I Am Sakuya Review (PC)
Summary: One of many Touhou Project-inspired fangames, I Am Sakuya transposes the bullet hell formula into FPS format with some success, though it would be nice if there was more of it.
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Never mind the Belmonts, here's Sakuya.
Touhou Project is a bullet-hell (AKA “danmaku”) shmup series, first appearing in 1996 and having since expanded to over 20 mainline entries – at one point gaining the series the Guinness World Record for the “Most prolific fan-made shooter series”. Even crazier is that most of these games were solely developed by one man, named Junya Ota. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: to say that Touhou Project has some fangames would be like saying the ocean’s a bit wet. There are hundreds of them out there. I Am Sakuya is one such fangame, being a Touhou Project inspired FPS game. Playing as a vampire-hunter maid with the power to stop time, the game has you blasting your way through fantasy-inspired levels filled with various Touhou characters, some of whom serve as challenging level bosses.
One maid against the world.
The story is, I’m not gonna lie, an excuse plot for all intents and purposes, being more there to entertain Touhou fans who already know the story that the game’s based off, as well as to explain the presence of the assorted denizens of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Then again, that’s pretty much the case in all DOOM-likes: style over substance with a plot that’s more there for context than anything else, so really there’s not much to talk about and not much reason to seriously criticise.
One thing I can criticise is the level design. More often than not the levels have a tendency to be simple, short and straightforward, even with the DOOM engine’s coloured-key system worked in, and the game is also pretty short (Chapter 1 clocks in at just an hour long). That said, I Am Sakuya’s levels do look pretty nice, lifting enough inspiration from the mainline Touhou series to emulate its visual style well.
First Person Cuter!
To make up for all that though, the game’s got some serious gunplay to it. The game attempts to replicate the Touhou series’ signature bullet-hell gameplay in shooter form, and it manages this chiefly by way of two particular design choices. Firstly, every single enemy and weapon in the game now fires actual projectiles. Secondly, speaking of enemies, there’s a LOT of them for you to deal with – and they move quickly and hit hard. Subsequently, staying alive means you have to keep moving constantly and precisely, dodging countless enemy projectiles and only returning fire when it’s sensible to do so.
It’s a system that has absolutely no chill. And by gum it works, feeling just as chaotic and fast-paced as the games that inspired it. The developer of this game has successfully married the FPS genre with Touhou’s bullet-hell roots to create a stylish genre mashup that’s hard to come by elsewhere.
What’s the time, Ms. Maid?
The souped-up DOOM engine fork’s general aesthetic, snappy movement and weaponry mechanics complement Touhou Project’s anime-esque style surprisingly well, and on top of that, the developer has made various modifications to the engine in order to create several unique mechanics for this game. In particular, Sakuya can find pocket watches in the levels that grants the ability to stop time, which subsequently allows you to stack up a few bullets or knives which go sailing into your enemies Dio Brando-style when time resumes again. While likely not the only game to do this, it is undeniably a fun little addition, even if the damage it does isn’t quite as much as you might hope it to do sometimes.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In summary, I Am Sakuya is a fun distraction, and a well-made one at that. The snappy mechanics of the GZDoom engine compliment this danmaku-inspired FPS’s anime aesthetic well, and while it may be more geared towards existing Touhou fans, there’s nothing to stop a newcomer enjoying it without necessarily needing to know what’s going on. It’s satisfying bullet-dodging mayhem that’ll entertain you for a couple of hours – though you might be left wanting for a little more content and more fleshed-out level design.
In light of that, the £6.69 price tag isn’t too expensive… though, in this writer’s opinion, there’s still a little room for improvement here as regards the pounds-to-content ratio.
[This article was originally written for E1M1 Magazine, republished with permission. https://www.e1m1magazine.com/]
About the Author
Edward Gosling Ed has been playing games since he was in primary school, and now has a Steam library of over 2000 games, only a fraction of which he has actually played!
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