Touhou Luna Nights

Touhou Luna Nights is a Metroidvania Touhou Project fangame developed by Team Ladybug in 2018 for Microsoft Windows, released through Steam Early Access. The game was later ported to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

Touhou Luna Nights
Developer(s)Team Ladybug
Publisher(s)PLAYISM
Phoenixx (Switch)
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
ReleaseAugust 20, 2018
Genre(s)Metroidvania

In Touhou Luna Nights, Sakuya Izayoi, is sent to a parallel universe, and is stripped of her powers. Over the course of the game, she reacquires her powers and escapes to her home of Gensokyo.

Gameplay

Touhou Luna Nights is a Metroidvania, in which the player must navigate around a large castle, killing enemies and maneuvering through platforming sections, and occasionally encountering puzzles and boss fights. The player controls Sakuya Izayoi, whose main abilities, owing to her Touhou origins, consist of being able to stop time, and throw knives.[1]

Usage of Sakuya's powers depletes the MP (magic) meter, which regenerates very slowly, and the HP (health) meter, which depletes upon being hit, does not regenerate at all. In order to get more, the player must find one of few vending machines scattered around the map, or graze enemy attacks – having enemy attacks reach the edge of Sakuya's hitbox will replenish MP and HP,[2] a gameplay concept from the official Touhou games. Like most Metroidvanias, the player can acquire gold (which is used as currency), and experience points by killing enemies. Gold can be spent on upgrades to Sakuya's combat abilities, giving her new weapons and moves, and improve her HP and MP reserves.[3]

Sakuya attacks various enemy spirits.

Plot

Sakuya Izayoi, the head maid of Gensokyo's Scarlet Devil Mansion, is sent to a parallel universe that superficially resembles Gensokyo, by her mistress, Remilia Scarlet.[4] Ostensibly, this is for Remilia's own amusement, but after Sakuya defeats Reimu, Flandre, who is forced to stay in the Scarlet Devil Mansion's basement to avoid creating an incident, complains to her sister that she is ignored and Sakuya gets all of her attention. Remilia explains that the reason she created this universe was actually so that Flandre could freely use her powers. After the fight, the spirit energy created by Reimu and Sakuya causes the universe to collapse, and everyone escapes in mechs created by Nitori Kawashiro.

Characters
Main article: List of Touhou Project characters

With the exception of Nitori, all of the characters in Touhou Luna Nights are from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

  • Sakuya Izayoi – The player character, head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
  • Hong Meiling – First boss, a Chinese martial artist, and the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gatekeeper.
  • Marisa Kirisame – Second boss, a human magician.
  • Patchouli Knowledge – Third boss, a reclusive bibliophile magician that lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library.
  • Remilia Scarlet – Fourth boss, a vampire, and the owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
  • Nitori Kawashiro – Fifth boss, a kappa who fights using mecha. After defeating her, it is revealed that she is Flandre Scarlet in disguise.
  • Flandre Scarlet – Sixth boss, a vampire and Remilia's younger sister. Because of her powers, she is normally forced to stay in the Scarlet Devil Mansion's basement.
  • Reimu Hakurei – Final boss, the miko of the Hakurei Shrine, and the main character of the official Touhou games.
  • Cirno – Extra boss, an ice fairy who resides at the Misty Lake, located near the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Development

Touhou Luna Nights was launched through Early Access on Steam in August 2018, and had its Version 1.0 release in February 2019. In June 2019, an update to the game was added, featuring Reimu as the game's final boss (previously Flandre), a dash ability, a new weapon, a boss rush mode, and achievements.[5]

The game was ported to the Xbox One on September 3 2019, and a Nintendo Switch port was announced in October 2020.[6] The Nintendo Switch version, which was published by Phoenixx,[7] released on December 17 2020.[8]

In December 2020, an update featuring Cirno as a boss fight was announced,[9] and was released on January 18 2021.[10]

Reception

In a review for Noisy Pixel, Jahanzeb Khan gave the game an 8.5/10, saying that "Touhou Luna Nights is one of those video game experiences that feels all so familiar but is executed so well that you can’t help but enjoy what it offers. Sure, every game should aspire to reinvent the wheel or try to emulate the best qualities of standard-bearers, but games like this simply recapture the magic and feel of genre classics."[11] Other reviewers praised the fluidity of the gameplay and movement mechanics,[12] but noted that the game only took about six hours to beat, which would leave players wanting more.[13]

On Steam, over 97% of users rated the game positively.[14] By June 2019, the game had reached a total of 100,000 downloads on Steam,[15] and 150,000 by August 2020.[16]

At IndiePlay 2019, Touhou Luna Nights won the "Best Overseas Game" award.[17]

References
  1. Maciejewski, A.J. "Touhou Luna Nights Review". Video Chums.
  2. Tarason, Dominic. "Touhou Luna Nights slashes out of early access". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  3. Taylor, Ryan. "Touhou Luna Nights Review". The Xbox Hub.
  4. SATO. "Check Out More On Touhou Luna Nights By The Makers Of Shin Megami Tensei's Metroidvania Game". Siliconera.
  5. Tarason, Dominic. "Touhou Luna Nights freezes time, cuts prices and picks a new fight". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  6. Romano, Sal. "Touhou Luna Nights for Switch launches in 2020". Gematsu.
  7. "Touhou Luna Nights". Nintendo.
  8. Romano, Sal. "Touhou Luna Nights for Switch launches December 17". Gematsu.
  9. "Cirno Update is Being Prepared!". Steam News Hub.
  10. "The Cirno Update is Here!". Steam.
  11. Khan, Jahanzeb. "Touhou Luna Nights Review – Alucard's Maid Service". Noisy Pixel.
  12. "[Review] Touhou Luna Nights". Daily Nintendo.
  13. "Touhou Luna Nights review – Nintendo Switch. Knives and lots of action". Explica.
  14. "Touhou Luna Nights". Steam. Archived from the original on 2020-10-30.
  15. Romano, Sal. "Touhou Luna Nights sales top 100,000". Gematsu.
  16. Hazra, Adriana. "Touhou Luna Nights Game Gets Release on Xbox One, Microsoft Store on September 3". Anime News Network.
  17. "Touhou Luna Nights was chosen as the Best Overseas Game at IndiePlay 2019!". Steam News Hub.
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