izigame.me

Now, this threw me for a loop. For one, Ankake never released DLCs for their games, so the fact this got one was already a surprise. Secondly, all the characcters you could use and the new story were also... quite unexpected.
Third and most importantly... I didn't like the base game enough to recommend it, unfortunately, since it pales in comparison of A Scarlet Day's Dream, their previous game... DLC, however? I'd recommend it. Yes, there are still many of the same issues as the base game; gameplay is a bit too stiff, especially after Scarlet Day's Dream, where everything is snappier and more frenetic (Remilia is faster and somehow you feel less stiff even when using skills, it feels like in that game you can dodge an attack sooner when using skills, than it does in New World). Nevertheless, different characters give you different ways to to deal with things with a lot of skills for you to test. Some are alright, some are a bit slow and weak (Sumireko especially, unfortunately)... some are power houses. They deal a shit ton of damage easily and it almost trivializes the end game.
The story is alright. I prefer this to the base game's, though there are still some things that make me lift a brow. I won't go into spoilers, but... it's alright, as I said. Could've been better, for sure, but it could've also been much worse. It's a nice story, all in all, though I feel like the ending lacks a bit of an oomph, it feels like it suddenly deflates on the climax. You do what you had to but... it doesn't feel as grandiose.
The end game for the Sumireko scenario is... lackluster again. You get two boss rushes and that's that. And they are needed for you to finish levelling up your stats. But that means that you challenge these gauntlets before being maxed... and one you are maxed, there's nothing left to do. Sure, you can replay the fights finding them easier... but what's the point?
Money is as useless as ever. Poor Kogasa is beyond awful. I tried to use her once even in this playthrough and gave up, spending money to try and reroll stats for gear with RNG having to go well on several stats at once is awful and you never get anything better than how the items come out when you drop them. Speaking of, no need to buy any from Nitori or from the gachapon in the shop, you get more than enough by playing. The shop and money are basically useless, but that was also a base game issue, so... yeah.
Music is very good. Boss fights are... okay. Some feel a little tight and tough, especially when some patterns involve RNG (which I don't like, honestly, because you could be dodging everything perfectly, then RNG decides you HAVE to get hit twice and you potentially die against some late game enemies if you don't increase your HP a lot and focus on a glass-cannon playstyle). However, as I said, some characters trivialize things and at some point you are below the recommended level and it feels like a walk in the park, almost. Then again, I played in normal mode this time around, so it could be not as much of a walk if you went for the hard challenge.
Something they FIXED outright is variety being lacking. They brought back a lot of enemies from the base game's story and from previous games, but they also added A LOT of new stuff. New areas, new music, new scenarios, new map enemies, new bosses... while during the base game I often ended up seeing repetition and a lack of change, the DLC feels constantly fresh and even if they give you old areas to explore, they've tried to always have a gimmick in it, which made them not at all boring to revisit.
If this had been part of the base game from day 1 (with the fused price for both base game and DLC), I'd have recommended it. I'd have still said "Scarlet Day's Dream better", but it'd have had a "however, this is also good and worth playing, buy this definitely, especially if it goes on discount", too. As is, base game on its own is still too weak, but the DLC elevates it to be a worthy game. So, if you find both on a discount (or base game with a good discount and DLC with the base price), definitely get it. With both, I feel confident about recommending it.
I have to make one spoiler, however. DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE DLC. And I BEG THE DEVELOPERS TO READ THIS. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ZUN, OF GENSOKYO, AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD... Add Yumemi. Make some update to add Yumemi. You CANNOT feature the Probability Space Hypervessel and not have Yumemi show up; especially when the final boss goes "well, I didn't start this, someone else this, and they made this place" and not have her show up. A boss fight would be cool, but at least as a cameo... PLEASE.
Though, given New World is now a multiversal Gensokyo project, you could also make an extra DLC where there are PC-98 characters. Yumemi, as mentioned, and Shinki, too, she'd also be cool as hell to have. I feel these two don't get enough love, nowhere near as much as the one that's been featured in this DLC. Okay, spoiler and review over.
Thank you for this, it definitely made me feel like replaying this a few more times!
EDIT: I noticed the DLC doesn't show play time. I had 8 hours and a few minutes for base game, now I have 16 hours, almost 17, 'cos the DLC added another 8. Yep, it doubles the playtime, for that low price. That's also part of why I recommend this DLC.