Disclaimer: I had some issues with the game, where it crashed several times, until I came to a good point to do this spoiler review.
What is Homura Hime? At first, I was confused, but I understood the assignment. Let’s see if I can explain the story without spoilers.
In a world where humans and demons live among one another. There are souls wandering around tortured and full of regret with unfinished business. All that pain turns them into “Archdemons” and that causes the area to corrupt creatures. Homura Hime is task by the High priestess to deal with these threats as a high level exorcist. You with your comedic companion, Ann are set out to different realms to take down Major Archdemons.
Pretty sweet, right?
Gameplay:
Homura Hime brings in the action of a hack & slash while also dropping in a bullet hell! That’s right, you will have to be precise, slice, and dash your way through incidents at times. As you progress, you earn in-game currency to level up both Homura and Ann with new combats or level up their health and SP. You have your light and heavy attacks that combine into fiery attacks. Holding down the heavy will launch enemies in the air, and you can perform more stylish combos. Ann is a special companion as she is your ranged attack weapon. With the lock-on feature, you can target any enemy from a distance. However, keep in mind she is great against enemies that have shield bubbles.
When it comes to the sub-boss fights, it gets a bit crafty as you can get transported to another realm. In that realm, there is an event you must tackle to gain a new kill animation. The kill animation reminds me of what happens when you have to graffiti a big wall in Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Then you take down the enemy in a glorious animation, ending the fight. Even better when the main event happens with one of the Major Archdemons, it goes into a concert level of amazement. It is a learning process to understand the patterns, and if you die, you have the option of using an item to resurrect at the exact moment to continue the fight.
Gotta go into these major boss fights like a freaking exorcist rockstar!
Visuals Galore:
Homura Hime has some stunning visuals, not just from the gameplay, but the lore has some deep elements to it. Giving players a sad or disturbing story going on with the Japanese mythos. Full voice acting at its best, with the sound design matching the mood of the environments. At times, you will run into some spirits that will give you a sub task with their story. The creature and enemy designs are simple, but have their own style of creepiness to them. The color scheme is not to harsh on the eyes either as well as the flash attacks.
Between switching to hand-drawn art and full animation cut-scenes, Homura Hime does well with both attributes. Picking up special notes that give you more lore throughout the maps is a fun hunt. There are easy-to-find treasures as well, if you are a loot goblin, that is. But real talk, the exploration is user-friendly.
There is Bad Juju:
Homura Hime does have some issues, as stated in the disclaimer, where I had a few crashes from the game that stunted my progress. But besides that little hiccup, there are also some flaws with the traversal. Once again, this is a situation where the camera can be your biggest enemy. It is a traditional jump and dash move where you have to, at times, latch on to spiritual swords or get a height boost through an icon. At times, the indicator or input doesn’t go through, and you end up falling. Once incident I was racing against poison water as it rised in the building. The task should have been simple, but the camera would not position properly to see the next target.
I was trying to determine if the PC issue I was having might be isolated to my system, but this is the only game that was giving me problems. But, there are talks of a Switch 2 version dropping later in 2026.
Final Thoughts:
Despite the situations I had, Homura Hime is still an engaging and fun hack and slash bullet hell experience. There is a mix of comedy and serious tone while going through different realms and learning each spirits story. It hits home with some of the Japanese mythos involved that will have enthusiasts engaged. The difficulty is just right where you can learn when to parry and at the right point to dodge. The shop is quite confusing at times because there is a number indicator on combos to buy more than one of the same, but I didn’t want to take a chance yet. However, the in-game currency is quite generous, where after each mission, you can grab a hefty amount of items to beef up both Ann and Homura.
Besides all the glitches, Homura Hime has a great story with depth, but I will feel comfortable once I can get a full experience. As of right now, my score will land at a 3 out of 5 paws. Even when I start up the game, it was a huge issue as it lags for a minute before popping up. It has its issues, and I hope it gets addressed soon. That’s about it, and these are my initial thoughts on Homura Hime, which is available right now on PC through Steam. Let me know if you had any issues, or share your thoughts on the game if you are playing. – Beast Out –
Verdict:
