> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.killscreen.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# I’m feeling some scarlet curiosity about the new Touhou game
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/im-feeling-scarlet-curiosity-new-touhou-game/
- Published: 2016-09-26T13:00:16.000Z
- Updated: 2016-09-26T09:26:33.000Z
- Description: Being bored sucks. There’s many ways that we find ways to cure our boredom: videogames, books, music, watching a decent show or movie. For the 500-year-old vampire Remilia Scarlet, those petty activities are far below her. Her boredom is on a whole other level, one the likes of which her maid compan
- Author: Caty Mccarthy
- Tags: News, Japan, play doujin!, the touhou project, touhou, touhou: scarlet curiosity, XSEED, zun, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

Being bored sucks. There’s many ways that we find ways to cure our boredom: videogames, books, music, watching a decent show or movie. For the 500-year-old vampire Remilia Scarlet, those petty activities are far below her. Her boredom is on a whole other level, one the likes of which her maid companion Sakuya Izayoi has never seen before. Luckily, there’s a neighboring monster that’s terrorizing the countryside near her manor, the adequately titled Scarlet Devil Mansion. Finally, the excitement she *deserves*. That is, until the beast destroys her home, and then it’s just a case of revenge.

That’s the basic plot for the new XSEED-localized action-adventure *Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity* (developed by Ankake Spa), just one of many fangames crafted in the bustling *The Touhou Project* community. *The Touhou Project* didn’t get its start in action-adventure flurry. In fact, it emerged from something quite the opposite: danmaku games, probably more familiarly known as the bullet-hell genre (typically 2D games where gleaming projectiles coat most of the screen).

![scarlet curiosity](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/preview_screenshot3_125625.jpg)

I first learned about *The Touhou Project* a few years ago. I’m kinda ashamed to admit that, since that’s a mere dent in the two decades that *Touhou* has been around, its first game popping up sometime in 1996 in Japan. *Touhou*’s a weird series, emerging as a cult-favorite bullet-hell title originally by developer ZUN, who independently programmed, musically scored, and created graphics for his first games. Then the series took on a life of its own through [doujin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Djin?ref=killscreen.com) culture—where fans created their own iterations of *Touhou*. With ZUN’s blessing, spin-off games, music, cosplay, and anything else that people could create donning the *Touhou* name came into existence. Of course, doujin games are hard to come by on major platforms like the PlayStation 4, and official localizations of them are even more rare. But recently, all that has changed.

In comes *Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity*, the *second* *Touhou* game to make its way westward with an official localization this year. The first *Touhou* game to receive a western release came last year through Playism, but it [wasn’t translated by any means](http://playism-games.com/game/215/double-dealing-character?ref=killscreen.com). Earlier in September, NIS America published *Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet*, which is not only a mouthful to say, but also a shoot-‘em-up-fighting game hybrid of sorts. *Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity* is the latest effort in ZUN and Sony’s [*Play! Doujin* distribution plan](http://playdoujin.mediascape.co.jp/?ref=killscreen.com), created in an effort to bring fangames to PlayStation 4.

Boss fights still star incredibly charming characters

As I said, *Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity* isn’t your atypical, bullet-screen blanketing *Touhou* experience. For that, you’d have to look elsewhere, like to ZUN’s own games. Yet, it does share glimmers of similarities (which makes sense, still bearing the *Touhou* name and all). Its boss fights still star incredibly charming characters (and both Remilia and Sakuya—*Scarlet Curiosity*’s two playable characters—have been bosses in past mainline *Touhou* games). Battles still see you narrowly dodging glowing spheres. Though being a 3D game, you have the option to simply leap over the orbs (which, honestly, offers its own challenges and strategies).

![scarlet curiosity](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/play-doujin_07-24-15_002.jpg)

*Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity* isn’t too hard of a game, at least in the hours I’ve played of it destroying all fairies, wolves, giant centipedes, and other folks and critters that cross my path. That might be where it feels the least like a *Touhou* game, which are known for [their punishing difficulty](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Getting%5FStarted?ref=killscreen.com). But really, *Scarlet Curiosity* isn’t trying to emulate the immensely hard difficulty of the games that inspired it. Instead, it’s paying homage to the colorful, endearing characters that the series has always had to offer. The sometimes-whiny sass of Remilia. The stoic but devoted demeanor of Sakuya. And everything else in between. Plus, I’ve always wanted to be a knife-wielding maid with a cute frilly outfit. Now with *Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity*, all of us in the West have a chance to don the guise of a vampire or a maid, and visit the remarkable land of Gensokyo. Given how rare that is, it’d be a shame to squander the opportunity.

*Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is available now [on PlayStation 4 for $19.99](https://store.playstation.com/?ref=killscreen.com#!/en-us/games/touhou-scarlet-curiosity/cid=UP1023-CUSA05785%5F00-TOUHOUSCARLET000).*