Target Acquired: Touhou Luna Nights

Touhou Luna Nights is an officially-licensed spinoff of The Touhou Project (東方), a series of Japanese bullet hell shooters developed by Team Shanghai Alice which has endured for more than two decades. The new game was developed by Team Ladybug, the studio behind KonoSuba God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Revival of Beldia and Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue, both of which featured solid action combined with stunning sprite art... and this game is no exception.

Touhou Luna Nights features several characters from the main Touhou series, and stars Sakuya Izayoi, the head maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion, who is able to manipulate time. Sakuya can slow down time to bypass obstacles and enemies, or stop it completely, and she can even use her bullet hell grazing techniques to get close to enemies and projectiles to earn back health or magic. Along the way, she unlocks new special attacks and new movement abilities that allow her to reach previously inaccessible routes, per metroidvania conventions. Players will need to stay on their toes as enemies require them to employ an array of techniques, and bosses are even tougher. Even the environment reacts differently to time manipulation later in the game.

The game is now available on PC via Steam. Check our coverage here.