Mountain of faith

After creating the Phantasmagoria of Flower View, ZUN decided to wait a year before developing a new game to see if the Touhou fandom would decrease during that time. However, the fandom continued to grow, and ZUN set about creating the next part ^[1] .

ZUN wanted to make the tenth game of the series somewhat nostalgic for himself, so the plot was based on Suva legends he heard in the past ^[2] .

One of the main features of Mountain of Faith ZUN considers "a return to the basics." That is why the game does not have the Spell Practice mode from Imperishable Night and the unique “spell card” bombs for each playable character. According to ZUN, the ability to freely remake the game system and remove some of its elements is an advantage of amateur (“dojin”) products ^[1] .

The 4Gamer.net reviewer noted that compared to the previous parts, bullet patterns became more complicated, while their duration was reduced. The emphasis of the gameplay has shifted towards spell cards: the game encourages the use of bombs during normal battles, but not during the use of spell cards by bosses ^[3] .

With the popularity of the Touhou Project, the number of fans coming to Nagano Prefecture to visit the temples of Suva has also increased ^[4] .

A strange stranger arrives at Hakurei Temple , demanding that the shrine be closed, which would otherwise be destroyed by a god living on the top of the Youkai Mountain. Priestess Reimu Hakurei is very concerned about this state of affairs, since the temple plays an important role in observing the Hakurei barrier separating Gensokyo from the outside world. The bored Marisa Kirisame sees in these events an opportunity to unwind and practice. The heroine chosen by the player goes to the top of the mountain to meet the deity threatening the temple with destruction.

Along the way, the heroine encounters smaller gods and mouth guards who advise her to turn back. The tengu living above are also worried about the appearance of a new temple on the mountain. The heroine goes to this sanctuary - the temple of Moria - and meets with Sanae Kotiya, who turns out to be that stranger. Sanae appears to be a priestess of the deity named Kanako Yasaka, whose goal is to become the object of faith of all Gensokyo residents. The heroine fights with Kanako and after the victory convinces her to make peace with tengu and kappa, which, in turn, recognize her as a deity of the Youkai Mountain.

According to the plot of the extra-stage, rumors of another god who lives in the temple of Moria reach the heroines. They again go to the top of the mountain and meet with the real deity of the sanctuary - Suwako Moriya.

ZUN clarified in an interview that the story of Mountain of Faith cannot be called complete. However, future games, such as Subterranean Animism , may rely on the open ending of Mountain of Faith ^[5] .

Mountain of Faith uses a different “spell card” bomb system than the previous parts. The ability to use bombs depends on the amount of energy ( Eng. Power ) and the number of “options” ( Eng. Option ) - sphere-shaped objects that move and shoot with the character. As in previous games, energy and firepower increase when collecting certain items. The energy scale values ​​range from 0 to 5 and can be fractional. The number of options is equal to the integer value of the scale and cannot exceed 4. When using a bomb, one option disappears.

Another feature of Mountain of Faith is the Faith Points system . In the lower left corner of the playing space is the "scale of faith", depending on the readings of which are the number of points given for items and spell cards. The bar of the scale decreases every moment of time, but this process can be stopped by shooting at enemies. Scale values ​​increase when collecting certain items.

• Official site (Japanese)
• Mountain of Faith at the Touhou Wiki
• Mountain of Faith in Russian Touhou Wiki (Russian)