18/10/2017

Touhou Genso Wanderer: Lovely little roguelike


Touhou Genso Wanderer for the Vita is a strange beast. It's ridiculously expensive, has no physical release even in Japan and is, if the total absence of walkthroughs on the internet is any indication, played by virtually no one. PS4 owners were graced with a physical release of that game while Vita owners were completely ignored and had to make do with a digital-only version, which makes absolutely no sense given that the Vita is the abode of niche gaming. On top of that, it's a clunky Shiren the Wanderer clone with a pregnant low-fi, budget feel, which makes its overinflated price tag all the more ludicrous. And yet, I craved that game and wanted it in my collection; my gaming instinct told me I would have a blast playing TGW, and a blast I had indeed. 

Just like Shiren, TGW features a really short main story dungeon followed by some enormous post-game dungeons, the former feeling like a mere appetizer for the latter. Not for me, though: once I was done polishing off the 38 floors of the main story dungeon, I was more than content to turn off my Vita and call it a day. I wanted to indulge in a short, sweet and reasonably challenging bout of rogueliking, and that's exactly what I got with TGW. That game lounges at the easy end of the Roguelike spectrum and is much more forgiving than games like Shiren or Sorcery Saga. For instance, TGW doesn't send you back to the very beginning of the game empty-handed when you perish: you keep all your items, the only thing lost forever being your money. Traps are seldom — if ever — deadly and often fail to trigger, the item that lets you return to base is abundant and foes' behaviour is easily predictable.

Since TGW offers no cheated items such as Shiren's Mamel Meat to take care of powerful foes, main character Reimu has to be genuinely strong to survive the last floors of the main dungeon and the last boss. That mandatory strength is obtained primarily through leveling up gear and adding useful seals to it, and to a (much) lesser extent by leveling up Reimu herself. The sense of progression is much more palpable than in Shiren, as you find yourself able to go a bit further with every bout of equipment buffing-up. That makes TGW the perfect game for short bouts of rogueliking: with a bit of toiling, luck and clever gear management, you're guaranteed to see the credits roll in 15 hours or less. The game is full of lovely little surprises, such as a sakura flower dungeon, scrumptious-looking Japanese food items and pieces of gear that change form as they level up or get fused with other pieces of gear. Like, look at my awesome ghost sword and crystal shield in the picture above! They didn't look like that at first, and I nearly squealed with delight when they transformed under my very eyes. Little moments like this alone make the game worth playing as far as I'm concerned.

That being said, TGW is still a totally overpriced game that lacks ergonomy and is mostly derivative. I'd like to recommend it to beginners because of its shortness, if not for the fact that there are nearly no tutorials and that the menu sytem is really clunky and confusing, not to mention the rules of the game itself. Sorcery Saga is a much better deal for a beginner: it's more accessible, has a more distinctive atmosphere and can be found boxed for one-fourth of TGW's price. But despite TGW's shortcomings, I really loved it and could perfectly imagine myself replaying it. If only Limited Run could release a boxed version of that game, I'd be a very happy roguelike aficionado indeed. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

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