Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Reviews
Fans of the Touhou Universe might be interested in how well Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity captures the look and feel of the franchise along with how the title fits in with established lore.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a game that is definitely made for fans that already know what to expect from Touhou doujin games. With that said, the game allows Western fans to spend some quality time with two of the more popular characters, but offers little beyond that in terms of story. I ended up enjoying the game more after the first few hours and I hope that players new to the series stick through the simplistic beginning and discover what this game has to offer.
There really isn't anything positive I can say about this game, outside of a few choice spots of interesting art direction. The level design is dull, the platforming is simplistic, the graphics look a few generations old, the RPG elements are basic, the music is forgettable, the enemies are pushovers, the difficulty is turned all the way to easy – I'm honestly at a loss for words. I would like to think I have this amazing vocabulary to intelligently convey just how abominable Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is, but the best I can come up with is just calling it bad. This is a bad, bad game.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity grabbed me and never let go. It’s a fun game with great characters and combat, and it all comes together in a package that kept me glued to my PS4. It’s a shame that mainline Touhou games haven’t seen English localisations, but the series’ unique charm has been wonderfully captured by this game. Newcomers to the series will have a great time dipping their toes into the universe with this title, and existing fans have absolutely nothing to lose with it either.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is an entertaining blend of genres that breathes a palpable life into bullet hell games, taking them from a niche variety to one more accessible for casual players. The narrative and characters fall into decidedly JRPG stereotypes, but the plot does evolve into a more coherent and intriguing mystery than it first lets on.
While Scarlet Curiosity is certainly geared towards fans that already know a little bit about the Touhou lineage, those looking for a fun little diversion until Ys VIII reaches North America won’t be disappointed.
If you are already a fan of the Touhou series, this might certainly be the game for you. However, fans of the bullet hell genre may want to skip on this title and players wanting to get into this franchise may want to look elsewhere as this is not a good starting point for newcomers.
This is it Touhou fans, this is where it begins, with a pretty middle of the road action adventure game. It may not be the bullet-hell salvation we were all looking for, but it's a good start, and hopefully paves the way for more Touhou games in the future.
With Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity, I found a pleasant time-waster of an action game that provided not a lot of emotional or gameplay depth.
Overall, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is an extremely polished game that throws players directly into the world of Gensokyo, delivering a well-crafted translation from the series’ 2D-roots to a 3D-setting. While it definitely didn’t have the highest budget — a fact made apparent by the utter lack of voice acting or music during the pre-fight dialogue sequences — the music that is present during the dungeon exploration is actually quite fascinating even if it does get repetitive the more time you spend playing.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is the kind of low-budget title that’s light on bells and whistles but still carries a distinct appeal for fans of offbeat Japanese titles. Like Touhou Gensou: Bullet Ballet, this side adventure admittedly does not have the polish of a triple-A game or even the tight gameplay of the mainline bullet-hell titles of the Touhou franchise. As a fan-made game, however, it has heart as well as a certain whimsy to it that I find charming in its own right. It won’t be for everybody but fans of titles with an Akiba-flavor to them will likely enjoy this one.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity attempts to blend the action-RPG and bullet hell genres, sadly doing justice to neither in the process.
Scarlet Curiosity is a good, if short, RPG-Brawler that makes decent use of the setting that ZUN has created for the Touhou series. However, repeated enemies, generic looking stages, and the inability to block attacks from the beginning are a bit grating and prevent the game from reaching its full potential.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a magnificent game that has taken me completely by surprise with its quality. A mix of 2D and 3D platforming, RPG, and adventure gaming blends with a gorgeous art style to form this hidden gem just waiting to be uncovered. All the while familiar and unique, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a game that all should give a chance, enjoyable by the most hardened veteran gamer down the most green of newcomers.
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a bland and repetitive experience, offering almost none of the quality found it the games that inspired it
If you enjoy a good Action RPG with some good boss battles, and good BGM, you'll enjoy this game.
The highlight of Scarlet Curiosity is easily the boss fights… A love letter to their bullet hell inspiration, the screen quickly overflows with colorful shapes of all sizes
Everything in Touhou just feels pointless; the story is drab, the combat is flat and and the action elements are uninspired. I understand it's a fan made game but I really struggle to find anything to compliment here. I can even imagine fans of the series struggling to like it, which is pretty much the nail in the coffin. Honest opinion: Avoid this like the plague.
The cuteness and novelties of Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity wear off quickly after about 30 minutes, and the shallow, mind-numbing gameplay takes hold. The playability and controls just were not well thought out for a game like this, but anyone who is willing to slog through may still manage to experience an interesting, yet ultimately failed experiment. As far as Touhou games go, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a fair looker, but limited animation accentuates the low budget. Hopefully Touhou projects will continue to get westward localization, and just maybe someone will attempt another project like Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity but will learn from its mistakes.
For a series that only has a niche following in the West, 'Touhou' really needs to put its best foot forward to win over a bigger audience. Unfortunately, this fan-game spinoff of the doujin series is not it. While not particularly terrible,'Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity' is about as middle of the road as you can get with an action RPG, and as such does not leave a good impression as one of the few English representations of the 'Touhou' series.