Touhou Koumakyou: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil gets its first official remake

Touhou Project has launched its first official remake, of the foundational 2002 shoot-em-up Touhou Koumakyou: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. The new version, titled Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic, is out now and marks the first time any version of Embodiment has appeared on Steam, with a full English translation included.

The remake is a collaboration between ZUN, the series' original solo developer who has provided a remastered soundtrack, and the studios behind several of the higher-profile Touhou fangames. Some of the New Classic developers previously worked on Touhou: Luna Nights, a Metroidvania fangame that has become one of the most widely known unofficial entries in the franchise.

Gameplay follows the series template: players take on the role of either a shrine maiden or a kleptomaniac witch and fight a vampire who has blocked out the sun. The remake adds a new stage and updated character artwork, while retaining the screen-filling 2D bullet hell battles and the series' signature keyboard-and-trumpet soundtrack.

The original Embodiment of Scarlet Devil launched in 2002 and is one of the earliest entries in a series that now spans more than 20 mainline games, not counting spinoffs. Touhou Project has built one of the most active fan communities in gaming, in part because ZUN has historically allowed commercial fanworks under a short list of guidelines. That openness has produced a large ecosystem of unofficial games, music, and other media.

Boss characters in the series draw on creatures and figures from Asian and Western folklore, ranging from Embodiment's vampires to Shinto deities and characters from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. While the early games told straightforward stop-the-villain stories, more recent entries have carried allegorical themes touching on fossil fuel reliance, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence.

English localization and Steam availability have not been guaranteed for the wider series, particularly for the early 2000s games, which makes the remake a potentially accessible entry point for newcomers. The remake is published by Alliance Arts and was announced with a trailer ahead of its September 10 release.

Rock Paper Shotgun's deputy editor, who wrote the coverage, had not yet played the New Classic version at the time of writing, so impressions of the new stage and updated presentation are based on trailers and preview materials rather than hands-on play.