Homura Hime Review: Six Hours Lost to a Premature Release, Plagued by Bugs

Homura Hime initially captures attention with its vibrant visuals and positive Steam reviews. Upon starting, players might enjoy the variety of gameplay mechanics. However, a deeper dive quickly raises the question: 'Why isn't such an unpolished game still in Early Access?'

In the world of Homura Hime, intense emotions manifest as calamities. These feelings give birth to demons, which wage war against humanity. Experienced priestesses perform exorcisms to banish them. This time, heroines Homura and Ann embark on a quest to combat this evil.

The game is structured into missions. The exorcist base receives reports of various atrocities: people vanishing, plants behaving aggressively, and an ancient cult resurfacing. The heroines set out to rectify these situations and eliminate the source of evil—the Archdemon. Interestingly, many Archdemons encountered show minimal aggression, some even attempting to befriend the protagonists, leading one to question: 'Are they truly villains?'

With few branching paths, the journey to Archdemons often feels like a narrow corridor. The primary incentive for exploring locations is to hunt for contents within boxes and treasure chests. Players will also need to collect flowers to aid a memory-lost spectral reptile.

Resources can be spent at a wandering merchant who sells upgrades and rewards players for collected heads. Out of all the abilities available from her, I only purchased one – it was enough for the entire playthrough. The game's low difficulty meant there was no need to utilize Homura's special skills or Ann's alternative attacks. Simply upgrading passive stats sufficed.

Minimal effort is required to overcome obstacles: dodging traps, escaping rising water, clearing overgrown paths, and collecting heads for the wandering merchant. Many combat arenas only activate once their associated quests are found, though thankfully these quests are usually nearby.

Groups of demons protect their masters, attacking from the ground, air, and even underground, often supporting one another. To defeat shielded enemies, Ann's attacks must first break their defenses. Mini-bosses frequently drag Homura into another dimension, requiring players to parry all their attacks to win.

In combat, Homura wields swords with both light and heavy attacks, which can be combined for bonus damage. However, the game's core combat mechanic heavily emphasizes parrying. Parrying allows players to deflect most attacks, heal, and stun enemies. While the game suggests parries only work against attacks with a red glow, most enemy moves can actually be parried. Compared to titles like Sekiro or Nine Sols, Homura Hime is significantly easier, offering ample reaction time and allowing unlimited parry spam.

Only the very first adversary poses a genuine challenge:

• She introduces delays before strikes;
• Different attack combinations often begin identically;
• Most of her attacks inflict significant damage;
• She possesses immense health and multiple phases;
• The camera actively disadvantages the player.

Subsequent mini-bosses and bosses featured interesting mechanics and created 'bullet hell' scenarios during combat. Yet, none of them were nearly as challenging as the initial boss.

The main challenge, however, stems from the game's technical state. It suffers from poor optimization, leading to frequent performance drops – a common complaint on forums. Despite its attractive visuals and interesting elements, there's nothing within the game that should tax a system so heavily.

Many players have reported corrupted save files. This issue has occurred in various missions, rendering entire playthroughs unplayable. I personally encountered this problem during the third mission when the Unity engine crashed, resulting in the loss of six hours of progress.

Verdict

Compared to Japanese dodge-and-parry games, Homura Hime is remarkably simple. One might even call it a beginner-friendly or training version, where intense effort isn't required for victory. However, this doesn't mean the game is bad! It boasts a variety of interesting enemies, engaging gameplay mechanics, and beautiful environments.

Giving the game a chance right now is risky. It suffers from balance and optimization issues, and a severe bug could lead to the loss of many hours of progress. While developers are responding to complaints and actively working on these problems, it would be wise to wait until they refine the game further.