Over the years the Touhou franchise has crossover into other genres that were not bullet hell games. From kart racers and visual novels to fighting games and tower defense, Marisa, Reimu, Remilia and her sister Flandre, Sakuya and Patchouli now all gather for their latest adventure, Marisa of Liartop Mountain.
Out of all of the games that the Touhou characters have been in, Marisia of Liartop Mountain has to be one of the more unique games in the franchise. The game is a tabletop turn based dice RPG. Now when I first saw the word tabletop, I thought they were going to come together and play a tabletop RPG like Dungeons & Dragons. I was partially right. Let me explain: The premise of Marisa of Liartop Mountain is that the shrine maiden Reimu get transported into a mysterious book one day while trying to find her friend the human magic user Marisa who also has been transported into the book. Unbeknownst to the both of them, that very book is in the possession of Remilia Scarlet, the vampire mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, thanks to Patchouli Knowledge, who according to her, may or may not know the two humans got into the book.
Now for the gameplay. Marisa of Liartop Mountain is tabletop styled turn based RPG that uses various kinds of dice to dictate Reimu’s action during combat and affect the story. Each set of dice has different sets of numbers. One set of dice can have two 3s, two 6s and two 9s while another set can have four 1s and two 6s. Now the dice themselves don’t have any real special powers or attributes. You can use various combinations of dice to get the outcome you want. Say that you encounter an NPC and you need to get information from them, you are given three different number ranges, with the highest range being the NPC freely gives you the information and the lowest being that they refuse and it forces a battle encounter. You can increase the odds of getting a high number by using dice that have higher numbers. There are also times when a low number roll is needed, and just like before, you can swap out dice to increase the odds of getting that low number. This is a really interesting take on the traditional dice rolls as it forces you to think about what number is currently needed and to think tactically.
Marisa of Liartop Mountain ties in the whole tabletop aesthetic by having the world inside of the book look like a tabletop game. From the enemies and NPCs to the background settings and both Reimu and Marisa look like tokens and cardboard setpieces that are used to visualize the various settings of a real life tabletop game. Everything looks whimsical and has a fairy tale/storybook feel, which suits the game perfectly as it does take place inside a book.
Over the years I’ve see the Touhou series take on various genres, some good some bad. Marisa of Liartop Mountain is one of the good ones. I enjoyed its take on tactical dice based combat, the world inside the book is whimsical and seeing the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion litterally play with Reium and Marisa is very entertaining. If you’re a fan of the franchise or want to see something different from the series, give Marisa of Liartop Mountain a shot;.
