We would like to thank the developers for providing us with a copy for review
The story starts out with an unnamed protagonist (you can name them) walking to a cafe to meet his friends. Unfortunately, Truck-kun had a day off today because the protagonist starts to see a bright white light and is soon transported to another world. He then finds and meets Reimu Hakurei, who thought that our main character was a Yokai. What will our protagonist experience in this mysterious world and what kind of adventures will he come across?
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Fan-favorite TouHou characters are present
- Very nicely animated Visual Novel
- Soundtrack is pleasant to listen too
- The art style is very beautiful.
Cons
- The story is a little lackluster
- There are a few typos
Story/Characters
The story for the visual novel is lackluster in terms of the plot and at a glance, the characters themselves lack development, however, this is fine. The developers stated that they tried to capture the feel of the character's personalities that have already been established inside the TouHou series. If you happen to already be an expert on TouHou lore, you may feel at ease and understanding of the characters, but as I am not an expert, I lack the ability to relate to the characters and could see how this could be slightly off-putting to those new to the TouHou world.
Now the fan favorites that are included besides Reimu are Yukari Yakumo, Sakuya Izayoi, Cirno, Tenshi Hinanawi, Remilia Scarlet, and my favorite character Marisa Kirisame. For some reason, Flandre Scarlet is not present in the visual novel, which is odd to me, but there may have been a reason for not including them in the story. Everything that the characters go through in a way is chaotic and I love it. It makes it feel like you are in a TouHou stage dodging a bunch of bullets.
Although as mentioned before, the story lacks luster, as it just feels like a typical story of being transported to a different dimension and then collecting barriers. Everything just happens so fast that nothing really develops, and the main character is just a generic guy who ends up being the least developed character of them all.
The visual novel does have a romance plot included, although this just feels awkward and out of place. The main plot point feels forced, with an unnatural feel to it.
This may be a small issue, but there are a few typos found throughout the story. Most lines are easy to read and understand, but it is worth mentioning since this is a visual novel.
One of the things that really impressed me in TouHou Gensokyo Visitor is that everything is very nicely animated with well-drawn art. I love how even the action scenes are animated. For anyone who is a fan of TouHou, I will say that you will enjoy the animation and appreciate the art design.
The soundtrack is also very pleasant with nice calming tones that are very soothing. I was happy to discover this as I find myself disappointed by visual novels frequently by their use of dull uninspiring music. TouHou usually manages to have a decent soundtrack, at least in the few games in this series that I have played, so it is good to see this being the case here too.
Graphics and Performance
The art style for TouHou Gensokyo Visitor is something I highly praise. The wonderful animation and the art style both really shine here, and the character models simply look amazing. I tested the visual novel on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Quad-Core Processor 3.50, and 16 GB of RAM, I experienced no issues, and it should be able to run on low-end PCs.
Final Verdict
TouHou Gensokyo Visitor is ok, while it does have a nice art style, animation, and soundtrack, the story is too weak and failed to keep me invested. Although it is only 4.65 CDN, this may only be recommended to true TouHou fans who are already familiar with TouHou lore and would be happy playing any games featuring these characters. For anyone new to the TouHou series though, you are not missing out if you pass on purchasing this title.
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