The sequel to "Getsu Fuma Den" has evolved further! Switch version "Getsu FumaDen: Undying Moon" review.Recommended perfection for getting started with Roguevania

(Photo: Famitsu.com)

Sentence: From Kaiser Chikuwa KONAMI, the latest roguevania 2D action game "Getsu Fuma Den" will be released on Nintendo Switch from February 10, 2022 (Thursday), and on Steam after the early access period from February 17 (Thursday). : Undying Moon ”. See [Images of the article (37 images)] This is the latest work in the series for the first time in 35 years, which has the same world view as his action game "Getsu Fuma Den" for NES released in 1987. I played this title and wrote a review early in the early access to the Steam version. This is the new work "Getsu Fuma Den" for the first time in 34 years! GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon's pre-play review https://www.famitsu.com/news/202105/14220247.html When playing in the early stages of Early Access, the gameplay changed significantly from the original. I got the impression that the title is quite chewy, following the world view brilliantly and firmly inheriting the "Hiritsuki" that was in the original text. However, to be honest, the difficulty is high and it takes a lot of concentration to lap, and the amount of materials available for each lap is small, so the training of characters and the release and strengthening of equipment stagnated. I felt strongly that I couldn't move forward and was frustrated. However, this work has been updated many times during the Early Access period to reduce such frustration. It created an exquisite balance so that you could feel the exhilaration and the feeling of strengthening while maintaining the difficulty. This time, I will tell you the charm of this work that became more interesting with such an update, touching on the difference from the Early Access version that I realized by playing the Nintendo Switch version. In the world that is the setting of this work, the first "Fuma" defeats the demon king of the hell world, the dragon bone demon, and the clan, Mr. Tsuki, is the 27th generation. It is an era when "Getsu Fuma" is the main owner. Getsu Fuma heads to the depths of the hell that has begun to erupt in this world. The scenery along the way is just hell. The graphics, which look like a three-dimensional version of the "hell painting" in Japanese painting, are terrifyingly beautiful. In addition, from a game perspective, the visibility of enemies and enemy bullets is very good due to the clear edging and color scheme. Even on the screen of the Switch itself, I was able to play without any difference from the Steam version. The enemies that appear along the way and the bosses that await at the end of each stage are all Chimimoryo, who seem to have begun to move as they were depicted in the Japanese Yokai Emaki. In particular, the bosses are so huge that they cover the entire screen, and they attack with a unique force of Japanese-style touch. The rules along the way, with these unique graphics and the terrifying and heroic BGM, are very simple. Step into the stage where the terrain and the placement of enemies are randomly determined, search for a torii that leads to the boss somewhere, and defeat the boss before that. Then choose whether to proceed to the next stage or return to the starting point. This is repeated. In this work, when the hero's physical strength is exhausted, the game is over on the spot, and the materials and money acquired along the way are lost. If you go home voluntarily, you can bring back all the materials, but if you go ahead, you will get better materials. It follows the basics of the so-called roguevania game. While aiming to clear all stages, we must carefully consider when and where to return. As the stage progresses, the difficulty level may become much higher, and it is one of the interesting things about this work that you are worried about here. As for the operation of the character, in addition to being able to use double jump from the beginning and forward roll avoidance that can pass through the enemy with invincible time, there is also a dive attack from the air that easily scares the enemy, and other special There are few actions, so it's very easy to understand. Attacks are made with "main weapon" and "secondary equipment". Both primary weapons and secondary equipment can be obtained from treasure chests along the way, and will drop with a probability when an enemy is defeated. You can carry two of each, switch the main weapon with a button and use it properly, and you can use the secondary equipment immediately by pressing the corresponding button. In this work, there is no element such as the time limit of each stage and the difficulty increases with the passage of time. Therefore, in each stage, it is a standard practice to defeat all enemies while searching for treasure chests and aiming to drop materials and equipment. However, in this work, enemies along the way who are not bosses are also quite tough, and they will reduce their physical strength by various attack means such as sudden rushing and projectiles. There aren't many "recovery medicines" available that can restore health, so sometimes it may be necessary to decide to avoid engagement and proceed to the boss battle. The skill of the player is also required for such a judgment. Another reason for wanting to explore the stage all over is that you want to collect "soul memories" and "souls" to strengthen the main character. "Soul Memory" is an important and valuable material for strengthening equipment, and by collecting more of this and strengthening equipment, you can defeat enemies faster and suppress counterattacks. In particular, the rank of equipment is the most important of all equipment because the attack power changes greatly. In addition, the amount of soul memory required increases as the dan level is strengthened from the original dan level. For example, it takes nearly 20 soul memories to bring the equipment of dan 1 to dan 5, but if the weapon of dan 4 is changed to dan 5, only two soul memories are needed. The original high-ranked equipment is also important in terms of the efficiency of strengthening. Another strengthening factor, how to use the "soul" that can be obtained from a large treasure chest or a strong enemy that emits a red aura, is also greatly related to the difficulty of capture. Each time you acquire a soul, the gauge at the bottom of the screen moves one step to the right, and you can get one step of the enhancement by pressing the button at the position of the enhancement you like. If the gauge moves further from the far right, you will get one "Soul Memory". However, in addition to strengthening vitality and attack power, there is also a column to immediately acquire one recovery medicine, so I would like to use it for some strengthening rather than gaining soul memory by this means. Of course, these equipment and the enhancement of the main character himself will be reset when returning to the starting point. However, there are also enhancements in this work that are not reset there and are permanently effective. In "Training", you can strengthen the hero's abilities such as vitality, and in "Secret", you can increase the maximum number of recovery medicines you have, and you can acquire special abilities such as bringing back some materials even if you die. The materials needed for these enhancements also have to be brought back from enemies and treasure chests, so careful judgment as to whether to proceed or return is required in order to raise the hero's strength. In this way, this work has both the aspect of an easy-to-understand action game and the annoying strategic aspect that always requires judgment, and has a high degree of perfection as a roguevania action. Combined with the difficulty that comes from the formidability of enemies along the way, it is a title that makes you addicted to the busyness and tension of always turning your head fully for judgment without using your head for action operation. While maintaining stoicism, the feeling of exhilaration is improved! So far, I've introduced the parts that are common to the Early Access version, but I think most readers probably felt that it was a "quite difficult and stoic game." In fact, in the early version of Early Access, as I wrote at the beginning of the article, even if I cleared the difficult stages many times, there was not enough material at all, and I was circling for hours with no expression. However, the update has made various improvements, starting with the relaxation of the required amount of materials. Here are some of the things that are directly related to the fun of this work. Addition of difficulty level "Practitioner" This difficulty level corresponds to the so-called easy mode. In the trainer mode, the amount of money that can be obtained along the way is greatly increased, the number of enemies that appear along the way is reduced, and formidable enemies such as demons do not appear in the first place. Although the types and numbers of materials that can be obtained from the enemy are limited by that amount, the increase in money is more than compensated for. At the golden torii shop, it will be easier to purchase rare material sets that were difficult to reach in another mode. In addition, the number of stages until reaching the final stage will decrease, so this mode is recommended if you aim to clear the game first. Collecting materials for training and secrets is also very quick as the journey progresses quickly. Here is the personally most grateful update that made it possible to dismantle the equipment. If you don't need the equipment you dropped along the way, you can dismantle it on the spot and turn it into a material. If the equipment is strengthened to some extent, you can acquire the memory of the soul along with the material. Thanks to this, it is much easier to get the memory of the soul than before the update, and it is easier to strengthen the equipment. By making it easier to strengthen the equipment and gaining high attack power, it is easier to induce the fear caused by destroying the part of the boss in the boss battle as well as the speed of destroying the enemy along the way. Therefore, it is easy to generate and maintain the power-up state "demonization" that occurs when you continue to hit the attack without receiving damage. This exhilarating feeling of knocking down enemies smoothly and twisting down the boss who grasped the attack pattern by turning it into a demon is particularly pleasant in this work, which has a high overall difficulty. Invasion battle and addition of new character "Tsukirenka" When playing at a difficulty other than "Practitioner", noise runs with a certain probability when passing through the torii that advances to the next stage, and it enters the intrusion battle stage. Will be transferred. If you defeat the manipulated second generation head "Tsukirenka" that appears there, you will be able to use Tsukirenka as a playable character from the time you return to the next starting point. Character change with Tsukirenka will be done at the base of the starting point. Tsukirenka moves faster than Tsukifuma, but her attack power and vitality are much lower. In addition, secrets and the open state of equipment will be shared with Tsukifuma, but training will not be shared with Tsukifuma, including materials for strengthening, so play with Tsukirenka to collect materials and strengthen from scratch. We have to go. The increase in attack power when the equipment is strengthened is also considerably lower than that of Getsu Fuma, so the number of steps required to defeat the enemy increases, but it is a big advantage that the search becomes smoother due to the increase in movement speed. She is a character that is also attracted to Kunoichi, so she has a charm that makes her want to grow up. These are the three updates that I found to be particularly influential and directly linked to the fun of the game. In addition, one recovery medicine will appear from the stone monument placed on each stage, and it was easy for players to feel stress in this work. , It is alleviated by the fact that the game can proceed smoothly from various aspects. However, it doesn't mean that the difficulty level has decreased. The formidability along the way remains unrelieved, and the difficulty level "ordinary person", which corresponds to the normal mode, and the "strong man" and "expert", which are higher difficulty levels, can fully experience the tension. I'm glad that the addition of "trainers" has increased the range of ways to play, and I've become able to play more according to my skill and mood. Recommended for beginners in Roguevania At the stage of the Early Access version, this work was designed for professionals, although the system was easy to understand. However, after going through Early Access and becoming Ver1.0, this work has evolved into a title that even people who are not good at action games can play in an easy-to-understand manner. At the same time, I can clearly feel the pleasure and the sense of accomplishment that is progressing little by little, and I felt that it was a good title for an introductory person to know the fun of roguevania. I also felt that the depth of roguevania was considerable. How you proceed along the way will change greatly depending on how you choose and use 7 types of main weapons and 6 types of secondary equipment. The fun of selection is spurred by the fact that each equipment has various special abilities such as damage bonuses for specific races and granting abnormal conditions. In addition, each main weapon has its own special attack. For example, if you use a "sword", you can play the enemy's attack to create a gap, and if you use a battle umbrella, you can guard the enemy's attack with a widened umbrella. Since the performance of some special attacks changes greatly when they are launched in the air, if you master them, you will be able to perform various actions other than jumping and avoiding forward rotation. However, it is possible to capture enough by just jumping and avoiding forward rotation without using special attacks, and it is not essential to master it. The game balance around here is just right. In the roguevania game, which you will continue to play for a long time, the points that "it is easy to understand and there is no stress in operation" and "it is solidly formidable but also comfortable" can be said to be a big attraction regardless of the player group. For those who are a little worried about this work because of its unique and beautiful visuals and the fact that it is "Getsu Fuma Den" for the first time in 35 years, please do not worry about the strengths and weaknesses of the action and try it once. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon Manufacturer: KONAMI Compatible Platform: Nintendo Switch, Steam Delivery Date: Nintendo Switch Version / February 10, 2022, Steam Version / February 17, 2022 Price: Nintendo Switch Digital Deluxe Edition / 3828 yen [tax included] Nintendo Switch Normal Edition / 2728 yen [tax included] Steam Digital Deluxe Edition / 3828 yen [tax included] Steam / 2728 yen [tax included] Genre: Action CERO Rating: 17 years old and over Remarks: Download only