Sunken Fossil World

東方剛欲異聞 (とうほうごうよくいぶん) 水没 (すいぼつ) した沈愁地獄 (ちんしゅうじごく) Touhou Gouyoku Ibun Sunken Fossil World
Developer	Twilight Frontier / Team Shanghai Alice
Publisher	Twilight Frontier / Team Shanghai Alice
Released	1st Trial: 2019-10-06 2nd Trial: 2020-10-18 Full: 2021-10-24 Nintendo Switch: 2022-10-20
Genre	Game
Gameplay	Single-player Story Mode
Platforms	Windows 8/10
Requirements	Processor: Multi-core, 2.2 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: ShaderModel4.0 DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 350 MB available space Sound Card: XAudio compatible Screen resolution: 1280x720.
Official Site	Link Steam Page
Touhou Series chronology
Wily Beast and Weakest Creature Sunken Fossil World (2021) Unconnected Marketeers

Touhou Gouyoku Ibun(Strange Tale of Avarice) ~ Sunken Fossil World (東方剛欲異聞　～ 水没した沈愁地獄, lit. Touhou Strange Tale of Avarice ~ Submerged Hell of Sunken Sorrow) is the 17.5th installment of the Touhou Project, created by Team Shanghai Alice, with Twilight Frontier's collaboration.

Development

The first trial of Sunken Fossil World was displayed at the 2019 Reitaisai. However, due to delays, the full game was not finished until 24 October 2021, releasing after the 18th mainline game, Unconnected Marketeers. On 5 October 2022, preorders opened for the Nintendo Switch port, which released on October 20. Additions to the Switch version include a boss rush mode, Easy mode, Yuuma as a playable character, and official English and Chinese translations.

Gameplay

Main articles: Gameplay and Spell Cards

The game is described as a "horizontal side-scrolling danmaku water action game" on the official website.

Concept

Name

Sunken Fossil World was the third game to have no English words in its original title, after Touhou Hisoutensoku and Great Fairy Wars. With the official English translation, it was given the English name of "Sunken Fossil World".

Story

Main articles: Story, Translation, Characters, and Stages

地上に黒い水が吹き出していた。 その水は異臭を放ち、身体に付くと簡単には落とせなかった。 とても生活用水として使える代物では無かった。 その湧き出る黒い水を凶と見るもの、吉と見るもの、 神聖なものと見るもの、邪悪なものと見るもの、 天災と見るもの、経済的暁光だと見るもの、 様々な憶測が飛び交い、一部ではお祭り騒ぎにもなった。 しかしある出来事を境に、浮かれていたものの背筋を凍らせる事となる。 飲料用の湧き水に、美しい清流に、憩いの場である温泉に…… 黒い水は場所を選ばず、湧き出し始めたのである

Black water gushed out onto the surface. The water released an odd odour, and was hard to get off once stuck to one's body. It was not something that you could use as your everyday water. Some saw the gushing water as misfortune, some as good fortune; some saw it as holy, while others as evil; some saw it as a natural disaster, some saw it as a business opportunity, various theories were tossed around. Some even started a festival and made a fuss. But not long after, an event occurred that put a horrific damper on their buoyant moods. From the springs that they drank from, the beautiful clear streams, the hot springs at rest spots... from every location it possibly could, the black water began to gush out.

Music

Main article: Music

Most of the music in Sunken Fossil World was composed or arranged by ziki_7, who previously arranged a track for the soundtrack of Urban Legend in Limbo. The remaining two tracks, consisting of both of the final boss themes, were composed by ZUN.

Gallery

• 

  The game's banner from the official website

• 

  "I've decided to go underground to look for the black water's origin."

• 

  Rain Cave "Rainy Cave"

• 

  The disc silhouette from the third demo

English patches

Touhou Community Reliant Automatic Patcher / THCRAP

• Community translations from the Touhou Patch Center wiki.
• Select lang_en during patching.
• Video walkthrough

These patches are a community translation based on Touhou Wiki and the English Touhou Patch Center Portal.
Visit the thpatch game page to find the specific patch contents for Sunken Fossil World.

Additional Information

• The game's icon shows 油, a Japanese character meaning "oil".

External Links

Official

• Touhou Gouyoku Ibun: Official Site
• Steam page
• Switch port announcement
• Nintendo eShop page