Touhou Spell Carnival

The game itself isn't bad, but it has terrible desktop keyboard support. I can't tell which keys to press because it shows console buttons. I couldn't finish the tutorial even by mashing the entire keyboard.

where is patchouli :(

Touhou Spell Carnival is a strange mix of ideas, but that is exactly why it leaves an impression. At first glance it looks like a colorful anime strategy game, yet once the battles begin it becomes clear that it is trying to do something less conventional. It blends tactical movement with the visual chaos of bullet-heavy combat, creating a rhythm that feels more restless and immediate than a standard SRPG. The result is not always elegant, but it is rarely boring. What makes the game interesting is the way it forces the player to think under pressure. In many tactical games, there is time to stop, calculate, and execute a plan with complete control. Here, that sense of order is constantly disturbed by movement, projectiles, and the need to react to danger in real time. That design gives combat an unusual tension. You are not just making smart decisions from a distance — you are trying to survive your own decisions while the screen fights back. The presentation helps a lot. The game has the bright, theatrical energy that suits the Touhou universe, and the characters bring personality into scenes that could otherwise feel mechanically dense. Spell attacks have enough visual flair t…

hybrid of strategy & danmaku action. at the beginning it seems absurd. but after learned how to play, even Hard difficulty is easy enough. the story is straight and linear because Reimu is always Reimu in whatever game she's in: Hit first, ask later. interaction among our beloved touhou characters is the one keeping me tied until the end of the game. score 7/10. -1 because they made Flandre a glass cannon instead of walking onslaught.

I really, really want to like this game. The controls just don't make any sense. I've tried it for 2 hours across Steam Deck, Xbox Controller, Mouse, and the game feels bad to play no matter what I use!

Touhou Spell Carnival is an ambitious genre crossover that attempts to fuse the precision-heavy chaos of bullet-hell shooting with the deliberate positioning and planning of a grid-based tactical RPG. Developed jointly by Idea Factory, Compile Heart, and STING, and published internationally by Idea Factory International, Inc., the game is both a celebration of the Touhou Project’s long-running identity and a bold experiment that reimagines how its core mechanics can function outside traditional shmup design. The story is framed around a mysterious new event in Gensokyo known as the Spell Carnival, a competition announced through strange pillars appearing across the land. As usual, shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei steps in to investigate, joined by a rotating cast of familiar faces drawn from across the Touhou universe. The narrative leans into lighthearted banter, character-driven humor, and episodic encounters rather than heavy drama. While the plot itself is relatively simple, it serves as an effective excuse to bring together a wide range of characters and justify the unusual battle format, which feels more like a festival of magical duels than a conventional war story. The real he…