I clicked with Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya when I realised that ‘Izakaya’ is not too dissimilar to ‘pub’. I can’t help it; I’m British. There used to be a pub on every street corner back in the day. It’s in our blood. Just switch out the tofu and seaweed for pork scratchings and those little bags of peanuts. The fact that I quite like management sims also helped things click, but I think it was mostly my deep desire to open my own pub that sealed the deal. I don’t think anyone would want me to sing while I poured the pints, though.
If that last statement didn’t make sense, then perhaps refer to the first word in Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya. This is a spin-off from the Touhou Project, you see. To be more specific, it’s a fan game. That suggests it’s targeted squarely at existing veterans of the Touhou Project – and that is very much the case. I’m not an existing player, so it was a bit like being invited to a colleague’s wedding and realising you have no idea who anyone is. Still, there is an inherent charm to the game that kept me pressing on.
Professional Pub Proprietary
Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya revolves around, perhaps unsurprisingly, Mystia Lorelei. She is a Night Sparrow, a form of youkai, who comes across as rather excitable, if a little meek around people of authority. She’s the owner of an izakaya, which looks rather impressive in the beginning, before it’s promptly smashed to bits by a rampaging youkai, and Mystia is sent back in time to try things over again. She then stumbles on a mate of hers, Kyouko, being harrassed by a debt collector (named Chen). Mystia saves her by taking on the debt and it falls to her izakaya to keep their kneecaps comfortable and unbroken.
The management of the izakaya is split into two sections: gathering ingredients and managing customers. The ‘gathering ingredients’ bit invoves tramping through the overworld, shaking bushes and fishing in rivers, to collect all the ingredients you need for your big recipe list. Each action takes thirty minutes and the izakaya always opens at six, so there’s a nice ticking clock element. I found myself running through planned recipes in my head, trying to make sure I had enough lampreys to toss on the grill. This section is also where a lot of the story and character segments come through, which I’m in two minds about.
The writing itself is okay. Each character feels quite distinct, though they seem rather deliberately one note. Wriggle, the insect, talks about insects and nothing else. Still, the line-by-line is okay and actually manages to be quite amusing at times, occasional translation issues aside. The thing that irks me is that Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya‘s central plot is vague at best. The overrarching goal seems to be to arrange a concert, funded by the izakaya. In practical terms, this means just paying off debts at key points on the calendar. Hardly a thrilling target to justify another night of customer service.
À La Carte
I suspect Touhou Mystia Izakaya’s characters are meant to appeal more to Touhou veterans, given how Mystia talks like she already knows them. Still, I do like how the character traits have a gameplay effect when they show up to the izakaya. Special characters refuse to order off the menu and instead give a desired trait like Japanese or Mild. Suika, for instance, is an Oni and therefore loves dishes that pair well with alcohol. Taking established dishes and modifying them to suit the requests is good fun and experimentation is well rewarded. Even if ignoring the menu does seem rather rude.
The rest of the clientele are rather more polite. At the beginning of each service, you pick your menu options, drink options, and cooking implements, along with whatever helpers you can afford. Once open, customers file in and place their orders. You cook them on the appropriate station and deliver them. Different types of guest (think different youkai) have different preferences, so you can maximise tips by modifying dishes. Rabbits like sweet things, so I began slipping some honey into the rice balls to get a good rating.
These are promising elements, but Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya‘s cooking is a bit too basic. With enough helpers, large services become trivial. I was never in danger of running out of ingredients for my massive array of recipes, either. A bit more complexity in the dish making might have helped. The only challenge is singing while cooking, which is a light DDR affair not worth dwelling on. Once you do well enough to get the skill that allows you to toss over food from the kitchen, it’s all over. I just let my waiter handle the plebs, while I attended to the rare guests – even that just meant a minute of thumbing through a notebook to know what to chuck in the ramen.
Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya – Charmingly Simple
A bit of challenge to proceedings would have added some spice. The lack of it – and the hands-off plot – mean I’m twenty hours in without any idea how close I am to finishing it. I just seem to be in the loop of catching fish, buying meat and serving delicious meals. Still, it’s quite a relaxing loop. The excellent character design – and lovely pixel art – together with the little twists in the cooking they bring kept me engaged. I’m just not sure of what it’s all building towards.
It’s rather easy to earn a ton more money than you owe. I could pay off the debt and take a holiday to boot. Still, Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya feels like its heart is with its characters. It’s a fan game, after all, it wants to put all of its favourite people in a pub and watch them interact. That’s fair enough. I wouldn’t wander into a stranger’s birthday party and insist they accomodate me. I extracted some pleasant enjoyment out of the cooking mechanics, but I suspect that you won’t get the full experience unless you’re already a fan of the Touhou Project.
