There’s a whole universe of adorable little witch video games with 30 years of history that you don’t even know exists, and its name is Touhou

The world of video games is far more extensive than it might seem.

Even if we add in the indies, which have gained a lot of recognition in the last decade, there still exists a whole universe of video games that passes under the radar of most people.

And many of the video games that exist outside that mainstream circle, while they aren’t known or applauded by the majority, can be just as potentially interesting and fun as the ones that are.

But in some cases, some manage to have fandoms as large as or larger than those of any indie or mainstream game.

Even without ever leaving that niche sphere. Games that become distinct franchises of their own completely outside the games usually talked about in the media and among most players, but which are well-known and beloved by their fans, becoming tremendously popular and successful.

And one of those franchises is Touhou Project.

A most singular creation

It all started with a mathematics student at Tokyo Denki University named Jun’ya Ōta, but better known as ZUN.

Under the name ZUN Soft he developed a series of video games between 1995 and 1998 for the Japanese PC-98 computer.

Trying out different game styles, they were a moderate success, in part, because of their charismatic protagonist: a miko (a priestess from Japanese Shinto temples) named Reimu Hakurei.

She would be joined, after the events of the second game, by a character who’d end up eclipsing her in popularity.

A mischievous witch named Marisa Kirisame.

Once he graduated and kept developing games, ZUN’s games exploded in popularity with what is considered the first modern Touhou Project game in 2002: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Here the pattern for all the other games in the franchise would be established.

Shoot ’em ups in which we control adorable girls inspired by Japanese folklore who must face some threat against their world, Gensokyo, a world isolated from ours and where humans and yokai mostly live.

But they’re not just any shoot ’em ups.

This franchise gave rise to what’s known as danmaku, or bullet hell.

A style of game in which the number of projectiles on screen can be counted by the hundreds or thousands, forcing us to learn the patterns to make our way through tiny spaces between bullets that are sometimes only vaguely visible.

Although they seem extremely difficult, Touhou Project games from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil onward are quite accessible.

So long as you stick to the lower difficulty levels.

The higher difficulties are genuine challenges for people with nerves of steel who have no problem memorizing patterns and keeping their cool no matter how desperate things seem, more than for people with great reflexes.

But they’re much more accessible games than they might seem from the outside.

With a very involved fandom

So much so that in 23 years ZUN has published 15 games in the main series and 13 spinoffs.

Being a tremendously popular franchise and having refused to raise the price of each new installment for more than 20 years, only doing so in 2026 in order to keep the production of the games sustainable, Touhou Project has become a genuine phenomenon that lies outside the mainstream.

Which doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a huge fandom behind it.

Something to which how lax ZUN is when it comes to allowing derivative works contributes.

With very friendly publishing guidelines, ZUN has very few problems allowing all kinds of video games, manga, music albums, or any other kind of work inspired by or directly related to the Touhou universe.

This means that there are, literally, dozens of works related to the Touhou universe every year created by fans deeply devoted to it.

With a level of care and attention to detail that rarely fall short of ZUN’s own.

Many of these come from indie and professional studios that have as much or more experience and resources than ZUN himself. Others are by amateurs who simply want to do their bit in a fandom they adore.

But this has turned Touhou Project into one of the most extensive and sprawling universes in current fiction.

Making it absolutely impossible for there not to always be something new in it for its fans, no matter how specific or particular their tastes may be.

Now ZUN has released a remake of the first great game in the franchise, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Under the name Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic – the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, it includes both the remake and the classic version of the game so that anyone who prefers playing the original can do so.

Demonstrating exactly the reason why people love Touhou: it really feels like they’re part of a community where everyone passionately loves it. Including ZUN himself.