izigame.me

EDIT AFTER DLC: The game still has a lot of the issues I lamented before... but the DLC is a HUGE improvement. Having other characters to play as and the new story definitely make the experience a lot more enjoyable. Had the game come out with everything for the price of both the base game and DLC together, with the content for both on day 1, I'd have probably recommended this; Scarlet Day's Dream is still superior gameplay-wise, but this is now enjoyable, too, more than it was before. There are balancing issues, but... yeah, this time it's in our favor. Definitely improves everything. IF you REALLY like this company's games and you have the money (especially if both game and DLC are on sale), buy the whole package.
ORIGINAL: Okay, I'm no connoisseur, no expert, no reviewer... But I am a BIG Touhou fan. I love the worldbuilding, I love the characters, the music... There's so much to love about Gensokyo. And many fanmade games are great. Like Scarlet Curiosity. So I have been eagerly anticipating when I'd get to buy this. I finally managed to do so recently during a nice discount. I was excited to play a new game from the people who made Scarlet Curiosity; that game had its flaws, but it was fun and once you started unlocking things and figuring out how to properly equip stuff to really deal damage, it was enticing. It was also fast paced.
This one, New World, for some reason... didn't really feel that good. I'm not saying it's bad by any means. It's a very good game; and had this been my first game from this company, I'd have enjoyed it even more. But, for some reason, while playing, all I could think about was how much I wanted to play Scarlet Curiosity again, to play as Remilia with her super fast skills. Remilia vs Flandre in that game has to be one of the moments I've had the most fun with in these types of games.
I have finished Marisa's story completely, did every sub quest, too... and in almost 11 hours, I ended up... feeling pretty mid about it all. It's not bad, as I said, but it didn't give me as good vibes as Scarlet Curiosity did. And while the copy pasting for reused assets was a big strong... well, it's still set in Gensokyo (for the most part) just like the other, it makes sense that many places would be almost the same, so it makes sense to reuse assets. Some of the reused areas also get updates, so it's not exactly 100% the same at all times. Even bosses who were in SC here get a couple new moves to their arsenal.
And yet... something feels missing. I reached the end not feeling so overjoyed like I did when I finished the other.
Probably it's also got to do with the story. This is a fanmade game so it doesn't need to be canonical, follow things perfectly... but many choices and how things go at points really had me cock up one brow and the other as well in confusion and dislike. I didn't really enjoy the story. At some points you have characters that don't know one another when, technically, they should, since it almost feels like we're around the Touhou Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom time frame, or the Urban Legend in Limbo time frame (which is right before LoLK)... like Marisa not knowing Youmu... then other characters seem to know one another just because (not saying Marisa knowing Alice is weird... but the fact she seems to know Sakuya does feel weird, it's almost like we're actually between Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and Perfect Cherry Blossom but... then Marisa knows Nitori who shows up in later games?)... it lacks coherence.
All in all, I'd say I can't recommend this because Scarlet Curiosity is a much more enjoyable game, IMO. All in all, it's better than this, I feel. Which is a pity, considering this came out years later down the line. Hopefully when a new game comes out, that'll be the real step forward.
If you're a Touhou fan and already played Scarlet Curiosity, however, this is recommended when on discount. It's a fun 20 or so hours if you plan to play both characters. I'll personally leave it at lvl 30 Marisa on Normal bullet frequency having finished every main and sub quest.