The Touhou Project has become so popular in Japanese culture that a number of fans have taken it upon themselves to expand the franchise themselves with supplementary manga, anime, music, and even entirely new games, all done with creator ZUN's approval and desire to maintain an open-concept franchise. That's where Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity comes in. First shown off at Comiket, a major event focused on self-published works or "dōjinshi", the game was first known as Touhou Koukishin ~ Adventures of Scarlet Curiosity; it was first available for the Windows platform in 2014. An updated port for PlayStation 4 was later released in early 2016. Surprisingly, XSEED Games picked up the game for localization. North American gamers had their hands on this one in September 2016, with its title shortened to simply "Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity".

In the world of Gensokyo, we're offered the chance to play as two characters, Remilia Scarlet, a 500-year-old bratty vampire and resident melee enthusiast, and Sakuya Izayoi, Remilia's chief maid, a long-range markswoman, and the only human living in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Remilia is loafing around, soaking up boredom like a sponge, when she spies an article about a vicious creature menacing the surrounding areas. She goes out looking for it, but upon meeting with failure, she arrives home only to discover her home, the mansion, has been attacked. Well... that's, uh, no good...

I had no prior gameplay experience with any Touhou game when I dove into Scarlet Curiosity behind knowing its bullet hell roots. This one turned out to be a pleasant 3D action RPG, very similar in nature to the Ys games (also localized, mostly, by XSEED). I played through as Remilia, though the game generally remains the same, save for a few cutscenes, for both characters. From the get-go, I found myself slicing through wolves and chipper fairies with carefree whimsy. Defeating tons of enemies earns your character experience points, used for learning new special skills. You can then mix and match up to three of these "special skills" at a time to use at your leisure, provided your energy meter at the bottom has enough energy in it. I ended up sticking with mostly the same distant blast throughout the entire game.

Touhou it may concern...

As you push through each scene, new areas open up on an overworld map. Areas range from lush forests to a babbling brook to even a deserted town. I must say, the areas look pretty great and visually attractive. My one gripe, however, is that the areas can often drag on at extreme length with very little variation, both in environments and in enemies. It does get repetitive to have to kill ten fairies, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty... and the foe variation is minimal throughout the game. You'll see the same creatures throughout the entire game. The only differences really come in their levels; as you progress, enemies "level" up with you, becoming more powerful over time. You, however, also become powerful, so it all balances out, and the enemies don't become a significantly greater obstacle.

It was also a bit jarring to discover later on that, despite no mention of it prior, I had been collecting money the whole time for use at a store that doesn't even appear until halfway through the game. Even then, most of the weapons and accessories I used were ones that fell out of enemies once defeated. Also interesting: items may have the same names but not always the same properties. For example, one set of Sharp Nails (a Remilia weapon) may be more powerful than another set of Sharp Nails. Same name, different attributes. It's important to closely examine your inventory to figure out which equippable items are the best.

Scarlet Curiosity is rather short, so the repetitiveness isn't a major problem; by the time you think boredom is setting in, the game's over, and you're across the street at the pub wondering why you spent six bucks on a genuinely awful glass of amber dog sweat. But the controls are rock solid, and shuffling through the game never felt awkward or unmanageable. It was a breeze, save for a few bosses that gave me a run for my money. (I subsequently ran for that money and retrieved it.)

Critics destroyed this game, citing its ample simplicity, but once in a while, what we need is a relaxing game such as this, instead of needlessly complicating things to artificially impress. We also have to consider that this is a fan game, not anything created by a major developer. In that regard, this game is gorgeous and very playable. Perhaps the one aspect that might cause some raised eyebrows is its relation to the source material. Yes, the enemies all fire off bullets similar to ships or characters in bullet hell games, but because Remilia and Sakuya can jump, that basically detracts from the challenge of bullet hell.