This review was originally written on 11/30/2018.

Technical Information

Developer: souvenir circ.
Publisher: souvenir circ., Unties
Release Date: August 30, 2018

This game was originally released for PC in 2012 under the name Maihana Soumakyou: Uniting Barrage Action.

Azure Reflections is a shmup/bullet hell game made by the fanbase of the famous Touhou game series.
Yet another high-difficulty shmup that is guaranteed to make you rage a lot!
The story revolves around a fog that has covered the sun, leaving everything dark and cold. Because of this, Reimu Hakurei (the protagonist) decides to investigate what’s behind it all.

Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

All characters were modeled in 3D, but this didn’t make the game lose its charm. I personally prefer shmups in pixel art, but this one turned out very good in this style as well.
The animations are really cute, and the artwork during dialogue sections is flawless.

The menu is super simple and straightforward. The HUD, on the other hand, requires a quick run through the tutorial to become fully understandable.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

The highlight of the game is definitely the voice acting, which adds a very special touch. All dialogues are fully voiced in Japanese! ~otaku feelings intensified~
The music doesn’t bring anything extraordinary, but it fits the game’s proposal and atmosphere quite well.

Gameplay

I found the difficulty quite hard, and I strongly recommend starting on Easy to get used to the game’s mechanics (I’ll admit it, I gave in and did that!).

The game includes a tutorial that explains what each button does, how to charge the special meter, and so on.

The most complicated part for me was understanding where my character’s hitbox actually was… it’s a little heart that becomes visible when you press the R button. For players who aren’t used to such a small hitbox combined with a larger character sprite, the game feels a bit strange at first.
After getting used to that, the biggest challenge is simply player skill, since even Normal mode is already quite difficult due to the excessive number of bullets trying to hit you.

I couldn’t really adapt to either the analog stick or the D-pad. For very short movements, just a few pixels apart, the D-pad ends up being the better option. But for fast, wide movements, the analog stick works much better. I kept switching between the two, since neither fully satisfied me. 🙁

Replayability and Game Retention

The game itself is short, but considering the difficulty and the number of unlockables, it can easily make you lose quite a few hours… especially if you’re a hardcore player who insists on unlocking everything. Character backstories, collectibles, music tracks… Not to mention that you can save up money to buy items that grant specific abilities to your character.