Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity

This is the weirdest Ys game I've ever played. There's not even Adol, just some little girl and some chick with knives that isn't Karna.

... All joking aside, this is a serviceable ARPG with 2hus in it. A bit basic and rough around the edges, but if you enjoy either of these things, you'll probably enjoy this.

Now, rough around the edges, I say? Why yes. The platforming as Sakuya, frankly, sucks. Remilia has the ability to slow the descent of her jumps, allowing for more precise landings, but Sakuya does not. Often, I'd find myself either overshooting a jump or just landing on an edge, only to slip off. There's also knock back from enemies, meaning that you can land a jump, then get hit and fall off anyway. This even happens in areas with narrow paths that you can fall off. Now, the real annoyance of this, other than having to redo things, is that you lose money. Granted, money isn't that important until end game, and by then you can get lots, but it's still annoying to go broke because there's a jump or five that just suck because you picked the wrong character.

Remilia and Sakuya, sadly enough, share a lot of the same equipment. Weapons are unique, but they can, will, and do, share a large number of armors and accessories, though each one does have some uniques. The issue with gear is that they're all random, stats wise. There's little rhyme or reason as to what item has what stats, and you can run across items that totally tank most, only to have massive HP boosts, or attack, or any other stat.

Granted, it's perhaps better than just having an objectively best piece of gear, but it's a bit troublesome if you want to have at least decent stats in everything. And again, because it's random, it could mean you will grind for hours just to find something decent. You could go whole maps finding nothing but trash, or waste all of your money from end game boss grinding on buying stuff that is objectively worse in every way.

This is why the end game item dispenser is a gacha machine, because it's all a gamble. And at 40,000 a pop, it's a big gamble.

So what's actually good? The music, of course; this is a 2hu fan game, after all. The combat is also good for what it is, with each character having a decent number of skills with which to use, though the spell card selection is pretty slim. However, you do not level these skills, instead you just earn them via leveling... and, well, it can lead to some skills just being objectively useless as time goes on. Especially with Remilia, as some of her newer skills are just straight upgrades to previous skills.

The plot... well, it's a 2hu game. Especially since the Scarlet Devil Mansion gets destroyed, so it's totally legit. It's not that super deep or compelling, but it would fit in pretty well with the franchise as a whole, and it's very low stakes (Gensokyo isn't really in danger, there's no Lunarian plots, Yukari isn't fooling around), but still enjoyable.

This game has a level 99 cap. You do not actually need to go this high, but you can. It involves a lot of secret boss grinding... and you will come to hate her track, even if it's actually good. I've heard some people claim that Remilia is stronger than Sakuya, but if anything, I think it's the other way around. Sakuya, outside of the terrible platforming, feels like easy mode, especially when she gets her final skill. It shreds the secret boss pretty easily, and only gets easier with more levels. Remilia, on the other hand, I found has a harder time with bosses, and her final skill isn't nearly as good as Sakuya's. But she does have the better spell cards, so...

But if you want even harder mode, just turn on bullet hell. Then cry.

So yeah, this game is pretty good and you should get it if you enjoy ARPGs and 2hu.

~ Playing as Sakuya makes me happy.
~ Level progression is average.
~ The soundtracks are awesome (I'm bias).

~ Kinda wish more characters are added.
~ Recommended when the game is on sale.

Scarlet Curiosity is nearly a hidden gem, although there are some perplexingly dumb decisions and a lack of real challenge that keep it from being one of the best in the genre. I have no comprehension of the Touhou game series, and my research online just leaves me more confused. As far as I can tell, it's a bunch of games with some bullet hell elements and entirely female anime casts of characters. Beyond that, these games can be and are anything. This one feels like one of the 3D Castlevania games on the PS2, albeit with more crisp graphics and great sound design.

You move around the map, killing enemies to level up and collecting money and items to equip. Eventually you reach a boss room and this is really the only challenging thing about the game. You have two different chracters to select from and they both play very differently. Remy is a vampire and she's a bit more fun to play as because you can spam a dive attack to speed all over the level. She doesn't deal the damage of Sakuya, but she's more well rounded as a character. Sakuya is a maid who specializes in knife attacks. can exploit critical hits and she gets a game breaking ability late in the game that lets you interrupt boss attacks and basically obliterate them.

The characters mostly have melee attacks, but they do get some projectile attacks and can select from a few special "screen clearing attacks." A few of the bosses are pretty difficult if you don't know what to do, but for the most part this game has no real challenge. You can activate "bullet hell" mode from the menu, but since there are exploits to pulverize all of the bosses once you know the pattern it doesn't make much of a difference. Dying outside of the boss room just takes gold away, and you don't even really need the gold for anything since all the weapons you need are dropped by enemies and in chests.

This game is super linear, but there's a lot of variety in the map designs. I particularly like a platforming section that has you climbing a waterfall, and the inside of a "kettle" that is a ruined castle for no apparent reason. The story is incomprehensible gibberish and the game just expects you to already know who these characters are. The combat is fun since you are still getting new abilities even around level 70. To get the "true ending" you have to go through a 20-floor labyrinth and beat two difficult bosses, and this is really the only thing about the game that feels remotely challenging.

The only real issue with the game is the fact that you will face the same enemies over and over again. From my understanding, Touhou games are supposed to feature Yokai demons, but you mostly fight centipedes, bats and little doll-looking creatures. It's not that the enemies aren't fun to fight, it's just that you will find yourself fighting, say, a mushroom inside an underwater research lab because the game doesn't have enough enemy types to have them all fit the environments. The bosses in this game are inspired and some of the patterns are really fun to figure out. I particularly like one near the end where the character attacks with earth, wind, fire and water with a different special attack assigned to each. As you get near the end of each boss fight their attacks get faster and they start introducing new attacks, so expect to replay a few of them until you get the pattern down.

Good enough for one play-through but story is somewhat lacking. The game is also short so I would get it when it's on sale. I also suggest doing the true ending if you really want a challenge. Overall, it's just OK.

Played it and completed all of the achievements in this game, overall satisfied for this game so I can add my completionist arc for the Touhou games that I purchased on Steam.
For me, it just a really simple hack and slash RPG game:
(+) No hard puzzles, just a peak hack and slash (grinding) game till you reach Level 99.
(+) Artstyles are great
(+) Soundtracks are straight up banger (Thank you Hachimitsu-Lemon)
(+) The grapich and visual just makes me chill, kinda remind me of something nostalgic...
(-) It confuses me where to go sometimes, a LITERAL MAZE! But, it's not that problematic. (they should add in-game map for each level)
(?) I have a mixed opinion about the simplicity of the game, especially about the combat mechanic. (Hit 3x > Skill 1 > hit 3x > skill 1 > hit 3x > skill 2 > Skill 3 > Repeat!)

That's all, the conclusion is I obviously like this game, but the gameplay is too simple. (good for chilling tho) 8.7/10

got all of the achievements under 13 hours. once you get used to the game, it's relatively simple and fun. a met a few bugs here an there(screen froze, had to restart the computer), but this game auto-saves, so i didn't lose any progress. the graphics are really nostalgic, remind me of games from early 2000's, and the music is also quite nice. cool challenges, fun farming. an awesome game overall

I also love Remi

honestly luv how they blended in bullet hell elements with rpg, just the right amount of both. it also requires a bit of experience in bullet hell, but otherwise amazing game and def worth my money :D