Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity

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.

77%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, optimization

92% User Score Based on 420 reviews

Critic Score 79%Based on 15 reviews

Platforms

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About

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a single player role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Ankake Spa and was released on July 11, 2018. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and very positive reviews from players.

In "Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity," players explore a mysteriously expanded Scarlet Devil Mansion and battle strange creatures as Remilia Scarlet or Sakuya Izayoi. The game features side-scrolling action with RPG elements, including experience points, leveling up, and acquiring new abilities. The story revolves around Remilia's insatiable curiosity, which leads her to a surprising discovery that changes everything in the Touhou universe.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+11

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92%

Audience ScoreBased on 420 reviews

story30 positive mentions

grinding18 negative mentions

Fun and engaging gameplay with a mix of RPG and bullet hell elements.
Great music and charming graphics that enhance the overall experience.
Offers two playable characters, Remilia and Sakuya, each with unique abilities and playstyles.

Repetitive gameplay and level design, leading to a lack of variety in encounters.
Performance issues such as stuttering and unoptimized graphics, especially on lower-end PCs.
The story is considered weak and uninteresting, lacking depth compared to other Touhou titles.

story
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
62%
8%
The game's story is generally considered simple and somewhat typical of the Touhou universe, revolving around an invisible monster causing chaos at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. While some players appreciate the lighthearted narrative and character interactions, others find it lacking depth and originality, with minor differences between the two playable characters' storylines. Overall, the story is seen as a fun addition to the gameplay, but not a standout feature.
- “The game is about an invisible monster who strikes the Scarlet Devil Mansion, leading Remilia or Sakuya on a mission to uncover the creature's identity, all while Remilia seeks a challenge to relieve her boredom.”
- “I totally recommend this game to any new Touhou players or people who want to experience a really good Touhou story.”
- “This is a pretty cool fanmade Touhou game, great storyline, decent-good graphics, and a little introduction to Touhou (or at least Remilia in general).”
- “The story, in particular, is kind of a bare bones 'an incident occurred' sort of Touhou story and doesn't do anything particularly new or interesting with the characters or setting.”
- “The game is really mediocre, nothing extraordinary about this game, the gameplay and map design is very repetitive, the story is pretty Touhou standard, and have some really weird camera placement all over the place.”
- “The story is almost non-existent.”
gameplay
100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
57%
14%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a blend of simplistic mechanics and RPG elements, offering a mix of action, platforming, and bullet hell challenges, though it often falls into repetitive patterns. Players appreciate the variety of skills and character choices, but many note that the level design can feel uninspired and the overall experience lacks depth, leading to a sense of monotony. While some enjoy the casual nature and smooth controls, others criticize the gameplay for being too easy and lacking the intensity expected from a Touhou title.
- “The technical elements of the gameplay are pretty much that this is a platformer where you fight stuff, you level up, you equip weapons and armor and other equipment to boost the stats of Remilia Scarlet or Sakuya Izayoi, and you just get through the story and meet your favorite Touhou characters along the way, fighting them in some boss battles that can be pretty intense, especially if you have the bullet hell mode enabled.”
- “Beautiful visual representations of environments and characters we all know and love are coupled with amazing leitmotifs of said characters, and when this excellent mastery of the artistic side of an excellent game meets challenging (but generally fair) gameplay, it creates a memorable experience.”
- “Fun levels, amazing soundtrack, good protagonists, decent story, fun bosses, fun mechanics.”
- “Gameplay is bland, janky, and boring.”
- “The gameplay is very repetitive, the maps are essentially the same.”
- “Initially I enjoyed playing for a while, mainly due to the simplicity of the gameplay, but it quickly became horribly repetitive as it felt like every stage was just a rehash of every other stage I played (aside from the ending bosses).”
music
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
33%
3%
The music in the game is widely praised, with many reviewers highlighting its quality and the impressive remixes of original Touhou compositions. While some found the soundtrack to be repetitive or reminiscent of elevator music, the overall consensus is that it enhances the gameplay experience, making it a standout feature for fans of the franchise. The atmospheric and beautiful soundtrack is often described as breathtaking, contributing significantly to the game's charm.
- “The music is great and the art is beautiful.”
- “As one would expect of a Touhou-related game, the soundtrack is nothing short of beautiful and breathtaking.”
- “Great OST of remixed songs we know and love, nice graphics for the most part and a story that's typical of the Touhou universe.”
- “Music's a letdown though, it's filled mostly with the kind of remix that isn't bad but just makes you want to hear the original instead.”
- “And surprisingly the music in the game is bad and forgettable too.”
- “The music sounds like old elevator music from the late 70's or early 80's.”
graphics
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
47%
7%
The graphics of the game are generally described as charming and decent, with a creative art style that evokes nostalgia reminiscent of the GameCube era. While some players appreciate the unique visuals and enjoyable environments, others note that the graphics are not top-tier and can suffer from issues like excessive bloom effects and inconsistent character models. Overall, the visuals are considered a solid aspect of the game, contributing positively to the overall experience despite some shortcomings.
- “The graphics and textures of the game, the character models, the whole presentation overall, they are all so beautiful and fascinating.”
- “What a great action RPG with visuals far exceeding my expectations.”
- “Very nice hack n slash 2hu game, nice graphics, nice arrangements, and lastly enjoyable.”
- “The game is really mediocre, nothing extraordinary about this game, the gameplay and map design is very repetitive, the story is pretty standard, so many invisible walls, the graphics are pretty standard but okay, and have some really weird camera placement all over the place.”
- “Graphically it's really pretty, but the characters are pretty plastic looking, and the intensity of the background combined with the small model sizes for the fairy foes can make some areas really hard to see.”
- “It's not a graphically intense game, and the graphics remind me of something out of the GameCube era.”
grinding
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
90%
The grinding aspect of the game is generally viewed as enjoyable and engaging, with some players noting it can feel repetitive at times. While grinding is not strictly necessary, a small amount is required for optimal progression, particularly for achieving high levels or completing challenges. Overall, the game balances RPG leveling with bullet hell mechanics, making the grind feel rewarding despite its occasional monotony.
- “Great fun, though it can feel repetitive and grindy at times.”
- “The game doesn't really require grinding but I had to do maybe 10 minutes of it for the final boss.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, including frequent crashes approximately every 20 minutes and poor performance on mid-range hardware, with some users reporting only 30 fps on medium settings. Additionally, the game is locked to 60 fps, which limits performance potential, particularly in expansive levels with complex layouts. Despite these drawbacks, players still find the game enjoyable overall.
- “Runs smoothly.”
- “The game overall is fine, nice to play and stuff; however, the game is very unoptimized (also locked to 60fps).”
- “The final story level (not counting the post-game labyrinth) is huge, with crisscrossing paths, which makes it very unoptimized.”
- “Crashes every ~20 minutes, bad optimization (30 fps on medium on GTX 970m); the game is nice though.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
50%
Players generally find that the initial playthrough offers the most enjoyment, particularly when using the easier character, Remilia. While switching between characters Sakuya and Remilia provides some replayability due to their differing play styles, overall, the game's replay value diminishes significantly after the first run.
- “Switching between Sakuya and Remilia provides a fair share of replayability due to their differences in style.”
- “The game offers a lot of replayability with its diverse character options and play styles.”
- “Each character brings a unique experience, making you want to replay the game multiple times.”
- “Your first playthrough will be the most fun you have (Remilia is the easier character); then after that, the game kind of just falls out in terms of replayability.”
- “Switching between Sakuya and Remilia gives a fair share of replayability due to their differences in style.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted to be amusing, particularly with the inclusion of stock elevator music commonly found in memes and funny videos. However, some users feel that the humor alone does not justify spending money on the game.
- “+ it has the stock elevator music used in memes and funny videos.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its charming blend of cutesy fantasy and vampire themes, enhanced by superb atmospheric music that significantly contributes to the overall experience.
- “Superb atmospheric music is a plus.”
- “Ultimately, its strongest aspect is the style and atmosphere, which is that of a cutesy fantasy-cross-vampire flick.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews highlight that while the character designs are appealing and the gameplay is engaging, there is little mention of significant character development, suggesting that the focus may be more on aesthetics and gameplay mechanics rather than deep narrative growth.
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players have expressed that the game evokes strong emotions, with multiple users noting that it brought them to tears of joy.
- “Made me cry out of joy.”
- “Made me cry out of joy.”

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79%Critics’ scoreBased on 15 critic reviews

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2h Median play time

2h Average play time

2-2h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a role playing game with fantasy theme.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and others.

On average players spend around 2 hours playing Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity was released on July 11, 2018.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity was developed by Ankake Spa.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a single player game.

Similar games include The Vagrant, Touhou Luna Nights, Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight, Salt and Sanctuary, Ys Origin and others.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity

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I can do evil all by myself: Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity review