Drillimation Launches Long-Awaited Sequel to Mythos of Phantasmagoria, Confirms New Chuhou Joutai Game in Alpha Testings

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Drillimation Systems, the studio behind a number of story-driven danmaku experiences such as Chuhou Joutai, has officially launched the long-awaited sequel to their role-playing game Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria on Steam and itch.io, which was released last May.

The game was developed by Drillimation Systems with additional help from the Vietnam-based Studio Emiko and the U.S.-based E. Enthusiasm. It entered open beta back in January, and the full game is now officially released for everyone to enjoy.

Backstory

Touhou Kichouden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2 takes place 15 years after the events of the first game. After Rinnosuke Morichika and Marisa Kirisame, who are two of the first game’s playable characters, declare victory against Vladrouge Scarlet, the antagonist of said game, they established a new country under the name of the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo, with the latter serving as its first monarch. A year later, they bring forth a son named Kichou, whom the player takes the role of.

When the fictional city of Chikurin falls victim to a siege by the Gensokyo Socialite Order, the game’s villainous organization, its ruler Empress Kaguya and her daughter Crown Princess Towa are forced to flee to Kozankyo, the capital of the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo as refuge. Kichou is then commanded to team up with his stepsisters Towa and Mirabel, alongside his childhood friend Miho Fujiwara, to contain the Order’s influence on the Gensokyo continent and defeat its leader Flandre Scarlet.

Gameplay

Touhou Kichouden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2 is a story-driven danmaku role-playing game with a strong emphasis on world exploration and danmaku-based battles. It is considered to be more sophisticated and complex than its predecessor, featuring four playable characters, over 100 different monsters to encounter, equippable gear, and special skills and magic.

The game’s plot is structured in the style of a theoretical mainline Pokémon game, featuring eight „admins“ the player must defeat before they face the Order’s top leadership. The game also borrows several mechanics from said franchise and other role-playing games, including Final Fantasy for its battle system and Undertale for its danmaku-based attacks.

Development

The game started development in January 2024, just as its predecessor was in post-production and after the release of Touhou Meijinka ~ Song of Divine Tempest the month prior. The game took ten months to develop, which was one month shorter of the predecessor’s development time.

Crown Prince Kichou and Miho Fujiwara both existed before Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2, first being enigmatic characters mentioned in Chuhou Joutai 3: Three Nights of Scarlet Abscess, which was released in 2022. They were even cosplayed by that game’s two main characters of Susumu Takajima and Kagami Ochiai, respectively.

New Chuhou Joutai Game in Development

Shortly after the game’s completion, the game’s director has confirmed that he doesn’t have plans on directing a third Mythos of Phantasmagoria game, but has drafted concepts of it. Nevertheless, Drillimation has confirmed that a new Chuhou Joutai prequel under the name of Shining Shattering Sky ~ Reverie of Breaking Unreality is currently in alpha testings.

Taking place twenty years before the events of the first Chuhou Joutai game, it stars Tomohiro Uchida and Hikari Aogami, the parents of character Kumiko Uchida, who are two university students hunting for the supernatural in their dreams. As of this writing, the game is two-thirds of the way complete.

Drillimation initally had plans to develop a Chuhou Joutai prequel starring the parents of another playable character Kagami Ochiai as early as 2022, but was scrapped after pressure from Studio Emiko and the Chuhou Joutai prequel ended up being the original Mythos of Phantasmagoria.

It originally began as a side project during the development of Chuhou Joutai 2: Paraided! as an entirely different game under the name of White Javelin, but it did not get past the prototyping stage and was subsequently shelved. Its revival did not come until this spring when the studio’s previous game Touhou Chouhatsuyou ~ Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity bombed in reception over its plot and themes after a troubled development.

Reverie of Breaking Unreality is notable for not having Studio Emiko’s involvement as much as their previous games, who parted ways from game development after the failure of Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity to focus on their Ciel Chandelleur VTuber project, which debuted a few months ago in July. Emiko Hosokawa, the founder of Studio Emiko, accused Drillimation of promoting misogyny with Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity by means of giving nearly all its cast with excessively long and floor-length hair. This practice nothing new and actually dates back to the original Chuhou Joutai game.

When Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity was first criticized after the beta’s release, it led to drastic changes for the hairstyles of female characters in future Drillimation games, with Reverie of Breaking Unreality being the first game to largely do away with their old practice of making hair lengths as long as their height.