Touhou Luna Nights

« Touhou Luna Nights takes the visual style of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and mixes in a unique blend of puzzle-based exploration and combat to create one brilliant Metroidvania. I highly recommend it to any fan of the genre. »

« 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. In this case, it’s the sublime composition of some of the genre greats, but this time you’re one classy maid who’s excellent at throwing knives. »

« It’s not a perfect game but it is fun and provides a decent challenge. The waifu maid thing may be off-putting for some, but you don’t need to watch or even like anime to enjoy the gameplay. So if you have a free weekend and need a new game to check out, Touhou Luna Nights on Xbox One might be the answer you are looking for. It also doesn’t hurt that it has an incredibly catchy soundtrack. »

« Touhou Luna Nights is a game recommended by a friend since they knew I was a fan of metroidvanias. While I do think it’s a solid game, there are a handful of issues I couldn’t ignore during my time playing. There are plenty of things I really appreciate about Luna Nights, with my favorite part of the game being the sprite work. I really enjoy the boss fights, though I wish they had less health since they tend to go on a bit longer than I’d like, especially the final boss, which I’ll get into later. I also love the soundtrack and most of the platforming segments. I also really enjoyed the time stop, slow down, and grazing mechanics, as they were well implemented in the level design and bosses. As for the things I don’t like about Luna Nights, well, there’s quite a bit. First and foremost, I find the items in Nitori’s shop to be way too overpriced, especially the extra time stop and additional XP bonus. For the additional time stop, I would understand the price if it were a permanent upgrade, but since you can only use it a certain number of times, you’d have to buy multiple. I never had to use it in my playthrough, but it’s still ridiculously overpriced. The health and magic regeneration items are also too expensive, to the point where the game basically requires you to farm if you want to stack up on items, which is the last thing I want to do. In terms of combat, it’s actually pretty good, though it can be unbalanced, with some weapons and abilities making others completely obsolete. I also wish there were more abilities unlocked throughout the game, not just new weapons, like a wall jump for instance. Backtracking in this game can also be quite tedious since it’s hard to tell what areas you haven’t been to on the map. I also find it pretty frustrating that there’s no auto-save, so if you die, you lose the progress you made—an archaic design choice I’m not a fan of. As for the final boss, as cool as it is, it just goes on for way too long, and I mean way too long. It’s the one and only boss in the game that has two phases, and both phases have the same amount of health as every other boss. I would be fine with this if they let you retry the second phase upon dying, but they don’t, meaning you have to do the first phase all over again even after dying to the second phase. With that and the bloated length of the fight, it took me almost an hour just to beat that boss, and I even had to go back to the shop just to buy a couple of heals. And about the game's story… I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t care. It’s not a bad plot by any stretch of the imagination, and maybe it’s because I’m not too familiar with Touhou’s world and its characters, but I wasn’t that invested in the narrative. Story isn’t that important in video games to me, but I still thought it was worth mentioning. Also, one nitpick I have with the game is the robotic voice always telling me I’m grazing or my MP is fully restored, like I get it, please shut up. Overall, Touhou Luna Nights is a good action platformer metroidvania, but one that still has room for improvement IMHO. It has a lot of heart and care put into it, there’s no denying that, and I see why fans of the series love it, as it’s widely praised as one of the best Touhou fangames and indie metroidvanias in general. It deserves that status and I don’t want to take that away from anyone, but I can’t find myself loving it that much. I remember my friend telling me this game is better than Hollow Knight could ever hope to be, and coming from someone who has played both games all the way through, is this game better than Hollow Knight? HELL NO! IT’S NOT EVEN IN THE SAME STRATOSPHERE AS HOLLOW KNIGHT! Kidding aside, Touhou Luna Nights is a good game that I overall enjoyed. It’s a competently made, quality product that’s worth your time and money, and I would recommend it if you’re a fan of action platformers. »

« This incredibly-short game is not a Metroidvania. It's key-gated instead of ability-gated, and most of the abilities are completely useless. The gameplay is not balanced at all since the ability you get at the start of the game is broken and OP. »

« The time freezing and time slowing mechanics works perfectly with the "dodge upcoming projectiles but get very near them to gain energy and health". The game is very short and the DLC area is the worst part of the game, yet the game is very much fun; maybe the weapons/skills should have been balanced better, some are useless and others are broken. »

« Nice game, perhaps one of the best Metroidvanias I've ever played. I really enjoyed the gameplay to stop time. It is particularly difficult for the few saves in the game, for the rest the game is very nice. »

« Simplemente es deslumbrante el juego es brillante y divertido de principio a fin »

« The good: Pixel art and 2D Sprites very well detailed and fluid. Mechanics of stopping time that gives a very interesting touch to the genre since with a certain combination of skills you can generate platforms with your daggers and reach apparently inaccessible areas. You have an interesting risk/reward mechanic in which you must face the enemies or their attacks and in this way you recover life, also when you stop time and get close to the enemy you recover Magic, this mechanic is of vital importance to master when facing bosses that fill the screen with objects, attacks and garbage. The game is longer than you think (After Flan, don't leave as there is more). You can access the shop at any time if you have a ticket which will make Nitori look for you and buy things, it works even against bosses. It's on Xbox Game Pass. The bad: It is a loose Metroidvania, the "hidden areas" are in plain sight. Difficult achievements (not recommended for achievement hunting. Boss fights turn into Bullet Hell with attacks Covering the screen, lots of things floating and moving around, and things ready to hurt you. The difficulty of the bosses is way off the scale (Except Hong Meiling at the door.) You have to be well prepared to face Flan because then you face someone else right there with the energy and items you have left. The logo is horrible (with so many fan arts and character design and they put some letters or Izayoi with a poorly drawn background, total fail) Lo Meh!: A metroidvania that can be entertaining but can also be frustrating due to the surgical location of traps and enemies. If you don't know anything about the Touhou Project, you probably won't understand anything that happens, neither the relationships, nor the jokes, nor the winks, nor the twists (if you want to enjoy that at least, read a wiki or a short Touhou story). I understand that Hong Meiling is the one who guards the gate of the mansion but being the first boss she is very weak and in Touhou lore she is at the level of Flan, Remilia or Patchuli. At the end of the game completely, you open the Boss Rush mode (many will not see this mode because either they did not finish the game or after defeating Flan they left the game for peace) »

« Decent metroidvanialite. Short and simple. Interesting timestop mechanic. Not really remarkable, but combat is fun. »

« One of the greatest games in xbox game pass. The only negative thing about this game is that it is very short and leaves you wanting for more content. Do you want some advice? Just play it!!!!!! »