I would say yes. It has a crapton of references, but you won't be too lost. The game explains who are the characters.

get into touhou by actually playing touhou, dingus

(i recommend imperishable night as a starting point for having the best gameplay as well as hsifs for being a relatively easy game and thus easy way to learn how the games work)

you don't necessarily need to play the original games to be a fan. For example, I have played fangame games and I honestly love the universe and the atmosphere with the characters.

but in the case of this game I recommend it more than anything if you are looking for things like: a very fluid gameplay and movements as well as a somewhat easy beat em up once you know how to use your skills and movement well. also if you do not have a good computer the game can run easily and if you have something more powerful you can see the beautiful graphics. that if this game can be tedious at times (especially if we talk about a couple of levels and the postgame.) but beyond that. this game is good. It won't be the best of the best but it is a space without so much difficulty with a good gameplay to start with.

Originally posted by Cake Haniyasushi:

you don't necessarily need to play the original games to be a fan. For example, I have played fangame games and I honestly love the universe and the atmosphere with the characters.

but in the case of this game I recommend it more than anything if you are looking for things like: a very fluid gameplay and movements as well as a somewhat easy beat em up once you know how to use your skills and movement well. also if you do not have a good computer the game can run easily and if you have something more powerful you can see the beautiful graphics. that if this game can be tedious at times (especially if we talk about a couple of levels and the postgame.) but beyond that. this game is good. It won't be the best of the best but it is a space without so much difficulty with a good gameplay to start with.

thanks for the details!!

Youyou Kengeki Musou
a touhou fan game which is also made by the same game developer of this game.

Welcome to Touhou Project ! If you got interested in the games mentioned here, wants to try some of the official games and also enjoy somewhat fighting games, I think Antimony of Common Flowers could be another nice recommendation, and it's also here on Steam. It has a simple and interesting story mode, really nice music and character design. Right now I don't remember about the english support of the game though.

The story is a follow up to other games, but I don't think playing it alone would compromisse the experience, as it isn't too dense. Despite it being a fighting game, I guess even people that don't ´play fighting games that much could enjoy, as the controls are very simple, the attacks are well animated, and in general its also a game full of fanservice for fans of the franchise (mostly for the music and the roster).

But I think both Youyou Kengeki Musou / Scarlet Curiosity (they are fangames from the same continuity) and Imperishable Night (official game) are nice recommendations. But as you're new to the franchise, unless you're into arcade shoot'em'up/bullet hell games, I think the previously recommended fangames could be a better introduction for the series, and if you feel like it, you could give a try to the mainline games.

Hey there!
I am in a similar position to op, i do like some bullet hell / shmup games but not many and thus i am not sure what games to get. Also are there other action rpg tohou games like this one out there as well?

Regarding official Tohou games Th 16 is what i did read is recommend to new players before, is there anything else? Should be available in english, if patch or official tl doesn't matter to me.