''Touhou LostWord'' () is a free-to-play
mobile ''Touhou'' fangame
A fan game is a video game that is created by fans of a certain topic or IP. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fan games attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, game ...
developed in 2020 by NextNinja, and published by
Good Smile Company
is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products such as the Nendoroid and Figma (toy), Figma product lines, as well as scale figures. In addition to production and manufacturing, its business includes design, marketing and distribution. Its product ...
. The game is licensed 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 ...
, the publisher of the official ''Touhou'' games.
Gameplay
''Touhou LostWord'' is a
role-playing video game
Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
in which the player creates a
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
, consisting of six characters.
The player must defeat waves of enemies in
turn-based
Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...
battles, located within stages, in order to progress forwards and unlock new stages.
Each of the characters have a total of six attributes that determine their combat effectiveness: HP, agility, yin attack, yin defense, yang attack, and yang defense.
Additionally, each of the characters have multiple spell cards, which can be used multiple times per stage, and one
last word
''Last Word'' is a radio obituary series broadcast weekly on BBC Radio 4. Each week, the lives of recently deceased famous people are summarised with narration and interviews with people who knew them. It is normally presented by Matthew Bannis ...
– the last words are more powerful than the regular spell cards, but if they are used, regular spell cards can no longer be used that stage.
Story cards are items that can be equipped to further empower spell cards, as well as improve the characters' attributes. Characters can also level up by engaging in services, such as attending a school or dojo.
Completing these services will earn the player coins, which can be used to upgrade their characters, or acquire new ones. Services are also a primary source of ''spirit power –'' the game version of gacha stamina, which is required to perform any task in the game. As part of the game's gacha system, the player can purchase coins and spirit power through
in-app purchases
Microtransaction (mtx) refers to a business model where users can purchase in-game virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransactions ...
.
Plot
In ''Touhou LostWord,'' the "Lost Word Incident" occurs, causing words to go missing, which threatens the stability of Gensokyo,
and leads the characters to investigate by travelling across multiple different universes to find the lost words.
Development
Pre-registration of the Japanese version of ''Touhou LostWord'' began in July 2019, and the game was released in Japan on April 30, 2020.
In October, the game's international release was announced, which coincided with the launch of the game's website and social media accounts.
''Touhou LostWord'' opened for international pre-registration in November 2020, and was released on May 11, 2021.
A Simplified Chinese version of the game has been released on September 30, 2021.
The game's opening song, "Lost Word Chronicle", was performed by
Kanako Itō
is a female Japanese singer from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan. She has sung a large number of songs that have been used in a variety of video games, visual novels, and anime.
Itō has sung songs for many visual novels, one song in particular bei ...
, and had been watched over 5 million times on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
by May 2021.
Other musicians who have performed for ''Touhou LostWord'' include
Toshihiko Tahara
is a Japanese idol singer, and solo vocalist, affiliated with Johnny & Associates. In the 1980s he had a number of number 1 singles in Japan. He was awarded a Japan Music Award in 1983 for the song . He was part of the Tanokin Trio.
Biogra ...
,
nano, and
Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets
is a Japanese rock band currently signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan. Beginning in 2004 as a one-man unit covering songs from different series, more members joined in 2007, and in 2010 the band made their major debut with the single "Hig ...
.
Reception
''Touhou LostWord'' was a runner-up in the 2020
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
'Exciting' award, losing to ''
Dragon Quest Tact
''Dragon Quest'' is a series of role-playing video games created by Yuji Horii, which are published by Square Enix (formerly Enix). The first game of the series was released in Japan in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and ''Dragon Ques ...
''.
On June 3, 2021, ''
TouchArcade
''TouchArcade'' (stylized as toucharcade) is a mobile games journalism website. It was launched in 2008 as a sister site of ''MacRumors'' by its founder Arnold Kim and Blake Patterson. ''TouchArcade'' also hosts a forum and a weekly podcast. ...
'' listed ''Touhou LostWord'' as one of the best
App Store
An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...
games released the previous week.
References
External links
Official website(in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
)
Global Official website
{{Touhou Project
LostWord
2020 video games
Video games developed in Japan
Free-to-play video games
Turn-based strategy video games
Gacha games
Android (operating system) games
IOS games