is an upcoming

bullet hell , also known as manic shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games with large amounts of projectiles the player is required to dodge. Introduced in 1993 with '' Batsugun'' and initially limited to vertically scrolling shooters, bullet ...

video game developed by

Team Shanghai Alice , formerly known as ZUN Soft, is a Japanese ''dōjin'' game developer. Since 1995, the sole member of the group, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed and self-published the '' Touhou Project'', a bullet hell shoot 'em up series, as ...

, and is the twentieth official game, and 33rd overall of the ''

Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by Indie game, independent Japanese Doujin soft, soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. The team's sole member, ZUN (video game developer), Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, ha ...

'' series. It was announced on April 12, 2025; received its demo release on May 5, 2025, at Reitaisai 22; and is expected to release in August 2025 at Comiket 106 alongside a

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

release.

Gameplay

''Fossilized Wonders'' is a vertically scrolling danmaku video game where various enemies fire projectiles the player must dodge and fire bullets back at the enemies with. The game's life system allows multiple hits before a

game over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...

, and its Spell Card system has cards releasing powerful attacks limited in quantity. Defeating enemies increases the player's score, where there is an integrated

high score In video games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties. Most games with score ...

system, and can drop

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

s such as extra lives and bombs. At the end of each stage is a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

with significantly more health the player must fight before advancing to the next stage. ''Fossilized Wonders'' introduces a new mechanic to the series, where the playable character combines various different types of Stones that affect their shot type.

Characters

Similar to older entries in the series, only Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame are playable.

Playable characters

* , the

miko A , or shrine maiden,Groemer, 28. is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. were once likely seen as Shamanism, shamans,Picken, 140. but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained ...

of the Hakurei Shrine * , a human magician from the Forest of Magic

Boss characters

* , the stage 1 boss and chief of the Yamanba. * , the stage 2 boss and a Chimi. She shares a surname with Nue Houjuu. * , the stage 3 boss and a Dousojin.

Development

ZUN The ''zun'' or ''yi'', used until the Song dynasty#Northern Song, 960–1127, Northern Song (960–1126) is a type of Chinese ritual bronzes, Chinese ritual bronze or ceramic wine vessel with a round or square vase-like form, sometimes in t ...

plans on making ''Fossilized Wonders'' a traditional bullet hell shooter, where the only playable characters are Reimu and Marisa. ZUN has used

generative AI Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models learn the underlying patterns and str ...

for varying background elements for ''Fossilized Wonders'', a decision ''Touhou'' fans have widely criticised.

References

External links

''Fossilized Wonders'' on Touhou Wiki
{{Touhou Project Single-player video games Bullet hell video games Touhou Project games Upcoming video games scheduled for 2025 Video games developed in Japan Windows games Windows-only games Egyptian mythology in popular culture