Homura Hime review

From the moment you boot up Homura Hime, Taiwan-based developer Crimson Dusk seems committed to conjuring up feeling of nostalgia. Perhaps it’s the slightly over-saturated color palette or the pulse-quickening orchestral swell of the title screen. Or maybe it’s the way the camera lingers on the protagonist’s silhouette that’s juxtaposed with a burning sky, that makes the game feel like a lost PlayStation 2-action title.

Sure, Hime’s foundations are right out of the early 2000s, but many of its mechanics have been shrewdly modernized. From frame-perfect dodge cancels, a stout parry window with plenty of visual feedback cues, and a combo system that rewards experimentation, this doesn’t feel like revisiting a stagnant old relic. Largely, the dev team has managed to capture the style and ambiance of an early millennium action game while shedding away much of the clunkiness that defined that halcyon era. That said, I’m not sure, I’ll be itching to play Hime in another twenty years.

Where the Fire Princess Burns Brightest

But that’s not to say that Homura Hime isn’t worthwhile, but it’s a bit uneven. Undoubtedly, one of the game’s strongest constituents are the boss battles. Each headline fight against the archdemon girls feels like a tightly designed showdown between you and the designers. They’re a back-and-forth battle of reading telegraphed attacks, responding with openings, all while the level of intensity is gradually intensified.

Best of all, the boss roster is diverse enough that no two fights feel similar, making these spectacles Hime’s crowning moments. Whether you’re tracking the sweeping arc of a flaming sword or struggling to read the tells of a multi-phase deity, these encounters are tests of mastery. As such, dying to a boss feels educational rather than exasperating and the moment that your approach comes together, Hime feels gratifying.

Fighting Demons but also Pesky Peons

But standard combat is a different story. Where boss fights haver a structure and rhythm, routine enemy fights drown into a blur of inputs. The game populates its arenas copiously, but enemy variety lacks the distinctiveness needed to make crowd combat feel strategic. Often, you find yourself relying on instinct rather than tactic, reflexing dodging and parrying attackers who aren’t always in-frame.

It’s not outright bad, but brawling with foes feels more like hectic panic than any kind of pattern recognition. Some of the best action games feel like you’re choregraphing a fight rather than being pushed into button-mashing chaos. Too often, Homura Hime is somewhere in the middle of that combat continuum.

Parry the Thought

Specifically, the parry system is a double-edged blade in standard encounters. Against bosses, the parry is an invaluable tool that makes you feel like a skilled warrior when it lands. But because the window is so lenient and there’s little punishment for failure, you can often spam parry through whole strings of attacks and come out fine, which dulls the tension that a precise defensive mechanic would provide.

As such, I leaned on dodging for these encounters. But even that suffers from the camera’s sporadic unwillingness to properly frame the action during these busy battles. Too often, I’d roll away from one opponent and right into the striking area of another. But if you survived the sixth and seventh console generations, there’s a strong possibility of rekindling your muscle memory and eventually making it through the game’s twelve-hour campaign.

A Roaring Blaze of Visual Stylishness

Yet, despite the occasional inconsistency, combat is one of Hime’s most realized elements. By contrast, platforming isn’t as proficient, with jumps that are just floaty enough to soil a sense of satisfying momentum. There are a few precision sequences that shrink the margin of error, that are more frustrating than fun. Largely, navigation feels like some kind of connective tissue between combat arenas rather than a component that’s polished enough to stand on its own. While it’s not downright bad, these sections are forgettable and feel like a missed opportunity.

Exploration fares similarly. Hime extends what seems to be a world worth investigating. But the game’s structure rarely lets you peek around its corners. Sure, a few hidden paths lead to minor collectibles, but the lush environments are more corridor than a canvas from combat. While the world is beautiful to pass through, it’s not really set up for extended exploration. The occasional search would have offered a welcome break from skirmishing.

Yes, I am an Ann Stan

Likely, you might feel that any mechanical issues are at least partially counterbalanced by Homura Hime’s aesthetics, which blend feudal Japanese architecture with anime-style spectacle. This is the kind of look that even established studios struggle to produce. From character designs that flaunt strong silhouettes, expressive animations, to a world that feels cohesive, the title might be one of the best-looking indie efforts released in the past year.

Regretfully, Hime’s storyline doesn’t give them much to do. The narrative touches on topics such as duty, honor, and sacrifice, but never fully delves into these topics. Sporadically, revelations arrive but without much foreshadowing. As such, character motivations seem to shift due to plot points rather than happen organically. But the world does have depth, with lore generated by everything from murals to incidental dialogue. Ultimately, Homura Hime is a spectacular game to look at and an often thrilling game to play. It just has very little of consequence to say. Ultimately, the title captures the spectacle and spirit of early-2000s action games, even if some of its systems keep it from becoming as timeless as the classics it clearly admires.

Homura Hime was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.