Well, it's time to finally wrap up the Touhou series. Touhou 11 has been my favorite Touhou game since I played the series for the first time, and it's not even especially close. It's not a perfect game, but it's remarkable how hard ZUN went on pretty much aspect, from the level design, to the boss design, to the environmental design, to the cast and story, to the music. It's ZUN working at the absolute peak of his craft.
Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism was released smack dab in the middle of what fans call the "2nd Windows era", which started with the release of Mountain Of Faith and its new engine. This era of the series is mostly known for its many controversial changes and additions like a change to the way bombs work, infinite continues that send you to the beginning of a stage, and UFOs in 12. And if you count Ten Desires, then I guess that whole game is controversial. Subterranean Animism does maintain several of these divisive features like bombing being tied to power and the infinite continues, so I think it says a lot about the quality of the rest of the game that it's still my favorite entry in the series.
From a story perspective, Subterranean Animism stands as a fairly unique entry in the series in terms of structure. Most Touhou games usually have Reimu and Marisa take a long trek to whatever base of operations is causing the incident, reaching it at around Stages 4-5. Like how half of EosD actually takes place in the Scarlet Devil Mansion or how the last two stages of IN take place in Eientei. Touhou 11, on the other hand, takes place pretty much entirely underground, so you get to be exposed to this entirely unique ecosystem of characters with this shared bond of living beneath the surface. And I absolutely adore Th11's cast. The early bosses like Parsee and Yuugi have unique and fun personalities, and pretty much everything about the Komeiji household is fascinating and compelling. Satori and Koishi are both mind-readers who were feared by the public, so the former isolated herself underground with only animals to keep her company, while the latter was driven to rip her own mind's eye out at the cost of basically being forgotten. It's one of the more tragic stories in a series filled with them, and gives Th11 a lot of extra pathos. Satori's pets are also great characters, though, particularly the final boss, Utsuho, who's become a bit of a personal fav. I've raved about Utsuho a ton, so I'll just say that it's rare to have a Touhou final boss who's actively threatening the state of the world, it gives the game as a whole more intensity.
I've praised Touhou 8 for its partner system and how it allowed for more fun and varied dialogue and character interactions, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Touhou 11 bringing it back makes me incredibly happy. It's a bit different though, you can only play as Reimu and Marisa this time, but they each have three unique partners that all come with their own weapons. The banter between the characters in this game is fantastic, especially on Marisa's end. However, on the gameplay side of things, this also leads to some of the most inventive weapons in the series since they're all based around other characters, like Yukari's gap shot which goes through screen borders, Patchouli's elemental shots that you can swap between at will, and Nitori's straight-up missiles. I will say that not every shot in Th11 is especially practical, but when much of the series uses the same few shot types, it's refreshing to see ZUN experiment a bit on this front. Another gameplay aspect of Touhou 11 that I realize like is the communication gauge, where you get more points the more often you graze. Grazing has always been one of the most fun and rewarding mechanics in Touhou, so I really like that this game built its entire scoring system around it.
But ultimately, I think the area where Touhou 11 shines the most is in its stage and boss design. The bullet patterns in this game is on another level, every single boss and stage is unique and memorable in their own right. It's impressive how ZUN was able to take something as stereotypically drab and dark as an underground setting, and manage to make each level feel varied and unique. From Stage 1 having you descend into the cave while shooting down borders, to Stage 3 having you chase after Yuugi through a glowing underground town, to Stage 5 having you face off against a metric ton of spirits flying across the screen. The bosses take this creativity even further, though, Touhou 11 has several of the all-time greatest Touhou fights, not even just one! There's the unique puzzle fight against Parsee where you need to manipulate her homing bullets to not box yourself in, the flashier and fast-paced Yuugi fight where you have to quickly dodge her massive fire rings, the inventive Satori fight where she reads your mind and uses boss attacks from past games (along with a variety of lasers), the infamously challenging Orin fight where she spawns a ton of spirits around to distract you, and of course, the bombastic finale against Utsuho where she lobs literal suns at you. I also can't go without mentioning the greatest extra stage in the series, containing a tense race through a snow-covered Moriya Shrine, a fun rematch against Sanae, and an incredible, challenging, creative, and thematically rich fight against Koishi. Don't get me wrong, this is a hard game, arguably one of the hardest games in the series. But when the bullet patterns are this creative and fun, I think the spike in difficulty is more than justified.
It's always been a bit tough to praise individual Touhou games on their visuals, they all have the same strengths and weaknesses. Beautiful backgounds, and iffy but charming character art. However, what I can praise Touhou 11 for specifically is its incredibly atmosphere. Befitting the name, Subterranean Animism has a grippingly dark and moody vibe to it, with prominent use of cold blues and harsh oranges for the lava sections near the end of the game. The Palace Of The Earth Spirits where Satori resides also remains one of my favorite locations in the series for its gothic architecture, purple hues, and stained glass flooring. As for the soundtrack, you already know. I've said it time and time again, but Touhou 11 has my favorite soundtrack of the franchise. It's dripping with emotion and intensity from start to finish, with tracks like The Dark Blowhole, The Bridge People No Longer Cross, Heartfelt Fancy, Satori Maiden, and Lullaby Of Demonic Hell all standing out as highlights. However, nothing tops the sheer triple whammy of Solar Sect Of Mystic Wisdom, Last Remote, and Hartmann's Youkai Girl, three of the series' best and most iconic songs back-to-back-to-back.
As a Touhou game, Subterranean Animism just hits all the right notes for me. The bullet patterns are so consistently on another level, the cast is one of my favorites in the series, and the whole presentation has this cohesive subterranean vibe that helps the game stand out especially well. Despite its brutal difficulty, it's the tightest and most well-calibrated game in the series. Touhou 11 is a entry in the series that I can play whenever I want, and even if I end up struggling, I'm almost guaranteed to still be having fun because the game design is just that engaging.
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