Homura Hime attracts attention with its bright visuals and positive reviews on Steam. After launching, you enjoy the variety of game mechanics for a while. However, a closer acquaintance makes you wonder: "Why isn't such a flawed game in early access?"
In the world of Homura Hime, strong emotions lead to trouble. Demons are born from feelings, and they are at odds with humans. Experienced priestesses exorcise them. This time, heroines named Homura and Ann have set out to fight evil.
The game is divided into missions. Messages about atrocities come to the exorcists' base: people disappear, plants behave aggressively, and an ancient cult makes itself known. The heroines set out to correct the situation and destroy the source of evil — the archdemon. The archdemons encountered show minimal aggression or even try to make friends, which makes you wonder: "Are they really villains?"
Due to the small number of branches, the path to the archdemons is like a narrow corridor. The main reason to explore locations is to hunt for the contents of boxes and treasure chests. You'll have to pick flowers to help a ghostly reptile who has lost her memory.
Resources can be spent at a traveling merchant who sells upgrades and rewards you for captured heads. Of all the techniques available in her arsenal, I bought one — I didn't need more to complete the game. The difficulty allowed me not to use Homura's special abilities or Ann's alternative attacks. It's enough to increase passive characteristics.
You need to put in minimal effort to deal with the obstacles that arise along the way: avoid traps, run away from the approaching water, clear thickets, and collect heads for the traveling merchant's quest. Many arenas do not activate until you find the quests associated with them — fortunately, you don't have to go far.
Groups of demons protect their lords. They attack on the ground, from the air, from underground, and support each other. To destroy enemies with shields, you must first remove the protection with Ann's attacks. Mini-bosses drag Homura into another dimension. To defeat them, you need to parry all attacks.
In battle, Homura uses weak and powerful sword attacks. You need to combine attacks to deal additional damage. But the main emphasis in the game is on parrying, which allows you to deflect most attacks, heal, and stun opponents. The game pretends that parrying only works on attacks with a red glow, but you can deflect most enemy moves. If you compare it to Sekiro or Nine Sols, Homura Hime is much simpler: there is plenty of time to react, and the movement itself can be spammed without restrictions.
Only the first opponent becomes a real test:
- She makes delays before attacks;
- Different attack combinations start the same way;
- Most attacks are very painful;
- She has heroic health and several phases;
- The camera actively helps the enemy.
The following mini-bosses and bosses had interesting features and arranged a "bullet hell" during the battle. But they are not as difficult as the first boss.
The main difficulty lies in the technical condition of the game. It is poorly optimized, which regularly causes performance drops — this is most often complained about on the forum. The game is beautiful and full of interesting elements, but there is nothing in it that could load the system so much.
Many players complain about save corruption. The problem was encountered in different missions, after which the entire playthrough was ruined. I encountered the problem in the third mission, when the Unity engine refused to work. As a result, I lost six hours of progress.
Diagnosis
Compared to Japanese games about dodging and parrying, Homura Hime is very simple. You could say that this is a children's or training version, where you don't have to strain so much to win. But that doesn't mean the game is bad! It boasts a variety of interesting opponents, game mechanics, and the beauty of the environment.
Giving the game a chance now is risky. It has problems with balance and optimization, and a serious bug will lead to the loss of many hours of gameplay. The developers respond to complaints and are actively working on the problems, so it's worth waiting until they bring the game to mind.
