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There are times when a concept for a game is so goo and the idea behind it is so close to being ready, but isn’t quite there yet. That’s exactly how I feel about Homura Hime. The character designs and concept are great, and the combat can sometimes remind me of action games with parry systems like Devil May Cry and Soulslike, but with NieR sorts of bullet hell elements. The issue is that some more minor elements are keeping it from feeling smooth and stable enough. Especially if you’re on a handheld gaming device like a Steam Deck. So Homura Hime has potential and in a few weeks or month could be great, but things like frame rate drops and crashes are still an issue at the moment.
Archdemons exist in the world of Homura Hime, coming to power and threatening to hurt innocents when people die with strong emotions, deep regrets, and pain that force them to transform. Five young women recently suffered this fate, becoming a danger to themselves and others. As such, exorcist Homura Hime is summoned by the Luminary Priestess and Ann to deal with all of them in Expert Class Exorcism Mission: Code Nagi. After a bit of a training test is interrupted by barriers failing after going through tutorial quests that introduce platforming while dealing with some energy bullets and demonic invaders, she’s sent out to deal with opponents like The Flower and Corpse Princess Ling Ling and The Holy Maiden of the Full Moon Order Chirakuin.
When Homura Hime is working well, the experience is great. It sort of feels like a Devil May Cry structure with similar combat. Our exorcist heroine will head out to locations, need to platform her way through them, and reach the boss at the end. When the fight comes up, it will be necessary to wear down a stun bar so you can inflict real damage. As in the NieR series, there will be energy bullets the foe sends out in addition to standard sorts of heavy attacks. Homura Hime’s goal is to keep attacking, building up a hit meter with combos to increase a score. There’s also a parry system, with opponents flashing and giving off animation cues to know when to retaliate. This is all paired with a story that, while not earth-shattering or amazingly original, is interesting enough and hints at a past beyond Homura Hime’s life as an exorcist.
As I said before, Homura Hime can feel great when it’s working well. During the initial fight and area leading up to Ling Ling, everything works great. My first issue happened not long after launch, as after I’d beat Ling Ling it would crash! Okay, no big deal. I waited for a patch, which Crimson Dusk seems to be pretty good about getting out regularly, and then I was able to proceed. Except at that point, I really started to see the other performance issues.
In the case of the initial Ling Ling encounter, the fight isn’t too difficult. That archdemon’s stage and encounter feel like a continuation of the initial tutorial to help you grasp how this combat system works, how to effectively retaliate, and fight back. There are some projectiles, but it isn’t until Chirakuin that we start to see more bullets and effects litter the area. Especially once you whittle down her health enough that she summons additional orbs that send out projectiles to the field after getting her health down to the end. It’s at that point it drastically dropped. Like I experienced issues staying at 60fps on a Lenovo Legion Go prior to that point, but then is when it became a more serious problem and I realized I needed to swap to an actual PC.
However, even on a Windows laptop I’m experiencing that sort of issue. Once I reach The Fallen Samurai Mamiya, even my PC can experience some issues keeping up and maintaining a stable 60fps. That’s with meeting things like the Intel Core i7 requirement and apparently being within the necessary scope for a graphics card too. Which is a shame, because after pushing my way through to get past the halfway point, the narrative gets even more interesting and the ensuing fights feel even more satisfying due to the new attack patterns.
Homura Hime has a ton of potential and I think would be well worth folks’ time, but it really needs a few more patches. This is the sort of experience where stability is critical. If you can’t have that steady 60fps, it’s going to affect your ability to properly fight back against the bosses. Like yes, maybe early on you can deal with things dropping below 30fps when fighting Ling Ling or Chirakuin early on. But the capabilities of opponents after those two initial encounters are too fast for low FPS and other gameplay quirks.
Homura Hime is available on PCs.
