Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity

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.

93%Game Brain Score

gameplay, music

grinding, replayability

93% User Score Based on 240 reviews

Critic Score 79%Based on 3 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $7.52

Buy NowGet on Steam€14.99

About

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 Play through the game's story or campaign solo

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 240 reviews

gameplay16 positive mentions

grinding18 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay with a mix of hack-and-slash and bullet hell mechanics, making it accessible for both new and experienced players.
High-quality graphics and a fantastic soundtrack that captures the essence of the Touhou series.
Variety in character playstyles with Remilia and Sakuya, each offering unique skills and abilities.

Repetitive level design and enemy variety, leading to a grindy experience over time.
Some technical issues, including awkward camera angles and minor bugs that can disrupt gameplay.
The story is relatively simple and may not provide enough depth for players seeking a more compelling narrative.

gameplay
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
61%
13%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a mix of action RPG mechanics and bullet hell elements, offering a variety of skills and character choices that enhance replayability. However, many players find the gameplay to be simplistic and repetitive, with some criticizing the level design and overall challenge. While the controls are generally smooth and enjoyable, the experience can feel bland and lacking in depth, particularly for those seeking a more challenging gameplay experience.
- “The gameplay is fairly dead simple (though challenging), the maps aren't the most visually interesting (with some exceptions) and the music, while great, are largely just arrangements of ZUN's original compositions from the main Touhou franchise.”
- “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.”
- “The gameplay combined with smooth frame rates makes it easier to dodge and play smoothly; however, there is an option to choose the settings before you start.”
- “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
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
32%
5%
The music in this Touhou fan game is widely praised, with many reviewers highlighting its excellent quality and nostalgic remixes of original tracks from the franchise. While some noted that the music can become repetitive during longer play sessions, the overall sentiment is that the soundtrack enhances the gaming experience and is a significant draw for fans. The variety and orchestration of the music contribute to the game's charm, making it a standout feature.
- “The strong suit of the game is its music, so it's always enjoyable even when it loops for a long dungeon.”
- “As one would expect from a Touhou-related game, the soundtrack is nothing short of beautiful and breathtaking.”
- “The entire soundtrack consists of remixes from tracks in the original Touhou games, but boy are they great remixes.”
- “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.”
story
59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
66%
7%
The game's story is generally considered straightforward and somewhat lacking in depth, with many reviewers noting it follows a typical "Touhou" narrative structure that doesn't offer much innovation. While the main plot is simple and the character differences are minimal, some players appreciate the fun and engaging elements of the story, particularly for fans of the Touhou series. Overall, the narrative is seen as a secondary aspect to the gameplay, with mixed opinions on its execution and appeal.
- “The game is about some totally invisible monster who decided to land a strike on the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which occurs after either Remilia or Sakuya leave to go find out what this creature is, but with little luck. All they ended up finding when they returned was a partially collapsed ceiling and are on a mission to find out whom this thing is causing problems, also because Remilia is bored and wanted a challenge.”
- “I totally recommend this game to any new Touhou players or people who want to experience a really good Touhou story.”
- “Everything lacks depth; the shop can't be purchased from, the story is haphazard, and the game relies on its Touhou fanbase to cover up these flaws.”
- “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.”
- “It's not very long and the story isn't interesting; it's basically just gameplay.”
graphics
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
50%
8%
The graphics of the game evoke a nostalgic feel reminiscent of early 2000s and GameCube-era titles, with a charming art style that appeals to fans of simple, anime-inspired visuals. While some reviews note that the graphics are not groundbreaking and can appear somewhat standard or plastic, many appreciate the creative level design and beautiful environments, with an overall rating around 7/10. The visuals, though not graphically intense, are considered decent for a fan-made game, enhancing the overall enjoyment of the gameplay experience.
- “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.”
- “The graphics are charming.”
- “Graphics aren't the best, but it's to be expected since this game was made for a non-Steam platform before it was ported.”
- “Graphically, it's really pretty, but the characters look quite plastic, 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
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while it can be enjoyable and rewarding, it also tends to feel repetitive and tedious at times. Some players appreciate the balance between RPG leveling and bullet hell mechanics, though others note that certain characters, like Remilia, may require more grinding than others. Despite these criticisms, many still find the grind to be a fun part of the game, contributing to its overall enjoyment.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “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.”
- “It involves a lot of secret boss grinding... and you will come to hate her track, even if it's actually good.”
- “Great fun, though it can feel repetitive and grindy at times.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's replayability is somewhat limited, with the initial playthrough being the most enjoyable, particularly when using different characters like Remilia and Sakuya. While there are opportunities for leisurely exploration and speedrunning, these elements may not be enough to sustain long-term engagement for all players.
- “Switching between Sakuya and Remilia provides a fair share of replayability due to their differences in style.”
- “Although I highly suggest you play this game leisurely and at your own pace, it is very open to speedrunning, which may offer some replay value to those who want to try and set a record.”
- “Your first playthrough will be the most fun you have; then after that, the game kind of just falls out in terms of replayability.”
- “Arguably, the game doesn't possess that much replay value unless you find the need to take a monster-slaying stroll through Gensokyo (the world in which the game takes place) or to speedrun the game.”
- “Although I highly suggest you play this game leisurely/at your own pace, this game is very open to speedrunning which may offer some sort of replay value to those who want to try and set a record.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Overall, the game suffers from significant optimization issues, including frequent crashes and performance drops, particularly on lower-end hardware. While it runs smoothly at 60fps for some players, others experience severe frame rate limitations and unoptimized levels, especially in the final story segment. Despite these drawbacks, many users still find the gameplay enjoyable.
- “Runs smoothly.”
- “There can be slight optimization issues when running on the highest settings though, but again, nothing too terrible.”
- “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.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is marred by several unfixed glitches that have persisted for years, including issues like bosses becoming untouchable. While these glitches are not game-breaking, they detract from the overall experience.
- “Some glitches persist in the game.”
- “There are many unfixed glitches that affect gameplay.”
- “Since then, the developers haven't really gone back to fix glitches present in the game years ago (such as hitting a boss or fairy out of the stage to where they're untouchable).”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted as amusing, particularly with the inclusion of stock elevator music commonly found in memes and funny videos; however, some users feel it doesn't justify spending money on the game.
- “It's funny, though I wouldn't spend money on this.”
- “It has the classic stock elevator music used in memes and funny videos.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
Character development received mixed reviews, with some praising the cute character designs while others criticized them as lazy. Additionally, the gameplay was described as extremely boring, which detracted from the overall experience. The dark world scenarios also contributed to a lack of engagement in character progression.
- “Extremely boring gameplay, character design feels lazy, and the world scenarios are very dark even with full brightness.”
- “The character development is shallow and lacks depth, making it hard to connect with anyone in the game.”
- “I found the character arcs predictable and unengaging, which made the overall experience feel flat.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's atmosphere is highlighted by superb atmospheric music and a unique blend of cutesy fantasy and vampire themes, making it one of its strongest aspects.
- “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.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players have expressed that the game evokes strong emotions, with some stating it made them cry tears of joy, highlighting its impactful storytelling and character development.
- “Made me cry out of joy.”