Game: Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows & macOS))
Developer|Publisher: Frontier Aja | CFK Corporation
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Teen
Price: US $29.99 | UK £26.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: July 28th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to CFK Corporation.
Outsider’s Perspective
Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony is a 2D action platformer. This game acts as a remaster sporting new HD visuals and some additional bonus features. It’s a game based on characters from the Touhou project who have featured in a plethora of other games. Titles which I’ll be honest I have absolutely no experience with. But according to the internet these have quite the dedicated fan base.
So this is more of a review coming from an outsider’s perspective. Koumajou Remilia follows a pretty straightforward retro design for a 2D action platformer. While it attempts to mix in some shooter-like mechanics this is not a title that I really warmed to. Not due to game bugs or glitches but more the familiarity with a title I have played before.
You begin the game playing as Reimu who is investigating a disturbance known as ‘Scarlet Mist’ which seems to be an evil entity spreading over the land. So cue an adventure into a suspicious castle defeating all sorts of Halloween-like nasties. Reimu is not alone in her adventure, soon she runs into a few allies (after you have defeated them in a boss battle of course).
The story is presented in anime-style stills with full Japanese voice acting and English subtitles. Humour is sprinkled into the mix but I’ll just be honest, I didn’t feel much connection to this game’s plot. It felt like something you would get more out of if you have familiarity with the Touhou characters. But if you’re going in new you might be keener to hover over that skip button as I did.
Deja Vu
Koumajou Remilia is a game that gave off a lot of deja vu vibes and just looking at the screenshots it doesn’t take much observation to see where it takes its inspiration from. Your main weapon to take out the baddies is a whip. When you defeat enemies they will drop red sparkles which can then be spent to summon your pals to assist you or use a special move. The game follows a pretty linear design of travel through eight levels taking out baddies before confronting a boss at the end. The game even features lives which seems a little outdated for modern game design. Although, you are able to rack it up to a solid 20 if you need to alleviate the frustration of this design.
The main mechanic that felt different was you are able to fly about and shoot a short-ranged projectile at the cost of your red sparkles. This plays a particularly key feature in boss fights which turn into more bullet hell-like experiences. By that I mean the boss will fling all manner of projectiles at you as you try to weave your way toward an opening to strike. This design was the most unique feature I experienced in the game but I still found it a bit disappointing. When flying you move very slowly and you can’t face a different direction which is a bit odd. All the boss fights are human-like characters, it seemed a bit of a missed opportunity not to have an epic-scale boss fight like a giant werewolf. While they all have their own move sets they still felt pretty similar.
Detailed Presentation
In-game graphics are detailed and well-animated pixel sprites. Enemies came in a variety of horror-themed monsters like skeletons and very angry birds. The environments themselves are a nice detailed gothic castle design. It looks pretty good but this feels like it has been done before by another popular series and dare I say better. While the castle looks good the actual level designs and structures are repeated often in the game to the degree where it becomes repetitive and just boring.
Koumajou Remilia took me around four hours to make it through the first time round. It’s pretty tough on its medium difficulty, particularly the boss fights. If you find it too hard the game features easier difficulty settings to make your trip through the castle a little more manageable.
When you’re finished with the main game you can play an additional chapter which adds more challenge and story as well as a new boss fight. Levels can be revisited with level selection and you can unlock several achievements or challenges if you’re into that sort of thing. I will give credit I experienced no bugs or glitches in this game and it ran well on Switch on TV and handheld. The price of entry feels a touch high considering other similar games (some featuring more titles) come in cheaper. So might be worth waiting for a sale.
Good but Familiar
Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony is a competent action platformer which will most likely satisfy its target fanbase as well as those that like their retro games. It’s well put together but it just didn’t do a lot for me. The level design is a bit bland and there weren’t a lot of stand-out moments that made the experience particularly memorable. By looking and playing so close to another popular game series the game just lacks its own personality. I don’t feel it does anything wrong. I get the impression this is just one of those titles that I don’t get but others will certainly enjoy. If you decide to take the plunge with this title I sure hope you have a good time.
Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure
Nice