review.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is an action, RPG, bullet hell, platformer. Yes, you heard me right this game contains elements of each one of those genres. You have the choice of playing as Remilia Scarlet or her maid Sakuya Izayoi. Remilia is a vampire who has some magic attacks and normal attacks using her claws. Sakuya, the maid, is a human with the ability to manipulate time and uses knives. Each character has a different style of gameplay mechanics. The plot in the game is both characters go on their own adventure to track down a creature that has destroyed their mansion.
It has been years since I have played a bullet hell type game, I’m talking since I was young always hanging out in an arcade somewhere. Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity has been a fun return to the style of game with the twist of it being an RPG. The action style combat has made for intense gameplay to attack enemies all while dodging the multiple attacks coming from different enemies. Familiar characters from the series make appearances in the game as boss battles, tough boss battles. The mix of action and bullet hell works perfectly together to make this game fun, exciting and very hard to put down. Now let me note this to you the bullet hell mode is not turned on automatically, you have to turn it on in the launcher settings.
As for the RPG elements in the game, there are different types of equipment you can equip. Both, Remilia and Sakuya, have a weapon slot, armor slot, and an accessory slot. You may find yourself picking up equipment with the same name but each has different stats. There are also many skills to learn in the game as well. Being able to change equipment and skills allows you to tackle the game the way you choose to. You may find yourself favoring some skills more than others. I know I did. When I acquired a new skill I would test it to see if I liked it more than another, if not I stuck to what I had previously. There were some boss fights where I found the skills I had equipped did not really suit the fight. I had no cause to worry though because even while fighting you can just pause and switch to a skill better suited to the fight you are in.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a game with not only fun and intense gameplay it also has great animation to the characters and the BGM is great as well. Throughout the different areas in the game, I found the music to be pleasant and kept me going through the areas. There were points during playing when I felt that I wanted the area to be finished, as some seemed long. That feeling didn’t last long because the game seems to be balanced in a way that when I felt that way, the boss fight was right around the corner.
Though still after the boss is defeated it can feel a bit repetitious. Another thing that did bother me a bit was the camera angles. Again this is after hours of playing and making sure I hit every nook and cranny of the map to make sure I missed nothing. Sometimes the camera would make it to where I could not see my character or what I was fighting.
Note: Our copy was reviewed on (platform) with a code provided by PR.
