Game Review | Touhou Genso Wanderer

Dungeon crawler style games have been a favorite of mine ever since my foray with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon back on the Gameboy Advanced in 2005. When NIS America announced the NA and EU releases for Touhou Genso Wanderer at their annual press event, my interest was definitely piqued and, having played the PS4 version of the game, my expectations were definitely met.

The story of Touhou Genso Wanderer revolves around shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei who accidentally triggers the activation of the Golden Sphere, a strange artifact which corrupts her friend Rinnosuke and sets the stage for the ensuing dungeon crawling madness. The game is very plot centric which, although usually applauded as everyone loves a great story to follow, resulted in maybe the largest drawback of the play through experience, excessive, none stop dialog.

The game has a lot of dialog between Reimu and every character she encounters, and i’m definitely not kidding when I say a lot. At one point I set the dialog to auto and sat there waiting for 10 minutes before I could get back to actually playing the game. The sad part was, the dialog wan’t even with a major character and had no impact on the actual game experience. This seems to be an unfortunate trend within Genso Wanderer as every conversation seems to be lengthy and drawn out, including the mandatory ones for advancing through the game. Most of the dialog actually does not say or do anything of importance. The ones that do could have easily been more concise and to the point so as not to feel like a hindrance. While the plot focus of the game may be very strong, sad to say it was definitely lost on myself and probably most others. It didn’t take me too long before the lengthy talking and constant interruptions became exhausting and I started avoiding or ignoring them all together which is an absolute shame.

Despite the setback, Touhou Genso Wanderer hits every mandatory dungeon crawler target and then some once you actually get into the dungeons themselves. The game gets all the basics, the massive multilevel dungeons, the swarm rooms, traps and pure haphazard nature that players show up for. Upon re-entering a dungeon no two floors are ever the same and you never know what you will find, so preparation is key. When in the dungeon, your and your partner’s equipped gear levels up along with you the more they’re used. Genso Wanderer makes this not uncommon feature even better with the added bonus of not losing all of your items when you die. This means that when braving a powerful dungeon you really just need to fear for time and the money in your wallet. The sting of having to restart a dungeon is definitely lessened when doing so with well leveled items, makes it easier the 2nd time around and eliminating the trap most dungeon crawlers fall into where players end up feeling as if they’re hitting they’re head against a wall while trying to progress.

Visually, the game is very vibrant. The character designs shown in cut scenes and during dialog are beautiful and the contrast to the chibi style of design used for the actual maps and gameplay is a fun twist. The only real problem I had with the PS4 version is how close the frame is zoomed in on you when in a dungeon. You don’t really have the best view of the room you’re in so you never know what enemies are doing or how they’ll come for you. However, this is more of an inconvenience than a hindrance and adds to the gameplay experience in its own way. The controls are rather simple to pick up if you’ve played other dungeon crawlers or not, all adding up to a rather easing environment for players to spend hours running through dungeons just for the heck of it. Who wouldn’t want to spend time with all the adorable chibi girls that seem to inhabit the world of Genso?

Final Verdict

While not without its issues, Touhou Genso Wanderer is a dungeon crawler with its own twist and is definitely a fun way to kill countless hours of play once you can avoid the excessive talking. The characters are fun and whimsical and the gameplay is uncomplicated. The PS Vita version which has also been released comes with the bonus of tackling the very deep dungeons on the go which in itself is a bonus that may help you make the choice of which version to go for.

 

Adrian Moses

A massive biggest One Piece fan who just wants to spend his days on a world adventure.