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Things I Like (TIL) #5: Abyss Soul Lotus

What is this? I’ve liked many things throughout the years. While some have fallen out of my attention, others remain firmly cemented in my memories and feelings. So, I’ve decided to start a mini-series where each week (hopefully), I pick something random that I like or have liked and discuss it, why I like it, and its impact on me. These things can be varied, and range from more trivial matters such as my favourite animal, to books, games, and movies I’ve liked, to topics that have shaped who I am as a person. The posts, accordingly, will vary in length. See my rating system here.



This time’s TIL post is for a Touhou Project fangame, titled Abyss Soul Lotus. Alternatively, it has a Chinese name, 東方雪蓮華, “Eastern Snow Lotus Flower”. It’s produced by a team from China called 雨夜楓雪製作組, who also produced another famous Touhou fangame that I’d consider my favorite Touhou fangame of all time, Shining Shooting Star. I’ll cover that game at a later date.

This game is in beta, with three stages and two shot types complete. I mention this game for TIL this week for two reasons:

Music

The music is composed by a composer called 11 (stylized 時依), who also composed many tracks for Shining Shooting Star and Barrage Musical: A Fantasy of Tempest. He’s known for his memorable melodies and ability to create atmosphere.

Consider the stage I theme of this game, “Icy Flower, Icy Dream”:

The stage is set in a wide, expansive, and snowy plain, which I feel this theme captures perfectly. The midboss motif begins at 0:58 and leads up to a repetition of the main theme one octave up, but it soars and sings like your player character is flying above the snowy plains. Overall, it’s a short and sweet theme that serves its purpose perfectly.

Consider also the stage III boss theme, “Tracks of the Snow Rabbit ~ Nowhere but Everywhere”:

It perfectly captures the boss Snowy’s personality, a cute and mischievous snow rabbit youkai. Bonus: It also syncs with her danmaku, which if you’ve been reading this series of posts you know I love.

Art

This game has the same art team as Shining Shooting Star and Barrage Musical, and their skills have obviously grown. The characters look a lot more like the style of characters in Barrage Musical, but some of the bosses still retain the shiny, older look of Shining Shooting Star.

One of my favorite pieces of art in this game is Snowy’s new portrait in the second beta release:

snowy

Ack she’s so adorable.

See you in the next one!

TIL Rating: 2. This game isn’t out yet, so its overall impact isn’t too high. Hopefully it gets completed soon!