Valkyrie of Phantasm Reviews

Really fun Touhou battler

Getting into this game, I was in a Touhou rush and wanted to play different kinds of Touhou fangames really badly. I was skeptical about buying this game as I had doubts it'd be fun as it looks-- or that it looks as bad as it can be; because admittedly, judging from the trailers, lack of reception and overall what this game has to offer-- something felt off about this game where I can't exactly describe it. It felt like "a polished unfinished game" or how I would like to describe it, "a well-crafted working mod for an entirely different game". While it is now in a "full release" state, it really felt like on both paper and face-value, it's a tech demo of what could've had more. I see a lot of comments that Sky Arena is arguably a better game and comparing them side-by-side, that does seem true as the overall feel and style of the older game kind of works much better than this, I've seen old clips of Valkyrie of Phantasm where before they had the concept of the Valkyrie armor with the old maps seemed like a muuuuch better game compared to now, and I still feel like that's a little true. So I hesitated at first but after a full week of debating, I decided to bite the bullet and try it out firsthand. For the first few hours, I was still left skeptic, I even wondered if it's a good idea to continue past the two hour mark of trying out the game in fear of me suddenly feeling like this game doesn't have a lot to offer and I'd rather refund it until I pushed through in hopes that I start to grow on it. Luckily, I have. It's one of the most fun games I've ever played in a while with a combat that may feel a little restrictive and limited, to the point figuring out combos and ways to play, tinkering with the abilities and spells made it much more addicting. While it's not exactly the game with the most booming community, regardless, it does seem like the people that support the game is still responsive and does take their time to enjoy it with others as well, playing it online against other people was one of the most enjoyable things in this game. I'm not a big fan of competitive games especially online games since I consider myself to be more of a casual, but I can genuinely see myself getting addicted to playing the online mode of this game with a bunch of friends. It's hard to recommend this game to a non-Touhou fan and to the majority of the public, but I can genuinely see this as a very fun game to try and suggest it to anybody who would like a taste of a more action-y different spin to the Touhou IP. The story is subpar, it's not the best but it's not unbearable either. The biggest selling point of this game, honestly, and the only reasons why I even bothered to try it is because Hong Meiling is a playable character and as well as Clownpiece, which are two of my most favourite characters. Even moreso when I learned that the voice actresses of Yuuko Aioi, Nijika Ijichi, and Fern from Frieren is here- and I just find that really fun, knowing that some of the characters here are reminiscent of the characters I enjoy very well. Regardless, I still stand on my comments about this game looking a little "clunky" and "weird" at times, where the game feels like it was something made on the Dreams game or a Roblox remake; but the gameplay is enjoyable enough to look past it. It's still hard for me to decide if it's better to be left alone or to be recommended, but I think most people can find the enjoyment out of it if you were to lower your expectations coming into it.