Touhou Luna Nights [5-Year Anniversary Limited Edition]

Full disclosure. I never really intended to buy this. And by this, I mean the full-blown collector's edition. When I saw it advertised, I think on a youtube channel, the first link went to the deluxe's edition. In my rush and excitement at having this game in physical copy, I bought it before seeing there was any other option... no regrets though (maybe a little regret)! The deluxe edition box is... a bit large, at almost twice as tall as a Switch case, and almost twice as wide. Inside is padding with cutouts for the case, the steelbook, and the soundtrack cd case. It's a very nice deluxe edition, and the physical game is fully compatible with pre-existing digital "saves". I even switched out the plastic case's sleeve to one I liked better (it has several different ones in the deluxe edition), even though the giant box is the only one that will be realistically seen on my shelf most times.

The game itself is a fan-made touhou game, playing very much like some Castlevanias. There is a lot of "What...?" and even more of "WHAT?!?!" involved in the playing, as you fight and die and respawn way at your last save point, having to redo everything you just did. Gameplay is solid, if really annoying. New enemies/surprise mechanics almost always kill me at least once before I figure them out.

In all honesty, the only downside IMO is the backtracking to a physical save spot EVERY SINGLE TIME you want to save and quit. That does help to give it more of a classic ere vibe, though.

Sakuya herself is the real winner here. A maid (yes!) who can manipulate time (double yes!) and whose primary weapons are tons of thrown daggers (YES!!!). You'll find yourself doing things like stopping time to jump onto frozen daggers THROWN BY SAKUYA/you, just to get up to a higher ledge. Controlling her is basically "Hey, what if we gave a maid the powers of the Prince from Sands of Time, added more on top of that, and tried REALLY HARD to make everything else feel like Symphony of the Night?". I mean, yes, she is an already established character from the series, but still! Most awesome time-stop maid ever... so awesome to play as her in a Castlevania-ish castle! Maids make everything better! UwU