I am a big fan of Genius of Sappheiros, Strawberry Bose's previous game (I speedran it quite a bit actually :3 ), and I cannot express how happy I was that Devil of Decline finally got an official english translation patch! Just finished 100% of my first playthrough, and it sure was a ride. While I didn't find the same things I expected from GoS, it was still incredibly fun to play through, and it probably won't be my last playthrough too, as I want to enjoy other MCs, parties or different play styles.

Following up on the masterpiece that was Genius of Sappheiros, Devil of Decline decided to reuse a lot of the features of the predecessor, while dropping a few. Namely, formations are back, Enemy weaknesses and resistances, slay damage multipliers, Divine Shield (this time actually properly explained!!) Spell cards limitations, buffs and debuffs are all very much the same as before. No more commanders, no more Elemental buff on physical attacks, and with the Shinigami system, Physical is not the way to go anymore! Lives are gone too, as well as personal weapon types, and most importantly, the Power system completly disappeared, making the game a lot more simpler.

And overall, the big thing with this entry is how much easier it got compared to GoS. A lot of the boss fights in Sappheiros were about figuring out a specific strategy you kind of had to go for in order to beat the boss, with different party members, formations, skill selections, equipment and power distribution. In this game however, pretty much everything is determined by your Shinigami selection, and bosses don't really have specific gimmicks that requires you to figure out a way to deal with them, as the game gives you pretty easily some over the top damage dealing abilities. Still, the difficulty is more than enough to be enjoyable, just don't expect to constantly game over or retry like you did in GoS; it will happen from time to time, but not 20 times throughout a stage (looking at you stage 20!).

Talking about stages, they are also completly gone in this game, and it feels really nice, as you just seamlessly go from one area to another, whether it's Makai wasteland or places we all know from Touhou. It also is a complete open world too, allowing to clear the third big dungeon first. The music is once again a jam everywhere we go, and there is A LOT MORE battle themes in this, all absolutly fantastic. Big enfluence from PC98 on the soundtrack too. The only bad one I can think of is Korindou (which is a shame considering how often I checked out that place!)

I talked about it earlier, but the shinigami system is the core part of the game. Every character gets to equip up to 3 shinigamis, who each gives stats, passive skills and active abilities. It is basically the replacement for the Power system, and it does work wonder. While we lose a lot of customization ability on our party, having presets already ready makes things a lot more simpler, and while the abilities should progress in power as you go through the game... it doesn't quite do that, and gives you some INCREDIBLY broken stuff very fast. Will you be able to spot them as well as I did?
Back on the topic, the more you progress the more options there is, and it gets really fun trying to mess around and choose your party, and get more and more options for it. Sure, everything joins at level 1, but it never takes long for anything to get back to the levels of everything else.

My only real big gripe is that I feel the overworld character design is a downgrade compared to GoS. The sprites was what appealed me to play Genius back in the days, and they all feel really sad now. The artwork of every character does make up a bit for it, and upon seeing a bit of GoS again, the enemy spritework is a lot better in this, as a lot of enemy sprites are coming
back, and I have to say, good job to Strawberry Bose, as I doubt a lot of people would notice it.

All in all, DoD is a fantastic game, that I would recommend to anyone wanting to enjoy some Touhou RPG with their favorite Touhous (they are basically all here up to Great Fairy War, whether as Humans or Shinigamis). It is not so hard to repel non RPG experts too, and can be cleared very fast for the main game. The music is fantastic, the combat system is really cool, the characters are lovable, and the game is brimming with content. Sure, it is not as good as Genius of Sappheiros on a few aspects, but it's different enough that it is still very much enjoyable. Honestly can't wait to see a translated remaster of Nightmare of Rebellion now!