Game: Touhou Genso Wanderer – FORESIGHT –
Genre: RPG, Roguelike
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam (Windows) & PS4
Developers | Publishers: AQUASTYLE | Phoenixx, Inc.
Age Rating: US T | EU 12+
Price: US: $34.99 | UK £30.99 | EU € 33,99
Release Date: September 18th, 2024
A review code was provided, and many thanks to Stride PR.
The Touhou Project is a Japanese video game series with a massive, labyrinthine fandom where even the fanworks are often professional-tier spinoffs with fandoms all their own. The original Touhou series, which began in 1997 courtesy of a then-collegiate solo dev who goes by the pseudonym ZAN, are bullet hell games. Like Super Meat Boy or Returnal. Or even Vampire Survivors, in reverse. The spinoffs, however… well, pick a genre, and you’ll find something. In this case, Touhou Genso Wanderer – FORESIGHT – is a roguelike that is specifically moulded in the Mystery Dungeon style.
It’s not the first professional fan game of its type, but it’s designed with something many of the other spinoffs haven’t had in mind: ease of accessibility. Mystery Dungeon games are already a little more structured than the classic roguelike. However, they’re still typically deep, complicated games hidden under a veneer of simple RPG tactics and fast failures. Taking a step into this genre is a rough ride for new players, so it’s always refreshing to find a game that’s actually trying to help you out. But does Touhou Genso Wanderer – FORESIGHT – manage to bridge the gap between the novice and the hardcore fan? That’s a lot more complicated to answer, and even then, the answer might be moot.
The World of Touhou Genso Wanderer is A Lively One
There is a lot to unpack about the Touhou Project if you want to know the lore behind it. I am not the person to help you, so we’re going to come at this together from the viewpoint of the new girl at the coolest club in town. Touhou is, roughly, about a young miko (shrine maiden) named Reimu Hakurei, who is very sweet-natured, full of energy, dumb as a box of hair, and always ready to throw down with the yokai (troublesome spirits) continually meddling with her shrine. To varying degrees of threat seriousness.
Fortunately, she has equally cute friends willing to help her in her endeavors, from your magical girl battle buddy Marisa, to the lake spirit trader girl, and onward. Yet even acquaintances end up sort of at least lending a hand in FORESIGHT, via an interesting little mechanic that we’ll get into in the next section.
In any case, Reimu’s life is apparently a karmic cycle of stuff just constantly happening to her and her shrine, and as FORESIGHT opens, this nice girl is not having a good time of it. In fact, she loses to an enemy stronger than anything she could have possibly expected and is busted down to a vaguely amnesiac powerless mess as you, the player, take over. In our house, we call this the first variant of the Castlevania Doctrine, in which maybe you were cool as beans once, but now you’re back at level one, sucker.
Usually, in Mystery Dungeon games, it’s going to be a rough ride getting back to the powerhouse you once were. But FORESIGHT bakes in some newbie-friendly twists.
Welcome to the Mystery Dungeon
Roguelikes, as I implied, are usually not gentle. They’re built on random loot and procedurally generated floors, so it’s easy to get the game stacked against you. Japanese Mystery Dungeon roguelikes add structure and licensed stories to help a little, with the most well-known Mystery Dungeon games coming from the Pokemon franchise. But even those games, with a permanent levelling system and other perks that let you grind up your Pokes into ever-stronger warriors, hit a point where you’re asking God what you did to trick yourself into playing a game that this means to you. And yet we persist.
Touhou Genso Wanderer – FORESIGHT – is committed to being gentle, for once, making it even better than Tangledeep for a first-time introduction to the roguelike. To the point that Touhou vets fond of a previous roguelike game are extremely mixed about this one, at a glance, for its apparent simplicity and ease. For fans of the franchise, it’s understandable. For you? Check it out: permanent level-ups. Keep your gear if you fail a dungeon. Upgrade the shrine for more buffs and options. Teleport out of the dungeon and back to your shrine if you want (what???). Buff yourself further with the power of friendship!
It’s that last bit that I find interesting. Izanagi Link cards unlock as you progress and meet what I assume are fan-favorite Touhou characters. As you battle through dungeons, you’ll collect points that you can use to unlock a variety of permanent upgrades across these cards, from improved HP to better damage to more skills and buffs for your battle buddy.
I love nail-biting hard roguelikes; I genuinely do. This is a pleasant little game that I’m happy to pass over to my partner, who really wants to like these kinds of games but can’t deal with the sheer maliciousness of something like NetHack.
Not Everything Is Perfect At The Shrine
I will say that the game is oddly clunky at times. Being able to move across a map accurately and smoothly is a necessity when its turn-based movement is key to your tactical approach, and it can be oddly hard to nail a diagonal movement sometimes. Attempting to double-press the D-pad or wiggling the stick can sometimes whack you into a trap instead. Fortunately, the penalty isn’t as dire as it usually is.
The game itself is also less than smooth at times, with moving across tiles causing a bit of graphical jump and judder that’s out of place in a fairly straightforward turn-based game. It may not hamper play, but it’s a little unpleasant to deal with when everything else is so cute and colorful.
And finally, for those who take their roguelikes seriously, Touhou Genso Wanderer – FORESIGHT – is a light snack of a game. It’s possible to clear story mode fairly quickly, barring the time you’ll spend grinding up levels and Izanagi upgrades, and even post-game stuff isn’t as in-depth or interesting to explore as similar Mystery Dungeon games. Still, it’s a pleasant visit overall, and the plot and characterization, while very anime, is cute and never gets too out of hand with its fan service.
Conclusion
Touhou Genso Wanderer – FORESIGHT – is a lovely jump-in point for both the Touhou Project and the roguelike genre, both of which are great things for the long-term prosperity of any franchise. While it’s not as in-depth as other Mystery Dungeon games, and though its anime plot of mikos and mystics versus the world may be pretty alien to anyone unfamiliar with the home franchise, it does well with what it has and keeps its focus on those new arrivals who don’t know all the decades-long interactions between these characters.
While the price point is, in my opinion, a little steep for what you’re getting in terms of complexity and potential gameplay hours, I will say that’s not unusual for Mystery Dungeon-style games, either. A sale price and some curiosity about the genre make it a must-buy; a regular price means doing some research and thinking if you’ll enjoy a gently-paced introduction to a world that rarely welcomes outsiders. On the whole, I’m charmed with this game. For veterans annoyed with its comparative simplicity, it’s also succeeded at the most important duty of all: it made me curious about other games in the franchise. Now, that’s how you win.
Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot
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