Wait, what? Is that Touhou with HDR, Dynamic lighting and water reflections? With the looks of a high budget console game, it’s hard to imagine that Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou is a doujin title. If you ever wondered what Touhou would look like in 1080p you should check this game out.

First thing off the bat, this game looks superb. No, just take a look at the screenshots, feel free to click on them to view them in all their 1080p glory. This is literaly the prettiest doujin game I have seen to date, period.

Grass is made out of indivdual strands, while butterflies fly around flower patches. Shadows are sharp and crisp. Water looks awesome and you can see fishes swiming about. Trees look pretty detailed and the game even has the effect when your eyes accomodate to the amount of light once you exit a cave. Some of these elements look so good that they rival AAA games.

Animations also look great. Attacks and character animations are extremly fluid. Blades of grass move in the direciton of the wind and enemy mushrooms bend while they prepare for an attack.

With the graphical drooling out of the way, Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou is your typical top-down view hack and slash. You play as Youmu Konpaku cutting down fairies, frogs, mushrooms and tsuchinoko snakes that get in her way.

Besides your standard attack, you have three additional skills at your disposal. These special attacks also block any incoming fire so you will be using them a lot. Each of your special attacks consume one orb of your energy bar (with the whirlwind attack using up two). Your energy bar refills automatically, so it’s never like you have to conserve your special attacks.

Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou also features a jump button. This is used for both platforming and dodging. Latter boss battles will test out your platforming skills, forcing you to time your jumps perfectly.

Bellow your HP bar you also have an additional super attack bar. Once filled, it can take out a quarter of a boss’s HP in one hit. While devastating when used on bosses, it’s usually overkill to use it on standard enemies. This is why you will most likely see yourself conserving this attack until the boss battle.

Bosses are your standard fare (excluding the giant frog). In the demo you fight Cirno and Marisa, but none of them really put up much of a fight. It’s here that the game tries to stay close to its bullet hell roots, as bosses fire endless barrages of bullets, which you must dodge with your platforming skills.

Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou’s levels are huge. Each contain multiple paths encouraging exploration. Hidden throughout these areas you will find different colored vases. Destroying green ones recovers your HP. Yellow vases on the other hand are a lot less common and they give you a yellow orb. Collecting three yellow orbs increases your special attack energy bar by one orb.

The game does feature some platforming sections, which are a nice addition to a hack and slash game. Platforming allows latter levels to open up, in order to explore hidden paths that would otherwise be out of reach.

On normal difficulty the game is a bit on the easy side. You will rarely get hit and HP recovery vases are scattered everywhere, making it pretty difficult to die. The only times I died were on the platforming sections and even those are forgiving, since check points were located just before and after the platforms. Hard mode does offer a bit more of a challenge, but it’s still far from what I expected.

THE VERDICT

While most of this game’s praise definitely comes from the ridiculously high graphics quality, it’s still not a bad game by itself. It may get repetitive as it’s not very challenging, but its varied environments and interesting boss battles make the game worthwhile.

You have no excuse to miss out on the free demo. The game allows you to customize your graphics settings so it should work on less powerful hardware.

Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou Trial Download Links

The post Doujin Classics: Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou appeared first on Rice Digital.

Today we have just released a doujin title that we have been reading about for a while – but only recently played. Princess’ Edge is a beat-em-up that’s particularly interesting, as it’s the work of just one man, Erobotan. Today we’ve decided to support his efforts by hosting his first full game on Rice Digital.

We caught up with Erobotan recently for a quick chat to find out how Princess Edge came about, the challenges of being a lone doujin developer and his plans for the future.

Rice Digital: Hi Erobotan, thanks for your time today – could you start off by telling me a little bit more about your background please?

Erobotan: I graduated from a university with a programmer degree, sadly that university didn’t teach me anything about making games though, so I had to learn the gaming part from scratch, by myself! The university course was still a good and important experience though – it game me a good grounding in programming.

Rice Digital: Princess Edge is a very good effort for a first game!

Erobotan: Well, yes and no! I actually made a lot of games before I started on Princess Edge – but Princess Edge is the first one that I actually manage to finish! Lol.

Now that I think about it, looking at those tons of unfinished games sitting in my hard disk is kinda embarassing …

Rice Digital: Can you tell us a little bit about how it began – what your inspirations were?

Erobotan: It all began when I realised that after a long time I never finished a single game (that’s what you get for always wanting to make an RPG despite being a one person team  - it’s a trap lots of inexperienced developers fall into lol), so I decided that I need to do something in a smaller scale if I ever want to finish anything.

Seeing that platformers and shoot’em up are already really plentiful in the market I decided to do a beat’em up, so yeah, that’ how it started. Not very epic I know!

Princess Edge’s main inspiration came from Golden Axe with it’s barbarian/amazon protagonist plus the whole dragon riding stuff (I think that much is obvious judging from the character design!). The other is Dragon’s Crown for its beautiful artworks and also being a beat’em up game, it motivated and convinced me that there is still some love for the genre.

Rice Digital: You made this game all on your own – can you describe some of the challenges you faced starting out?

Erobotan: The biggest challenge is to get feedback for the game. I’m bad at socializing with people and the fact that a lot of forums ban self advertisement only make it worse. Oh, and the rise of a certain group of gamers who seem to hates scantily clad girl characters! I won’t use the word feminist, because a feminist angrily told me that these people are not feminist and just a victim of gossip websites which use the issue to draw hits and make the real feminists looks bad.

So, er, yes, I’m as confused/surprised as everyone else in this matter!

Rice Digital: If you had to calculate how long it took you from start to finish in hours to complete the development – what would that be?

Erobotan: I don’t really remember when I start the development but if I check the date of my first Princess’ Edge’s blog posts then it’s around 9 months.

Rice Digital: What achievements are you most proud of since you set out as a doujin developer?

Erobotan: Probably the fact that I actually manage to finish a game and release it? Yeah … . pretty lame I know …

Rice Digital: If you had three pieces of advice to give to anyone starting to make their own game, what would it be?

Erobotan: Let see…

1. If it’s your first game, don’t make an RPG unless you’re using RPGMaker/Renpy or similar tools!

2. Don’t hesitate to share your ideas to get feedback and don’t worry about people stealing it. Even if someone steals your ideas and he/she manages to actually finish it, I’m sure that your game and his/her game will still look very differently.

3. After a few months of working hard on your game you might begin to notice that stuff that you write/draw months ago are starting to look horrible, this is normal because it means that your skill has improved. It’s ok to redo them but don’t go overboard otherwise you’re going to get trapped in an endless loop and your game will never get released.

Rice Digital: Are there any doujin developers you particularly like or respect?

Uh… well, I’ve been focusing on creating games for years, so much so that I rarely play games anymore. These days I only play non-RPG MMOS for around 30 mins/day. My limited knowledge of games mostly comes from article and youtube videos instead of actually playing them as I don’t have the time! These days I don’t seem to even read articles or watch youtube that often…  it’s sad to say but I don’t really know much about gaming industy T__T (so yeah, I’m basically a hikkikomori in both real life and internet!)

However, If I HAD to mention a name then I’d have to save George Kamitani from Vanillaware – though you can’t consider him as a doujin game developer!

Rice Digital: Working on your own must be hard, have you got plans to team up with anyone – or do you prefer the lone developer route?

Erobotan: There are some people that I would love to work with but most of them seems to be busy with their own project so I’m probably going to stay as a lone developer for a while…

Rice Digital: Now that you’ve completed  Princess Edge – what are your plans for the future? Can you reveal what may come next? Will you try another genre?

Erobotan: Currently I have two ideas. The first one is another beat’em up with mahou shoujo/tokusatsu theme. I plan to add a strategical elements with territory conquest system where you have to prevent the enemy from conquering the whole country, so choosing which area to attack, defend, or ignore will be a crucial element to win the game. It also has stats progression and skill upgrade system.

The other idea is a platformer that takes place in a cursed castle, I haven’t work out on the detail yet so there is not much to say about this one.

Keep in mind that I tend to change my mind a lot so nothing is final at this moment yet!

Princess Edge is now available to buy from the Rice Digital Store

You can read more about EroBotan and his projects over on his blog.

The post Princess Edge available on Rice Digital today appeared first on Rice Digital.

WARNING! A Third Wave of doujin awesomeness approaches! NO REFUGE! Well, actually, there IS refuge, you can just close your eyes and not read this – but then that would be madness. MADNESS! Because a) you won’t understand exactly HOW awesome this really is, and b) you won’t know… ah… bugger… I’ve run out of space in the intro section… : (

So! Nyu Media have outlined today, what they have in store for us in their next slate of doujin releases – and I’m going to outline that for you right here, RIGHT NOW!

SUPER CHARGED-ROBOT VULKAISER

There are TWO reasons why this is awesome. 1) It has arguably the best name of all the games on this list. 2) It has artwork reminiscent 0f 70′s anime, which, frankly, I have a massive boner for. It also come from Astro Port, the same developer as Satazius which is available on the Rice Store here.

If you’ve bought Satazius (and if not, WHY NOT it’s only £3.99 for godnessake) you’d know that it’s, without a doubt, the best side scrolling Shmup that you can buy.

‘Surely not!’ I hear you cry.

‘Surely!’ I cry back as I threaten to murder your entire family!

It’s so good, I’m even risking PRISON to make you understand its goodness!

Basically, you’ll be looking at a similar sideways shooty experience, this time with attachable weapon upgrades and transforming being the central hooks. It’s also ludicrously colourful and kitsch. Still not convinced? Watch this and proceed to shut the hell up.

ARMED SEVEN

I’ve got to be honest, I’d never heard of this one until today – so in that respect, my interest in this one if fueled by ignorance. I DO know that it’s another game from Astro Port and that it’s another side scrolling shooter, so basically, those two things together automatically put it on my MUST BUY list.

You remember me telling you how good Satazius is, right? RIGHT?!

GIGANTIC ARMY

This is basically where good things come together to make both mind and pants explode. Astro Port? Check! Side Scrolling (Check!) Homage to the amazing SNES shooter with a giant stompy robot thing, ‘Cybernator’! CHECK!

I put that last ‘check’ in bold and italics so you can appreciate exactly how excited I am for you. I say ‘you’ because I actually already own this – and so can testify to just how bloody excellent Gigantic Army really is. If you have even the slightest interest in shooters and have yet to play it  - bookmark this in your brain right now. It simply has to played.

Basically, you’re a big badass robot mech – armed to the teeth with a crazy arsenal of weapons, and you stomp and boost your way around, laying siege to…. well… everything. This is a game about dodging bullets, sure – but it’s also a game about using your arsenal in the most efficient and ingenious way you can.

It is a remarkably satisfying shooter to play. You’d do well to check out the trailer below.

YATAGARASU

Naturally, this is going to be the biggest doujin release next year – and is arguably the best known of any doujin game ever made. A fighter from three ex-SNK, King of Fighters devs, it’s a 2D fighter that combines the best elements from KoF and SF3: TS into a gorgeously animated, balanced and attractive fighter.

You can buy the latest version from the Rice store here – Attack on Cataclysm however will take things a step further, with full localisation, GGPO support (better online play basically) as well as new characters and rebalanced gameplay.

We’ve covered this game a huge amount already – particularly the massively successful IndieGoGo campaign. I would also suggest you head to the official community here – for all the latest updates.

CROIXLEUR

And last but by no means least comes Croixleur. This is probably one of the most overlooked gems of the doujin scene from this year. It’s basically an arena battler – where you take control of a girl and wield your sword against enemy hoards in circular stages. Defeat them all – and it’s on to the next stage of enemies.

The combat system is pretty simplistic, but there are some touches like cancelling and various weapon types to chose from – so while it’s not exactly Ninja Gaiden or DMC, combining a varied suite of simple and accessible systems brings out a brawler which is superbly well executed.

I played at lot of this one earlier this year – and have put an obscene amount of time in the frighteningly addictive Endless Mode.

Anyway, as this has deservedly passed Steam Greenlight it’s getting an whole bunch of new updates – new stages, full voice over, new weapons, a new mode – as well as steam achievements etc.

It’s one of those games that so many people just pass up – but I assure you, it’s a beauty!

The post Nyu Media unveils Third Wave of doujin awesomeness appeared first on Rice Digital.

We’re very pleased to to announce that 100% Orange Juice  from developer Orange Juice and localisation company, Fruitbat Factory is available to buy on Rice Digital today! Those of you who are long time doujin fans will be familiar with some of Orange Juice’s games - Acceleration of Suguri and Flying Red Barrel for example, both of which are available on the Rice store currently.

100% Orange Juice takes some of your favourite characters from their past games, along with a few new faces – and puts them into an addictive and super-competitive combination of Trading Card Game elements and strategic board game gameplay.

It’s a really compelling mix of styles – requiring you to build a deck of cards (more unlock as you progress) – all with a wide variety of properties, from out and out attacking, setting traps on certain spaces, healing or conferring attack and defense bonuses etc. Interestingly, the kind of deck you create should compliment the kind of character you’ve chosen, so there’s an added dimension to how you go about tinkering with your pre-game loadout, as it were.

Once you hit the boardgame part – that’s when your choices (and the choices of your opponent) really come to life – as you move around spaces, defeat enemies and eachother in competition for stars. In the game’s single player modes this is a uniquely enjoyable little game – very different from anything we’ve played before, and the artwork is never anything short of a delight.

As a multiplayer experience however – it’s truly exceptional – and the endless combinations of deck types and characters creates a multi-player doujin game that’s endlessly replayable and provides fierce competition for those of you willing to milk its almost obscene depth of strategy.

100% Orange Juice is available to download today for just £4.99 . As ever, our games are available worldwide – with currency changing to your local monies at the checkout!

Lastly, do please support the work of Fruitbat Factory – who have worked so hard to bring you this real gem of a strategy game. Voting for 100% Orange Juice on Steam Greenlight is invaluable to them, and a cause well worth supporting! DO IT HERE!

Oh, and you can also find a lovely gameplay trailer below!

The post 100% Orange Juice available on Rice Digital today appeared first on Rice Digital.

Groupees very kindly got in touch with me today, to ask if I could run a quick competition for them. It’s for the superb Doujin Bundle 2 – a cracking batch of doujin titles many of which we’ve covered on this very site before. If you want to know how you can claim some of these marvelous titles then… well… read my words below!

You can check out some of the titles on offer right here, but highlights include the brilliant bullet hell shooter eXceed 3rd, Suguri Collection, Princess Edge, Armed Seven and Higurashi: When They Cry. There’s a trailer of some of the games on offer right here:

All you have to do to win one of 15 free keys is to send a one sentence caption for this, frankly AMAZING, cover for the ‘Untitled (Mix for Groupees)’ soundtrack compilation – also a part of the bundle!

Send your caption to info[at]ricedigital.net with ‘DOUJIN COMPO’ in the subject header before midnight GMT on Sunday the 27th of October 2013.

Our 15 favourite captions will bag themselves a key absolutely free.

As always, judges decision is final and there’s no cash alternative.

The post COMPETITION! Groupees Doujin Bundle 2 keys up for grabs appeared first on Rice Digital.

We’re very pleased to announce that the target of 1000 Steam Greenlight votes for 99 Spirits has been reached – and this superb Strategy RPG has now  won its rightful place on Steam. To celebrate this great success for doujin fans worldwide – we’ve got 100 copies to give away courtesy of Fruitbat Factory!

All games are available on a first come first serve basis. When they’re gone, they’re gone and no more free games will be issued – so you’ll need to be quick!

All you have to do is head to our store here and then use the voucher code ‘RICE99′

Once again, many thanks to all our readers who voted. We can not stress just how important your Steam Green light votes are to the success of doujin titles in the West – and your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Also, a quick reminder that we are still campaigning for votes for Fruitbat Factory’s other titles – and when they reach their targets, we’ll also give away another 100 games for each.

You can vote for 100% Orange Juice here.

You can vote for War of the Human Tanks here.

The post FREE GAMES! 100 copies of 99 Spirits to give away! appeared first on Rice Digital.

It was a long time since I covered the last doujin title, so this time we will take a look at another Touhou game, Endless Alice Crysis. This is a simple side scrolling action platformer. You are bound to a small loopable level and your task is to survive as long as possible while killing all the enemies that come in your way.

Alice can shoot, jump, slide and launch destructive bombs. She shoots by throwing a barrage her of puppets at enemy mushrooms. Enemies are very slow and the majority of them can be taken out in a hit or two. While they might seem like a push over it’s by sheer overwhelming numbers that they manage to be a threat. New mushrooms grow from literally beneath your feet which forces you to constantly keep moving. Mushrooms range from Blue, Green, Red, Yellow and Black, each of which have their own movement logic meaning you will have to learn how to dodge each type.

Like in every short and simple game the focus is on getting a high score. To get the most points possible you will have to make use of the score multiplier. Every time you kill an enemy before the timer runs out your multiplier increases by one, do this and you will be raking in points by the millions before you know it. The game also features a chain system. Every enemy you kill explodes. If the explosion manages to hit a nearby enemy it will also kill him resulting in a chain reaction and higher score. It may seem like a good idea to ignore your enemies until they multiply enough for you to do a massive chain clearing the screen but this is where another element of Endless Alice Crysis comes into play. You have to constantly keep watch of a circle around Alice that depletes every second. Every time you kill a mushroom or pick up something this bar will fill up, but if you wait too long it will deplete and keep draining your HP.

The game is extremely fast paced and completing a level is quite rewarding. You aren’t instant killed but instead each hit depletes a chunk of your HP. This HP is only partially restored after each level, forcing you to fight carefully.

The graphics are cute and very detailed. Alice looks adorable and the portrait in the bottom right corner is really well done, showing a lot of emotions when something specific occurs on screen. The effects are very good especially when the you manage to connect a big chain of enemies on screen.

Endless Alice Crysis is a sequel to both Endless Marisa and Endless Alice. The previous two games were slower and were set on a single screen. Both games gave you five hearts instead of a percent based HP system and had no rapid fire but instead a charged shot. Endless Alice Crysis is a lot more enjoyable having many improvements including progression through multiple levels instead of a single endless one.

THE VERDICT

Endless Alice Crysis is an enjoyable little title. It has charming graphics, fast paced action and enjoyable chain system. And while it may not keep you entertained for hours and hours it is still more than enough when you need to sit back and relax for a few minutes.

Endless Alice and Endless Alice Crysis are both freeware games and can be downloaded from the official site:

Endless Alice
Endless Alice Crysis

The post Doujin Classics: Endless Alice Crysis appeared first on Rice Digital.

I’ve been looking forward to this Croixleur Sigma review. Croixleur Sigma is the latest title from Nyu Media and Souvenir Circ – essentially an update and reworking of the original Croixleur, a charming indie hack and slash with great production values. It was a worthy title originally, but Souvenir Circ have really gone to great pains to make this the best Japanese indie release I’ve played this year.

Croixleur centers around an event called ‘The Adjuvant Trial’. This is a tournament, or trial of sorts, where two competing factions battle for the right to hold a position of power in the realm of Ilance.

Winning the trial secures military and political power as well as the right to protect the Queen of the realm – and so it goes that the beautiful Lucrezia Visconti, must battle against enemy hordes to wrestle power from a childhood rival, Francesco Storaro.

In Croixleur Sigma, you can choose between both Lucrezia and Francesco. Choosing one over the other will change the route, story, monsters you face as well as the difficulty – though the core gameplay of course remains the same. That is to say, an arena based hack n slash that’s incredibly well put together.

You have an arena floor – monsters to defeat, and in order to gain access to the next stage you simply have to clear the place out and head though a portal. Successive floors bring with them tougher monster, and more of them – and before you know it, things ramp up to get seriously hectic and more than a little challenging. If you think of Devil May Cry series’ Bloody Palace mode then you’re half way there.

To help you in your quest you can select from a healthy weapon selection – each gives access to different special attacks, and fallen monsters also drop coins which can also be exchanged for more offensive options.

Once you’ve built up a collection of weapons (unlocked via progress in game), you can chose your loadout at the start of battle – assigning them to the face buttons of your controller and switching them up to suit your play style.

The combat system is quite interesting in that, along with standard chain attacks you have a dash, a jump (of course!) and special attacks that can be cancelled into more devastating combos. There’s also a system where special attacks can be used to knock enemies into other enemies in order to damage them at range – cancelling these into each other drains MP so can’t be spammed relentlessly, and so strategic defensive play (dodging and knocking enemies away) mix up nicely for an added dimension and depth to the combat.

On the face of it it seems that the combat is quite simplistic – and it’s certainly very accessible – but once you start hitting the other modes for the betterment of your times and scores you’ll begin to appreciate the flexibility it has to offer, as you look to exploit the tools available.

Lastly you have challenge mode – and this is where your skill really comes into play – with Sigma asking you to perform specific feats  - and to be successful, you’ll need to change your weapons as often as your strategy. It’s an interesting way to force you to find different ways of coping with different situations – which provide much needed techniques when Survival mode is throwing everything it has at you!

Interestingly, I’ve always found that ‘Story’ modes are usually where I spend most of my time in games in general – and while it’s the most obvious first port of call in Croixleur Sigma, it’s actually the other modes that provide the longevity. Usually, these just act as filler – just a means of filling up a feature list – but here, they’re compelling diversions in their own right and with the addition of online leaderboards, this is even more the case.

THE VERDICT

It’s fair to say that Croixleur Sigma is an excellent arena battler – and really highlights Souvenir Circ’s ability as a developer, marking them out as among the best the Japanese doujin scene has to offer. It feels solid, robust and simple – but with that, offers just enough depth to keep you engaged but never so much that you feel overwhelmed.  The result is that you always feel that you’re making progress – getting better and better at using the simple toolset to improve your scores. In this respect it has all the ingredients of some of the best arcade games of my youth, and I love it for it.

It goes without saying that anyone who missed the original, should make Croixleur Sigma a priority.

Croixleur Sigma is available to buy from Steam, along with achievements and trading cards!

You can also buy it from the Rice Digital Store here!

The post Croixleur Sigma Review appeared first on Rice Digital.

Frutibat Factory, the company that brought us 99 Spirits, 100% Orange Juice and War of the Human Tanks, just announced that it will be localizing Eiyuu*Senki for the PlayStation 3, their first console release.

Developed by TENCO, Eiyuu*Senki was originally released in 2012 for the PC as an adult game and in 2013 as an all ages PS3 title. This month Japan will receive a Vita version.

Ozhan Sen, the graphics and marketing lead of Fruitbat Factory says:

After a successful launch of operations on the PC market, we were looking for an opportunity to expand to console gaming. With Eiyuu Senki we found the chance to do it with a bang. It is a funny mix of a strategy game, RPG and visual novel that will forever change how you remember historical figures.

Opening

The character artist is the famous Oyari Ashito who drew over 70 characters for this title.

Jakke Elonen, the project lead adds:

As long-time fans of tactical RPGs we’re very excited to get to work on this title, which we’ve seen many fans wishing to be localized. We are aiming to release Eiyuu Senki simultaneously in North America and Europe, and will give more updates as they happen.

Gameplay Demo

 For those of you that want to try out the game you can download the official trial version.

The post Eiyuu*Senki coming to western PS3s appeared first on Rice Digital.

Last month Nyu Media unveiled four doujin titles up for support on greenlight. Keen  doujin fans that we are, I thought I’d give them a shout this morning so that you guys can show your support as you’ve so often done in the past. Half of these titles you’ll already be  familiar with – but there are a couple of nice surprises in here too!

So lets go with the biggest surprise of them all first shall we?

THE SACRED TEARS TRUE

This is a very, very nice JRPG from Konno Takashi (Shichinin no Bukia) and scored by Ojima ‘When they Cry’ Hiroyuki.

Sacred Tears combines traditional top-down adventuring with a superb card battle system and a lovely redistributable skill point system for some nice flexibility to your characters. Also, the character art in this game is simply gorgeous.

This is Nyu Media’s first JRPG project – and one that’s well worth supporting! You can do so, right here!

ARMED SEVEN

More mech-based side-scrolling shmup action from a doujin circle that certainly knows their stuff in this area . Astro Port’s pedigree includes the likes of Satazius and Gigantic Army – both of which are, quite frankly, excellent.

Armed Seven sees you piloting a mech with a customisable loadout, across seven stages and going up against the inventive, detailed bosses that Astro Port are known for.

Any dedicated Shmup fans can give it a nudge up the Greenlight ladder by giving it a vote here.

SUPERCHARGED ROBOT VULKAISER

Because sometimes a trailer is worth a thousand words!

This delightfully kitsch shooter is yet another from the Astro Port stable and is a must for fans of 70′s giant robot anime. If there’s one things this game can’t be accused of, it’s not being colourful enough!

Get voting here!

YATAGARASU ATTACK ON CATACLYSM

You should know all about this one – having already been on the receiving end of a very successful Indie Go Go project. It’s an exceptional 2D fighter from a doujin circle comprising of ex-SNK devs and is currently undergoing a revamp that will see new characters added and also much-asked-for GGPO netplay.

You can learn all about how this game is progressing here – as well as up-voting it on Steam Greenlight here.

As ever, do show your support to these excellent doujin titles – as the more success they achieve, the more chance we get of seeing these excellent Japanese indie games coming Westward.

The post Four new doujin titles from Nyu Media to support on Greenlight appeared first on Rice Digital.

It’s Japanese tradition to tell ghost stories during the summer, not only because the majority of ghost festivals are during this period, but also because being scared helps to cool down. Today we will take a look at a small free horror game called Akemi Tan, made in an RPG engine not unlike the popular Corpse Party.

In Akemi Tan you play as Shimoda Shimoko, a girl who lives in a small village. This rural area is protected by deities called the Ou, residing in a house just outside of town. It is said that the Ou require an offering every day, cursing anyone who may take it away.

Today was Shimoko’s turn to bring the offering. Once she left the offering on the table in front of the Ou’s house, she decided to return and eat just a bit of that food because she was starving.

Once you get home, mysterious things start occurring, locking Shimoko in her house. The story as a whole is quite nice and keeps you engaged until the very end, as you will meet new characters and find out why things ended up the way they did. There is even a touching little plot twist near the end which might bring a tear to the eye.

From a horror perspective, the game offers a ton of good scares. There is a number of jump scares, but there are also times when the game is more subtle and has unsettling things happen just on the edge of your field of view. Being a Japanese horror you will never know what will happen next and it’s this unpredictability which keeps the game from getting stale.

The majority of the game has you exploring multiple locations, which include various houses in the town and even a forest later in the game. Some of the puzzles will require you to find an item and use it in the environment, others will give you note as a hint and require you to find out where to use it. The game also has some time sensitive situations, where you literally have to solve a puzzle in a matter of seconds in order to elude death. Finally there are chase scenes, where you must escape from the pursuer and find a place to hide before it can get to you.

Unfortunately the majority of the game falls victim to the “hunt the event” concept seen in other Japanese horror games such as Clock Tower: Ghost Head. Most of the time you will have to wander around aimlessly, hoping to trigger something in order for the game to progress. Thankfully the locations are never too big so it’s entirely possible to beat the game without a guide. Another positive thing is that all the wandering serves as a way to get your guard down and terrify you with a jump scare when you least expect it. Still, it is recommended to keep a guide nearby as the game will be a lot more enjoyable, since some things are extremely hard to figure out since they function differently than one would normally expect.

Akemi Tan has two endings, however the difference between them is negligible and doesn’t really warrant a second playthrough. Still the two hours of gameplay are enough for the game to feel satisfying.

THE VERDICT

Akemi Tan is a fun little title to play in these hot summer nights. While it may have a few flaws, they ultimately don’t prevent this game from being genuinely enjoyable. If you are in the mood for a few scares you can get it for free.

Akemi Tan – Download free

The post Review: Akemi Tan appeared first on Rice Digital.

While Comiket 86 has long passed we never had the chance to take a look at the doujin titles they showed off. Like always not everything was a shmup, with a lot of original and Touhou inspired games to see, some intriguing, others partially disturbing.

For those of you that are just interested in the original titles and don’t care much about Touhou (shame on you!) you can see the video that features only these original games showcased at Comiket 86 .

There is a huge variety of genres to choose from, including: Shmups, RPGs, strategy games, platformers, side scroller hack and slash games, puzzle games, stealth games, card games, flight sims, visual novels and even military RPGs, that features various real world figures including Erwin Rommel and Barak Obama.

Finally Comiket 86 also had something for those that want something genuinely fresh (or creepy). There is a Victorian slapping game, a giant fish simulator, a food eating game and a shmup where you shoot disfigured body parts.

The post Comiket 86 Games appeared first on Rice Digital.

FLAT’s 2006 doujin game Killer Queen sadly does not come with much gunpowder or gelatin but instead an interesting take on battle royale-type visual novels. Perhaps one of the first few visual novels to take on the premise of the 1999 novel Battle Royale (though definitely not the last), Killer Queen explores two scenarios based around the core rules of killing people under certain conditions.

If you’re an avid player of games like 9 Doors, 9 Persons, 9 Hours or Danganronpa, this game needs little introduction. Killer Queen is essentially one of the first few forays into visual novels based on locking people up and giving them rules or excuses to kill one another. With this story, thirteen people are locked in a six-storey building and are issued PDAs which represent a unique playing card and carry an objective. If any person fails to fulfill their unique objective, the bomb strapped to their neck will explode, but when half the objectives require people to die, a bloodbath ensues. This game contains two episodes with varying scenarios involving the core cast, although it switches the main heroine in episode two.

It seems a little important to say that Killer Queen, while like a bunch of visual novels in premise, has a different atmosphere and not quite the cast of characters you might be looking for. More than anything, it feels like the set-up and circumstances are more interesting than the characters themselves. This might be because Killer Queen’s protagonist Soichi’s motivations are more unique than “must save all” or “must be good”, or that other characters just don’t have much going for them. But it could also be because Killer Queen is actually a kinetic novel with no player input required at any point; something that is fine enough in other games, but comes off as lacking in this one.

Ultimately, Killer Queen is the kind of game you might be expecting it to be. It sides with a small portion of the cast who wants to escape without hurting anyone, then spends much of the game fleeing from murderous enemies and trying to play defensive. As the smaller group bonds in their efforts to work together, they play smart instead of losing themselves to insanity. There are some slightly sinister moments with the main group, but Killer Queen shows nothing incredibly new; the main characters opt out of most of the action through strategy, but when left to themselves, don’t have many interesting moments or character development.

Of course, it’s still an interesting game even with the direction it takes. Rather than leaving what could be one hundred different stories up to the player, it follows two scenarios and delves into the mind of Soichi as he battles with people and his past. The few action scenes that are scattered through the game aren’t entirely predictable, and it’s a nice puzzle to try and figure out what everyone’s secret goals are. The game simply inspires a whole host of possibilities in the set-up, only to fall into something of a safe story where no choices restricts your imagination even further. If only VNs could explore everything ever…!

On a different note, Killer Queen has that doujin visual novel look you may have come to love, especially if you’re fond of Higurashi’s old art style. The game also boasts a full cast of voice actors, ranging from comfortable to… well, uncomfortable, in addition to a solid but repetitive soundtrack. In all, the game feels a lot more ‘indie’ created that a lot of doujin titles we see, which just may be in your strike zone if you’re into that.

Killer Queen is an interesting kinetic novel that gives another look into battle royale-style situations with twists and turns that are a little to easy to see coming. While its two episodes explore different details, their path is ultimately the same, taking the defensive stance despite whatever death rules hang above the characters. In the end, Killer Queen is an incredible idea that seemed to take a safe direction and ended up a little boring. It’s worth a look into if you love the genre or want something with a little more ‘indie’ feel.

This spotlight took a look at Killer Queen Reprint. The original version of the game (with an older interface) can be bought from DLSite (18+) for $12. For those who have looked into it, this is again different from Secret Game: Killer Queen, the 2008 remake.

The post Visual Novel Spotlight: Killer Queen appeared first on Rice Digital.

There was a lot of enthusiasm for the news that Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character was coming to the west when we first wrote about it. You might even say people thought it was touhou-tally radical. I sure did. Which is why it’s pretty cool that it’s out May 7th (today?!) for the fair price of $14.99.

But wait, no! Close that Steam application (or just minimize it — that’s fine too). That’s not where it’s available. Touhou 14 is launching exclusively on Playism, a DRM free platform that specializes in indie/doujin games. They’re close to our heart in that respect.

As a bonus, Playism has also launched the Touhou platformer Takkoman today too (for $9.99).

So go ahead and do check them out! There are some great little gaming nuggets available there!

Unless… Touhou is too hard for you…?

The post Touhou 14 Launches in the West Exclusively on Playism appeared first on Rice Digital.

Comiket is one of my favorite events of the year since I get to see all the insane ideas that Japanese indie developers come up with. This year’s summer Comiket 88 was held from the 14th to 16th of August, and once again thanks to Edelweiss we have a list with a total of 52 games, both Touhou based and original ones.

The amount of Touhou titles is still standing strong. The amazing looking Touhou Gensou Sky Drift is back along with Pang, Age of Empires and Limbo inspired Touhou games.

The original titles are just as crazy as ever. There is YohjoSimulator where you play as a loli who headbutts random guys into buildings. Ace of Seafood is a weird title where you pilot a small fish and fire lasers at other incoming fish, squids and seals. Aside from these, there were original visual novels, realistic looking dungeon crawlers, tower defense games and an abundance of shooters.

The post Comiket 88 Doujin Lineup appeared first on Rice Digital.

Sekai Project, the company responsible for bringing a variety of visual novels to the west, brings us Reverse x Reverse an adorably challenging puzzle adventure that will test just about everything you thought you knew about platformers.

The story is told through visual novel scenes between levels and has you following two characters DBG-Code and ALG-Rithm. Together they patrol the world of Desunoya games, defending it from unauthorized programs. They soon encounter an intrusion and set off to fix things.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward but adds enough elements to keep it fresh and challenging. You play as both Code and Rithm. You control them independently and can swap between them at the press of a button. Both characters fall in a different direction, meaning that in one level Code falls to the bottom of the screen while Rithm falls upwards, think Ibb and Obb. Aside from their standard jump, Code can do a rapid dash horizontally, while Rithm can do an air jump, allowing her to jump higher. Just these two tiny differences make for compelling gameplay, as they serve as a setup for many of the game’s puzzles.

Only the active character can be harmed by enemies so you will be frequently swapping between them in order for your inactive character to pass patrolling enemies. At other times you will want to control both characters simultaneously to save on time. This is done by holding the link button.

There is a total of 81 levels. Each world has 8 levels and a 9th unlockable one which is far more challenging. The game never gets stale. Its levels continue to introduce new elements such as blocks that disappear once you pass through them, panels that reverse gravity for Rithm and Code and panels that swap their positions.

A good deal of stages will have you pressing switches in order to start scrolling the screen, meaning you will have to move both characters in order to not get squashed.

Like many other doujin titles Reverse x Reverse allows you to plug in a controller. Playing with a gamepad is not only recommended, but required if you are to make any headway in this game. The game will be testing your twitch reflexes and by the end of the first world the controls are bound to become a second nature.

Even when you have mastered the controls Reverse x Reverse proves to be a punishing title. The frenetic action will keep you on your toes at all times and the maze like levels will force you to think out your route well in advance. The platforming can best be compared to Mega Man and will require around the same level of ninja-like reflexes. The puzzles on the other hand will have you traversing mazes hitting switches and memorizing the layout. The game forces you to solve the puzzles with zero hand holding, rarely seen in modern games.

Even the easiest levels will take a few tries to beat. However, restarting a level is three button presses away and you never have to wait more than a few seconds to begin another run. This makes speed running the levels in order to get a place in the high score list an enjoyment. Comparing your times with others online is frequently all that is required to get you motivated to try the level once again and find that elusive shortcut.

The visuals have very little going for them. Reverse x Reverse has a minimalistic style with visualizer-like backgrounds. The enemies are taken straight from their other game “Tobari and the Night of the Curious Moon”. The effects may look good but other than that nothing really stands out visually as memorable. In the audio department, the game features a varied techno soundtrack that suits the overall feel of the setting. All the story segments are fully voiced, which is something rarely seen in such games.

Reverse x Reverse is one of the most refreshing games of the year. Its challenging puzzles and twitch gameplay will tax you both mentally and physically. Because of this it is bound to carter to a very niche audience. If Reverse x Reverse sounds like a game for you, you will not be disappointed.

Thanks goes to Sekai Project for providing us a review copy of this game. Reverse x Reverse is available on Steam for £6.99, €9,99 and $9,99 currently at 10% discount.

The post Reverse x Reverse Review – A Challenging Puzzle Platformer appeared first on Rice Digital.

Remember when ZUN announced that fan Touhou titles were coming to PlayStation 4 way back in September last year, well it’s finally time for some new details for Touhou: Adventures of Scarlet Curiosity.

This title is heavily inspired by the Ys series. It features amazing visuals, fast paced hack and slash gameplay and an excellent sound track by Aizawa (Hachimitsu-Lemon).

If all this sounds familiar, it is because this is actually by the same team behind Touhou Youyou Kengeki Musou and despite having likely the best visuals for a Touhou title to date, they vastly improved it this time around. The game will be running 1080p 60fps on the PlayStation 4.

Touhou: Adventures of Scarlet Curiosity will be out for PlayStation 4, on February 10 2016 for 2,500 Yen.

The post Touhou: Adventures of Scarlet Curiosity out in February appeared first on Rice Digital.

This year’s winter Comiket 89 took place from the 29th to 31st December at the Tokyo Big Sight fair. As always, it brings us a lot of new titles to look forward to.

For those new to Comiket, it is the world’s largest doujin fair. Here independent groups known as circles sell manga, music, games and various other products. These products generally tend to use other companies’ characters and settings, but since they help promote these series, companies generally overlook any copyright infringement.

Comiket is held every year in Japan in both summer and winter. While it started out in 1975 with a mere 32 participant circles, today it has over half a million visitors.

Some of the most popular visual novels to date initially launched as small doujin projects, such as Type Moon’s Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night as well as 07th Expansion’s Higurashi and Umineko. Companies like French Bread after making it big with a hit released ported their games to consoles and arcades.

EdelweissNal once again has made a video of all the game available at Comiket 89, including both Touhou and original titles. Like always the variety is staggering.

Many of the games here are only available at the Comiket 89 show floor. Therefore, the only way for western fans to get these games usually means ordering them from Japanese sites from a very limited quantity. Fortunately, not all is lost, since a good number of these games offer a trial version to play with. We’ll take a look at some of the most interesting entries shown at Comiket 89.

Gensou Senryakutan ～The Touhou Empire～

Neetpia

Fans of Touhou and RTS games can try out The Touhou Empire. This game is heavily inspired by Age of Empires. While you do collect some different resources such as alcohol and faith the general concept is the same. Build houses, build units and exterminate the enemy. Each race is a different character and you can summon them and use them as heroes.

Download GensouSenryakutan ～The Touhou Empire～ Trial version

Beyond Fallendom

PlatineDispositif

Mesh between rougelike and 2D Zelda games. You explore floor after floor searching for a key in order to proceed to the next floor. Combat is done in real time. You also have to manage you hunger and items.

Download Beyond Fallendom Trial version

Imalice

Planet Marimo

For those searching for a more traditional shmup look no further than Imalice. This retro style shooter is simple, yet addictive. You can find all the typical elements from holding down fire to charge a special attack to ramming into enemies. The visuals and soundtrack are superb making for an even better package.

Imalice Trial version

The post Comiket 89 Doujin Lineup appeared first on Rice Digital.

Croixleur Sigma has to be among our favorite doujin titles here on RiceDigital. It features beautiful 3D visuals, fast paced hack and slash combat and a good deal of unique weapons.

Croixleur Sigma will now be making its way to the PlayStation 4 and Vita thanks to Playism.

The PlayStation 4 version will include a number of additions. It will have two new characters, Katarina and her bodyguard, Sara-Annika. You will have to play through the game’s various story modes in order to unlock them. Both of these characters can be used in any of the game’s modes.

The visuals have also been improved. Aside from the higher resolution and a smooth 60fps framerate, the game will now use cel-shading in order to give it a more anime style.

Finally there will be a new dress up system. As you progress through the game you will acquire coins you can spend on new dresses, hats, weapons and accessory. The available accessories will range from stylish sunglasses, to intimidating eyepatches, to the always attractive bunny ears.

Croixleur Sigma will have an affordable price of $14.99 when it launches on the PlayStation Store. The game has been delayed, but since it was planned to come out last month we should expect it soon.

The post Croixleur Sigma PS4 Vita Official English Trailer appeared first on Rice Digital.

There’s a lot to buy at MCM, with some pretty varying prices! We set ourselves the challenge to buy a secret gift for one another, and at the great price of £5 (1 Bison Dollar). Like the bloodhound he is Peter checks out some of the more morally dubious items you can buy at cons — such as doujin hentai!

Almost any still image from this video is solid gold. Just look at how pleased Peter is with himself. The same might not said for Daniel, who was “receiving” the “gift”. Is Peter a solid bro, or is he on the highway to the danger zone? Let us know what you think about the darker side of cons!

Natalie spent hours blurring out Peter’s expedition for YouTube.

The post Peter Buys Porn: Peter’s MCM 2016 Gift Challenge (London MCM Comic Con May) appeared first on Rice Digital.