Wonderful Waking World

About

Wonderful Waking World is a single player arcade shooter game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Oligarchomp and was released on June 15, 2022. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

A simplistic, dynamic Touhou fangame bullet hell shmup with a pixel art esthetic. Shoot down your enemies and dodge your way through an incessant barrage of projectiles!

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Single-Player

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98%

Audience ScoreBased on 184 reviews

music33 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The game features excellent music and charming visuals, making it a delightful experience for players.
Gameplay is straightforward and fun, with engaging bullet patterns that provide a satisfying challenge without being overly punishing.
As a free game, it offers great value, showcasing a lot of passion and care from the developers, making it a must-play for Touhou fans.

The difficulty curve can be inconsistent, with some stages feeling significantly harder than others, which may frustrate players.
Certain bullet patterns can be difficult to notice against the background, leading to unexpected deaths.
The lack of unique resource mechanics may make the game feel simplistic to some players, potentially detracting from the overall experience.

music
67 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
47%
4%
The music in this game is widely praised, with many reviewers highlighting its excellence and variety, featuring tracks from multiple artists that capture the essence of the Touhou series. Players appreciate the synchronization of music with gameplay, noting standout themes for various stages and bosses that enhance the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a major highlight, contributing significantly to the game's charm and replayability.
- “The music is amazing, the spritework is extremely good and the characters are fun.”
- “The music is great, just about every stage theme is amazing with the standouts being stage 2 and 4 in particular and the boss themes are just as good with the stage 6 and especially stage 5 boss theme being a complete banger.”
- “An excellent fangame with beautiful music and spritework, clearly designed with devotion and love for the series and its community.”
- “The music is its own style, while also keeping elements and motifs from Touhou.”
- “Most of them feel like you are controlling your character through honey, and the music, patterns, and characters all feel... kind of odd.”
- “The music and games are very well coordinated (especially in stage 4 when encountering Iku, the change of background music was epic).”
graphics
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
39%
11%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their charm and simplicity, with many reviewers noting that the art style effectively captures the essence of the Touhou series. While some critiques mention underwhelming visuals or a pixelated aesthetic, the overall consensus highlights the appealing design, lively character animations, and a nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic games. The combination of engaging visuals and a fitting soundtrack contributes to a fun and immersive gameplay experience.
- “Visuals are charming and clean, and the danmaku uses the same design language as the official games (which means essentially no unexpected or wonky bullet shapes to throw you off).”
- “The graphics are pretty nice and they have their own charm, the dialogs feel so lively and very natural, while still keeping the same touhou-specific carefree tone, the music is pretty good too and feels very much like touhou music, and the gameplay, while simple, is still as efficient as a touhou game!”
- “Top tier touhou fangame, art style and writing is nice and full of personality, and the bullet hell gameplay is simple and fun.”
- “Another basic anime arcade bullet-hell with underwhelming visuals and mechanics.”
- “This features really godawful pixel crap 'art' instead of real graphics.”
- “It's hard to say if this was because the developer didn't have the skill to create 3D visuals, or couldn't afford to hire someone who does, but it also doesn't matter.”
gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
50%
12%
The gameplay is praised for its solid, fast-paced mechanics that focus on pure action without complex resource management, allowing players to immerse themselves in the bullet-hell experience. While some reviews note a lack of unique mechanics, the simplicity is seen as a strength, enhancing the addictive nature of the game. Overall, the engaging gameplay, combined with stellar music and charming visuals, makes it a standout title in the Touhou fangame genre.
- “You are always at full power, and resources are dished out in full increments only (no pieces), so you can focus purely on the gameplay, which the game itself excels at.”
- “The gameplay is fun and creative, the graphics are great and the music is phenomenal (as expected from a touhou game haha) 10/10”
- “The bosses were fun, the character designs are great, and the gameplay is borderline addicting.”
- “Outside of the extreme amount of bubble-based attacks, there are no real mechanical 'gimmicks' in this game.”
- “[code] another basic anime arcade bullet-hell with underwhelming visuals and mechanics.”
- “In terms of gameplay, there are some things that need adjustments.”
humor
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely praised for its fun, silly nature and clever dialogue, often featuring witty exchanges and amusing character interactions. Many players appreciate the callbacks to the main Touhou games, which add an extra layer of enjoyment, though some note that the humor can be heavily reliant on prior knowledge of the series. Overall, the game successfully balances humor with engaging gameplay, making it a standout fangame in the Touhou community.
- “The humor is great and all of the callbacks to the main Touhou games were pretty fun to catch.”
- “Humor is fun, silly, and doesn't take itself too seriously.”
- “The conversations in this game are hilarious and super fun, and create a lore and context for the enemy characters that will also be reflected in the bullet patterns.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
43%
The game's story is engaging and entertaining, blending humor with interesting plot and dialogue, though it may require players to have prior knowledge to fully appreciate the jokes. Overall, it is well-received for its solid narrative and creative design, making it a notable aspect of the game.
- “While the game doesn't try to take itself too seriously, the story was engaging enough that it kept me interested.”
- “Story wise, everything is solid.”
- “The plot and dialogue are designed to be interesting, combined with memes, just awesome.”
- “The story is lacking depth and fails to engage the player.”
- “The plot feels disjointed and the dialogue often falls flat.”
- “While the premise is intriguing, the execution leaves much to be desired.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find grinding in this game enjoyable and well-paced, making it less taxing compared to other titles. The ability to map a controller button for quick restarts would enhance the experience further, as the current method of pausing and retrying can become tedious during practice.
- “The ability to map a controller button to restart would also be helpful, as pausing and hitting retry becomes tedious when practicing.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is highlighted through unique and recognizable designs that enhance the overall gameplay experience, which many players find addictive. The bosses, in particular, are noted for their fun and charming aesthetics, contributing to the game's appeal.
- “The bosses were fun, the character designs are great, and the gameplay is borderline addicting.”
- “Recognizable and unique character designs.”
- “I love the soundtrack, the gameplay, and the cute character designs (stage 3 boss is adorable ).”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised by users, contributing significantly to the overall experience and enjoyment.
- “The atmosphere it brings to the game is very appreciated.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game benefits from recent optimizations, enhancing its simplicity while maintaining a smooth performance.
- “This inherits that simplicity, but with the optimizations of recent titles.”

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Frequently Asked Questions

Wonderful Waking World is a arcade shooter game with fantasy and comedy themes.

Wonderful Waking World is available on PC and Windows.

Wonderful Waking World was released on June 15, 2022.

Wonderful Waking World was developed by Oligarchomp.

Wonderful Waking World has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its music but disliked it for its grinding.

Wonderful Waking World is a single player game.

Similar games include Touhou Makuka Sai: Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part II, Touhou Tenkuushou: Hidden Star in Four Seasons, Servants of Harvest Wish, TouHou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part III, Touhou Makuka Sai: Fantastic Danmaku Festival and others.

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