Touhou Genso Wanderer -Lotus Labyrinth- is a Roguelike game in the style of games such as Shiren the Wanderer (in case the title didn't give it away) or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Naturally, it's a Touhou Project fan work. The game released in Japan in 2019 for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. It would later receive an Updated Re-release, Lotus Labyrinth R in May 2021, which also doubled as an update to the original game. It would also be released to Steam this way, and be released internationally (though the Steam version's english translation was delayed to winter 2021). It, like Touhou Genso Wanderer is a part of the formerly Japanese-only Fushigi no Gensokyo series.
Similarly to Genso Wanderer, the story begins with the unassuming shopkeeper Rinnosuke Morichika. During one of his regular scavenger hunts, Rinnosuke comes across a device called the WRS (World Replication System), which he brings to the kappa gadgeteer Nitori Kawashiro to examine. In order to further analyse it, Nitori enlists the help of wind priestess Sanae Kochiya, who is also accompanied by the celestial Tenshi Hinanawi. Together, Sanae and Tenshi log into the WRS, which has taken the form of a dungeon-crawling game. There, they work on recruiting the residents of this cyberspace to aid them in conquering the seemingly impregnable Lotus Labyrinth, but there seems to be more to the WRS than initially meets the eye...
Tropes:
- Action Bomb: As in Genso Wanderer, Patchouli copies are explosive and will detonate if they take a non-lethal hit while below half HP.
- An Ice Person: Cirno and Letty, as usual, both as an enemy type and when using them.
- Can't Drop the Hero: The leader of your first party will always be Sanae or Tenshi's originals, depending on whose scenario you're playing as. The only way to change it is to swap player characters at the base.
- Dueling Player Characters: About halfway through the first scenario, Sanae and Tenshi end up fighting it out to decide who gets the right to recruit Reimu.
- Irony: Of Reimu's three variants, the only one that naturally floats is PC-98 Reimu, the only one that cannot fly (The other two do get the Flight passive, but must be given the Float buff through outside sources).
- Know When to Fold 'Em: In the Lotus Labyrinth, Sanae's cyber original does this, reasoning that she can't keep up with Sanae's instinctual actions as cyberforms always think before acting.
- Mirror Match: The final boss of the titular Lotus Labyrinth is the cyber original of the current player character. They join the party right afterwards.
- Mission Control: During the story, both player characters get one navigator who gives them information on where to go. Sanae gets Akyuu, whereas Tenshi gets Kosuzu.
- One-Hit Kill: Various effects on your side can cause this, some examples being Toyohime's Latest Lunar Weaponry, or the Yuyuko's Fan line of weapons. Exaggerated with Akyuu's GM variant, where, if the instant death on her attack, "Punishment", procs, it also kills all other copies of that enemy on the floor, and if the skill is max level, also treats any enemy subjected to the instant death effect as if it were struck by Eradication "Final Moment", preventing any more copies from spawning.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. You can build parties of multiple versions of the same character, such as Reimu's three variants (Without DLC, you only get the base Reimu, but the Lotus Friends DLC adds in a blue-coloured Reimu and Reimu's PC-98 form as seperate characters). More notably, There are two Sanaes and two Tenshis, who are seperate beings. The originals who logged in, and the AI life forms that are based on them. Gameplay differentiates them by noting the originals with the tag (Player). The original and copy fight it out at the end of the titular Lotus Labyrinth, with the copy joining the original's party immediately afterwards.
- Promoted to Playable: Every single recruitable character is playable, though only Sanae and Tenshi's originals have a full range of unique Danmaku- and even then, only your current main character does. Everybody else just has three generic Danmaku attacks (forwards, 3-way and star-shaped) and one unique danmaku attack. DLC also adds in multiple characters that otherwise only appear as part of the story (and some that don't appear at all), such as the Watatsuki Sisters and Yukari, and even some that otherwise don't appear except as enemy-types, such as Youmu, Yuyuko, Eiki, Komachi and Patchouli.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Happens after beating the Lotus Labyrinth as Sanae. Sanae's cyber original uses this to convince the real Sanae to recruit her. Sanae even mentions the trope by name.Sanae: Okay, okay. I'll recruit you. You can stop giving me those puppy-dog eyes now.
Cyber Original Sanae: Thank you so much!
Sanae: ...I can't believe my own pout got the better of me. That feels wrong on so many levels... - The Most Dangerous Video Game: Implied, but not outright stated. The WRS actually has an influence on the real Gensokyo. When an error starts causing enemy NPCs to go haywire, it starts causing problems in the real Gensokyo. Most notably, when Akyuu and Kosuzu's cyber originals are attacked and seemingly killed, the real Akyuu and Kosuzu in Gensokyo fall unconscious. This occurence also traps Sanae and Tenshi inside until Nitori performs a forced log-out, and when they go back in to resolve the incident, it's noted that they're stuck inside until they either resolve the incident or die in-game, which is hinted to potentially have dire consequences.
