Marisa of Liartop Mountain [PC] | REVIEW

Sometimes, I’ll see a new title in a gaming series that I love and know that I want to play it instantly, while other times, something will manage to pull me in even if I’ve never touched the series before. Marisa of Liartop Mountain belongs to the latter camp. Though it’s part of the long-running Touhou Project – a franchise of which I have zero prior knowledge – it quickly proved that you don’t need to be a long-time fan to appreciate its creativity. This is a cozy and rewarding RPG that borrows heavily from tabletop gaming in its gameplay, complete with dice rolls, figurine characters, and branching choices.

Check out some screenshots down below:

The game is cleverly presented as a role-playing session hosted by a group of eccentric girls in a grand mansion, with Reimu Hakurei, the protagonist, setting off to find her missing friend Marisa. This journey is framed as if she’s the main character in a board game though, with others watching and influencing the decisions that she makes along the way. They provide advice and constant commentary, which makes the whole experience feel like you’re part of a group storytelling session with a mix of humour and light-hearted rivalries keeping the narrative lively. Like I said, I’m unfamiliar with Touhou Project, but I was instantly drawn into the world and found the cast of characters a quirky but very likable bunch.

However, instead of the fast-paced action seen in other titles in the series, Marisa of Liartop Mountain is built on dice mechanics. Reimu appears as a miniature figurine on a board, moving from space to space where a variety of events unfold – sometimes you’ll hit a puzzle, sometimes a story choice, and often a battle… the sort of things you’d expect from a tabletop RPG, really. And much like tabletop RPGs, almost every outcome is decided by dice rolls, with Reimu starting out with six slots to equip different dice. Some dice are weighted toward higher numbers, others toward odds or evens, and a few have special values, with this sense of variety not only giving players the chance to sway a roll in their way but also adding an extra layer of satisfying unpredictability to the RNG nature of the experience.

In combat, you roll two dice to meet a target number for attacks or defences. The game shows your chances beforehand, which adds a nice layer of strategy when choosing dice combinations, though as you progress, enemies introduce rules that restrict your rolls, making battles feel less predictable and adding a greater sense of challenge to each showdown. Whilst the dice-rolling is a tried-and-tested formula, it’s clear that innovations have been introduced within Marisa of Liartop Mountain to ensure they’re always engaging.

“Marisa of Liartop Mountain is a creative blend of tabletop mechanics, RPG-like gameplay, and quirky storytelling that works exceptionally well, even for someone completely new to Touhou Project.”

That being said, the dice-driven approach can be both a highlight and a sticking point of the experience. On one hand, it captures the suspense of tabletop gaming perfectly, where luck can swing a battle at any moment and a perfectly rolled die can fill you with joy. On the other, it can be frustrating when poor rolls undo careful planning, with bad luck often being your main enemy. There are Cheat Points that let you reroll to try and get the upper hand, but you can only use so many, making resource management important if you want to use them to your advantage. Personally? I loved the unpredictable nature of it all and there’s definitely room for smart play and strategy outside of the RNG that makes combat exciting throughout, but I could see why the dice rolling won’t be for everyone (and especially when things go wrong).

Of course, the board of Marisa of Liartop Mountain isn’t just about fighting. Each chapter mixes in puzzle-like events that demand a different approach, with these sections adding variety to the experience – the way that they encourage you to utilise advice from various characters adds an extra dose of personality to each enigma too, and whilst there’s nothing particularly perplexing to solve, it’s often in these moments that the game really showcases its narrative strengths.

Character progression in Marisa of Liartop Mountain comes through XP earned from battles, puzzles, and story milestones, with each level-up letting you pick a reward from one of the mansion girls, be that extra health, stronger dice, or even more Cheat Points for when you get in sticky situations. Whichever girl you side with most in a chapter also becomes the ‘MVP’ and hands over a special die as a reward, with this system tying into your decision-making even more and ensuring that each choice feels meaningful. It’s easy to find yourself preferring the approach of certain characters as you play, but with varying rewards, there’s plenty of room for experimentation. It shows that there are a lot of cool mechanics at play in the game, and when they all come together, it makes for a really engaging and enjoyable experience.

Check out some screenshots down below:

One of the things that I loved the most about Marisa of Liartop Mountain was the presentation. Characters look like painted miniatures, moving across diorama-style boards that resemble a storybook come to life, whilst backgrounds glow with a mix of whimsy fantasy and mystery. It’s all very picturesque, and whilst animations are simplified because of the tabletop gaming-style approach of the aesthetic, it all looks incredibly charming. Add to that a delightful soundtrack that really helps bring it all to the life and you’ll quickly find that the world of Marisa of Liartop Mountain is a wonderful one to be a part of.

Developer: Alliance Arts, UnknownX
Publisher: Alliance Arts
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2514630/Marisa_of_Liartop_Mountain/