GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon Plays Well, But Plays It Safe

There are many ways to revive an old game for a contemporary audience. From gargantuan remakes to bare-bones ports, players have seen them all. It’s fortunate for Konami that Getsu Fuma Den is largely unknown outside Japan. On the one hand, its new game GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon can be seen with fresh eyes and no preconceptions. On the other, perhaps the veneer of nostalgia might have helped folks see it in the best possible light.

Though it’s technically a sequel to the 1987 Famicom-era side-scroller, it may as well be a reboot for all the time that’s passed. Players once again step into the tabi boots of Fuma, guardian warrior of the Getsu clan. Fuma is tasked with ending the myriad supernatural threats that imperil the world. To do so he’ll need to journey through the Land of Limbo, risking his life against the mystic hordes.

Thankfully, risking one’s life is the core activity of GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon. The game’s been reengineered into a roguelike (or a roguelite, depending on how you like to define such things) in which a death is only the beginning of the learning process. Players will still traverse the Land of Limbo in two dimensions, navigating labyrinthine stages and fighting the enemies within. This time though, most of the progress one makes over the course of a given run — gathered resources, special weapons, and money — is relinquished into the void upon death. There are ways to retain one’s gains, though. Voluntarily ending the run by beating a boss is one. Chickening out and teleporting back to home base is another, though only a small percentage can be kept. Resources can be spent to lock in stat bonuses or new abilities and skills permanently, gradually increasing players’ advantages over time and with persistence.

And they’ll need it. Like most roguelikes, GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is unforgiving even at low difficulty settings. Each enemy is distinct and has a unique attack pattern, and the dozens of available weapons have their own trees of mastery and unlockable qualities. Finding just the right loadout to suit one’s personal approach to combat is an involved and engrossing process.

All this might sound familiar to fans of roguelike games and Metroidvania titles. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon sets itself apart through its unique visuals and themes. The game’s aesthetic is heavily inspired by traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock printing, and it’s gorgeous. Any given still from the game might make for a nice framed poster, if a button existed to hide the UI. In motion, the graphics look like the work of Hokusai or Hiroshige brought to life. I have a particular affection for the shrine room at the Getsu Clan Estate, where you return when you die. Your character revives in a meditation room, decorated with dozens of paper seals.

As you unlock new weapons and gadgets, the seals fill to graphically represent your growing arsenal. It’s an inventive way to showcase your progress. One wrinkle to the game’s busy visual style is that this tends to result in a compromised experience on the Nintendo Switch. Framerate dips are common, and the graphics drop quite a bit in resolution when played in handheld mode. Lines and textures that were once clean and colorful in docked, look muddy and pixelated in handheld. That can actually have consequences, given that they slightly affect the readability of combat animations and effects. It’s a minor compromise at most, but it’s one that’s always noticeable.

Mechanically, GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon does far more borrowing from than adding to the increasingly crowded roguelike field. Even someone who merely dabbles in the genre like myself noticed similarities to titles like Dead Cells in particular. This closeness doesn’t always favor GetsuFumaDen. It doesn’t quite have the same level of variety or inventiveness in its arsenal and roster of non-boss foes. Its weapon selection is also a little less imaginative, pretty though it is. You’ve got a wide range of katanas, kunai, ball-and-chain setups, and even Oni-sized clubs that lower your jump height due to their bulk, but the game doesn’t deviate much from it medieval Japanese inspirations. You can use an umbrella, though, deflecting attacks like a veteran kabuki star. And one weapon is basically a Castlevania-style whip, with an attack curve that allows it to take out enemies from an advantageous height.

The combat could also use some further tuning. Most ranged enemies can target players from further off-screen than feels fair, and oftentimes, what would seem to be cover, actually isn’t, leaving you to find out just what the game thinks is a barrier the hard way. Further, a number of functions aren’t well-explained by the tutorial, such as the special attacks of each weapon, which are accompanied by a kanji graphic. These aren’t indicated in a way that makes them intelligible to a non-Japanese reader.

Nevertheless, runs are short enough not to let complete boredom set in and once you get into the rhythm of running and slowly upgrading, these nitpicks fall away quickly enough. What remains is a strong foundation and a gorgeous-looking, if rather conventional, roguelike.

GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is immediately available on the Nintendo Switch and PC.