Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost | Switch Review

I love Guitar Hero. Sadly, the Metallica edition broke my guitar. I was rocking out. Now, when I see games that take on the scrolling-note style, my fondness and nostalgia kick into high gear. Along comes Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost with its very similar battle screen and I knew I had to try this game out and review for our podcast friends and readers. While the in-between moments left a lot to be desired, the story depth was impressive and the battle gameplay kept me invested. For the record, Danmaku is Japanese for “Bullet Barrage.” There are no bullets in this game. Also, Kagura is a dance meant to entertain the gods. That makes quite a bit more sense.

Story 

A girl wakes up having no idea who she is or how she got there. “Who am I?” she asks. Well, you’re Reimu Hakurei, of course! While the world is dry and desolate now, it used to be beautiful with trees and plants everywhere! Reimu used to work at a shrine that was key to protecting the world. Apparently, Reimu caused the dry weather, sand, and sadness. In order to remember, Reimu must do the Danmaku Kagura (aka, the Guitar Hero-esque battle). Once Reimu has remembered everything, she will be able to perform the Reigen Kaisei prayer to restore beauty and balance to the world. 

Controls and Gameplay

Touhou DKPL plays like a small novel. In between the rhythm-based battles is an immense amount of reading. They really want the player to be invested in the journey that Reimu is taking. I started feeling like this would be a great game for a 4th grader. Read, read, and read some more and the video game battles are your reward!

The battle sequences are exactly like Guitar Hero. You are rewarded for stringing together notes in a row without a mistake. If you’ve earned enough points in the battle, you win! Even if you don’t defeat the enemy at the end of the song, your point total matters. Think of it like a win-by-decision in a boxing match. 

I played Touhou DKPL on my Switch. The default setting is to push buttons during the battle scenes. This was miserably difficult for me. Depending on your difficulty setting, there are anywhere from four to six button lanes during the battle. On the Switch, this was the four buttons on the right joy-con (A, B, X, Y) and the left and right bumpers. Let me tell you, I was afraid I might get carpal tunnel syndrome playing this way. I missed so many notes and handily lost all battles (don’t tell anyone, but this was even on the Easy setting).

I switched it to touchscreen and away we go! The timing was better and the gameplay was remarkably more enjoyable. I didn’t mind the reading so much after that. 

There are also some battles that require the player to move back and forth to avoid attacks while also tapping the screen (or buttons) to perform your own attacks. These battles were quite difficult but I appreciated the challenge considering how much easier the game was after switching to touchscreen.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics and sound during the battles are fantastic. Beautiful colors, manga art style for the characters, rich textures, and great contrast which make the buttons to press pop! On such a small screen, I was impressed by how gorgeous the screen was! I never tried Touhou DKPL while docked due to the button-pressing difficulty that I mentioned above. I bet it’s even more beautiful on a TV, though.

The songs are in Japanese. Much like the art style, the songs sound very much like any Japanese anime movie that I’ve ever watched. That’s a good thing! Poppy beats and uptempo rhythms would have kept my toes tapping if I wasn’t so focused on winning the battle. I’m impressed with the quality of sound coming out of those tiny Switch speakers. 

 

The non-battle moments are completely forgettable. 80% (at least) of the reading moments are just text against a static backdrop. Nothing impressive at all. Every now and then, the text is presented in an RPG style conversation where two characters are drawn on either end of the screen. Their faces change based on the mood of the conversation, but not much else. Honestly, it’s pretty disappointing overall.

Final Verdict

I do appreciate the depth of the story, but the reading was way too much for my taste. After a while, I just wanted to skim through the reading and get to the battles. I’m not sure if I can properly convey how much reading there is. You’ll have to try it yourself! The battles were fantastic. Plenty of difficulty options are available to shake things up a bit. Playing on Easy, especially with the touchscreen, was a cakewalk. Rhythm games like Touhou DKPL are more fun when there’s a challenge. 

In short, I love every aspect of the battles. They are a lot of fun. But the reading really took me out of the game.

To hear me talk more about Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost, be sure to listen to the October 4, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:33:29 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PC via Steam.