Marisa of Liartop Mountain Review

Marisa from Liartop Mountain Review

Marisa of Liartop Mountain is a turn-based adventure RPG that is essentially a digital board game book. In this game, dice rolls and player decisions determine the outcome of a branching narrative. The result is a charming little quest that would have been better if it had more helpful strategies.

In the magical land of Gensokyo, the last bastion of fantasy, there is a mansion. Inside, four sorceresses are playing a game.

Vampires Remilia and Flandre Scarlet, the sorceress Patchouli and the maid Sakuya are sitting around a book. On the pages of the book, the irreverent priestess Reimu Hakurei plunges into yet another adventure.

Despite the absence Toho Judging by the name, this game is a spin-off At the request of the Project franchise. It makes no effort to introduce the cast before throwing them into a fantasy meta-adventure. If you're not already a Touhou fan, you'll probably be confused. However, series veterans will enjoy the banter and characterization.

The girls are playing now

Marisa of Mount Liartop begins with Patchouli challenging the four girls in the mansion to play a game. However, the game focuses on who they know: Reimu.

Reimu's friend, Marisa, has disappeared, leaving only a giant storybook as a clue. When Reimu touches the book, she gets sucked into it. Her search for Marisa will take her through a surreal land that operates under very strange rules. All the while, the girls from the mansion make decisions and roll dice to guide her actions.

To find Marisa, Reimu must fight five monsters that have borrowed Marisa's appearance. Each of them has their own reason for fighting Reimu. And none of them are going to let the girls reunite easily.

As Reimu dives deeper into the unknown, the four girls are able to offer advice or suggest improvements. However, listening to their words will give them more influence over her. And no one had ever said that the women of the Scarlet Devil Mansion had Reimu's best interests at heart.

Each cube has a limited number of uses, and you can only hold a certain number of cubes at a time. Combat involves making decisions and determining the outcome by throwing. While the game is mostly a light-hearted experience that you can play through at your own pace, there are a few timed options. Each playthrough takes about 20 hours, but the game is quite cheap.

Marisa from Mount Liartop has ambitions, but no Poles

Marisa from Mount Liartop takes an intriguing multimedia approach to her graphics. It uses both anime-style character portraits and 3D graphics to create the illusion of a playing field. The “players” are represented by detailed portraits, and the board and pieces on it are made in the form of game miniatures.

The Japanese voice acting and narration are decent, but after the first few chapters I found myself missing the narrator. However, the soundtrack is quite good. Its gentle and sometimes ominous melodies enhance the feeling of the other world. This keeps the mood of Reimu's adventures both wonderful and a little scary.

Reimu gains experience not only from combat, but also from solving puzzles or interacting with the environment. Each time she levels up, she chooses one of four random power-ups. Each one is recommended by a different girl following her journey. Some come with extra dice or different dice. This game plays very much like a cooperative tabletop RPG, especially when the four girls comment on Reimu's encounters and argue about her options.

Depending on your build, your choices, and how thoroughly you explore, the difficulty of the game can vary greatly. What I mean is that it is entirely possible to get a soft lock without warning if you haven't prepared your build properly. There's also quite a bit of skippable content – mostly combat, but there are a few puzzles as well.

Falls off in the second half

Marisa from Mount Liartop has some serious problems. The biggest of these is also the simplest: after the first couple of chapters focus more on adventure and exploration, the second half of the game becomes more linear and pointless.

This shift is disappointing, especially since boss battles usually have one strategy you must use to win. If you cannot roll the correct numbers, you will have to restart the chapter. Not only does this detract from the feeling of playing a tabletop RPG with friends, but repeating a useless level can be quite frustrating.

The huge variety of dice gives you plenty of customization options. However, this also means that you can get a soft lock if you don't have the right dice.

Overall, Marisa of Liartop Mountain is a cute little game that pretends to be more difficult than it actually is. If you're a Touhou fan and don't mind restarting the game if necessary, you'll have fun. Others will likely get angry and quit.

***Steam code provided by publisher***