Touhou Luna Nights is an incredibly fun game. Despite not having played a Touhou game before, this game is fun to jump into and play. Optimally stopping time and dodging attacks is fun to learn, and the more you play, the more you learn. The bosses are definitely the highlight of the game, as they are where your skills are tested the most. The game certainly knows this because there is a boss rush mode where you can truly put your skills to the test. The one problem I have with the game is that it's very linear, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but a game like this would greatly benefit from a much less linear map and progression.

very tough game, but adapts the Touhou "graze" mechanic fantastically. the style is also on another level, definitely worth playing for the pixel art/animation alone. the map layout was a little too dense for my liking and the map ui doesn't show as much information as I'd like, but you don't need to backtrack much if you don't want to.

also for first-time players: don't forget about "Snail Time," which is an ability you have from the start. it is an essential part of your toolkit, that can be easily overlooked when you find other flashier abilities.

Decided to re-play this again recently just to experience the additional content and I have to say, this game still holds up. There are probably better Metroidvanias around but I bet in none of those you can stop time, go around the enemies and "nothign personnel, kid" them with a bunch of knives until they explode. So yeah... it's peak!

My only gripe is that the RPG component of this is very basic, could've used more item management (yes, unironically) and the game itself is quite short for a metroidvania standard. Also, did the devs forgot to add Cirno to the Boss Rush mode? Kinda lame.