Yohane the Parhelion – NUMAZU in the MIRAGE –

A few months ago, I covered Yohane the Parhelion – BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE -, a metroidvania by Inti Creates based on the Love Live anime. The game was visually impressive for sure, but I found that the game itself had many issues that made it slightly tedious to play. I really clicked with the titular Yohane and the other supporting characters, so I felt disappointed that I eventually abandoned the game.

Thankfully that game was not the only title starring the sweet little fortune teller. As it turns out, BeXide were also working on a game and this one was a roguelite deckbuilder instead. With an even more jaw-dropping visual presentation, could this game succeed where the other failed?

Why, yes. It could indeed.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL
Yohane the Parhelion is a fortune teller in the small town of Numazu, only she isn’t very good at it. That certainly isn’t for lack of trying, and she really does intend to help her friend – it’s just that her lacklustre skills means that she fails more often than not.

That is until one day, when she happens to come across a mirror and decides to try her hand at ‘magic mirror fortune telling’ instead. When one of her friends falls ill, she soon finds herself sucked inside and into a reverse version of the town, complete with an evil dopple-ganger of her sick friend. As she defeats them, it becomes clear that these ‘Nightwicked’ versions are draining their friends’ energy. It’s down to Yohane to stop them and ensure that her friends are alright.

It’s a simple but cute story, and all the characters are quite warm and friendly with one another. Being a spinoff from an anime really helps to make everyone feel fleshed out and believable, and the writing is generally pretty good too to reflect that. Of course, this anime style probably won’t appeal to everyone, and Yohane’s shrill screeching will no doubt have many reaching for the skip button, but if you can get over that then the overall narrative is quite pleasant – even if treads the same old ‘power of friendship’ tropes that you’d expect from a game like this. 

Part of the appeal though is due to the excellent presentation which, as mentioned at the top of the review, is honestly quite breathtaking. Whilst the cutscenes are simply static backgrounds with the characters talking at the forefront (something that seems to be rather typical of the genre, unfortunately), they’re still very pleasing to look at and the characters are all animated really well.

Where the visuals really shine though are in-game, and the environments, characters, and cards are all super-sharp and colourful, making them really pleasant to look at. There’s a little lack of visual variety with the environments, as each of the game’s main areas aren’t hugely distinct from one another, but I never found myself caring all that much.

Being a rogue-lite deckbuilder, the game plays out pretty much as you’d expect from the genre: you start out with a small handful of cards chosen by the game, and proceed across a series of nodes until you reach the boss of each map. Nodes could be made up of turn-based battles, event squares, shops, treasure chests, or rest spots, and mapping out the ideal route is often helpful towards success. Rest spots can help you restore lost health or upgrade your cards, but perhaps nipping to the shop to obtain or remove cards could be a better option if you need to improve your deck.

Having a good deck will definitely help when it comes to winning battles, and the game’s 100+ cards definitely offer plenty of strategies to help you synergise. The standard balanced style is typically easier to deal with, and the mix of card types can ensure that you forge your own particular style. I personally favoured discard decks, whereby removing cards would grant certain bonuses and allow you to gain free hits on the enemy; however, I experimented with other styles, and found out some other great strategies too. Having a plan and keeping that deck lean will ensure that things go correctly, and I found myself turning down card rewards on many an occasion for this very reason.

What you really want to be building up instead are the game’s charms, as these items will provide you with additional bonuses that are always active for the remainder of your run. One may give you health restoration before a boss fight, whilst another could grant you with a big free shield on the second turn of a battle. They’re all really useful, and if you can grab a ton of these, you will soon find that they can really turn the tide of battle.

Speaking of which, charms aren’t the only thing that can give you an advantage, as the game also has a helper system whereby you can summon one of your friends for some incredible buffs over the course of a few turns. These strong cards can only be used ones and aren’t found all that commonly during a run, so keeping these ready for when you need them is vital if you want to make the most of them.

Where the game steers away from the traditional roguelite formula is with its story-focused structure. Numazu in the Mirage has a story to tell, and as such doesn’t want to send you all the way back to the start of the game upon failure. Instead, each segment of the game is broken up into chapters where you need to save certain characters, and failure will simply put you back to the start of that segment rather than the start of the game. It’s a very forgiving system that will help ease newcomers into the structure without feeling overly punishing either. If you do fail, you can use your accumulated wealth to purchase helpful buffs for the next run – or you can turn down the difficulty if you’re really struggling. This approach makes the game a really good entry point in the genre, as it very rarely feels overwhelming and is never impossible.

On the flip side, veterans may find that the game lacks a certain degree of challenge compared to what they may have expected. It does get tricky at times, particularly during the post-game (where the game breaks free from the story and has you playing through like a more traditional roguelite), but once you’re familiar with the cards and the game’s multitude of systems, it really isn’t all that difficult to breeze through.

Does that make it less enjoyable? I would argue that it doesn’t, as having a more laid-back deckbuilder feels quite refreshing after having your balls busted so many times by the genre. In fact, I would probably sooner return to this game than many others purely for that reason. If I want to sit back and chill with a relaxing deckbuilder, this really is the game I would choose.

That’s not to say it’s without its issues though, although they’re not enough to spoil the experience. Most notably, the game could do with slightly more variety when it comes to the different playstyles and starting decks. New costumes can be purchased for a slightly different loadout, but it’s probably not going to change things up all that much. I do appreciate the extra costumes, but I just wish that a little more was done to make their deck vastly different from the default setup. Perhaps the game will drop some additional content down the line to help with this, but I can’t imagine that it will. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but it will no doubt affect the overall amount of time you’ll spend replaying the game once you’re done with the eight hour story mode.

VERDICT
I really didn’t expect to click with Yohane the Parhelion – NUMAZU in the MIRAGE – as quickly as I did. Sure, the long anime opening didn’t quite grab my full attention, but the gameplay was so on-point that I couldn’t help but instantly fall in love. It may lack the challenge of other roguelites, but there’s still a lot here to please fans of both deckbuilding and the anime series this is based on.