Someone introduced me to Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend and when I discovered that it was a mix of Slay the Spire, Touhou, and Magic: the Gathering I was instantly sold.
I started playing it and realized that not only was it strongly inspired by Slay the Spire, but actually a lot of the game is plagiarized from Slay the Spire. I actually would strongly recommend this game to other people (especially those who like Slay the Spire), but because I'm incredibly autistic I still feel compelled to document the full extent of how much this game has plagiarized Slay the Spire.
Cards
A few Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend cards are very obvious ripoffs of equivalent cards from Slay the Spire, like:
This is actually one of the areas where Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend plagiarizes Slay the Spire the least. There are some cases where the plagiarism is really obvious (like the above cards), but generally speaking most of the cards from Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend are original content.
Relics / Exhibits
In Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend relics are called "exhibits" and a LOT of them are exact copies of their Slay the Spire counterparts:
| Slay the Spire | Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Cursed Bell | Kaguya's Treasure Box | Gain 3 random relics/exhibits and add an unremovable Curse/Misfortune to the deck |
| Strawberry/Pear/Mango | Grape/Apple/Peach | Gain X maximum health |
| Ice Cream | Potted Udonge | Energy is conserved between turns |
| Tungsten Rod | Spacesuit | Whenever you would lose HP, lose 1 less. |
| Shovel | Dowsing Rods | You can spend a fireplace/gap to acquire a new relic/exhibit |
| Fossilized Helix | Soul Torch | Prevent the first time you would lose HP in combat |
| Prayer Wheel | Block Toys | Normal enemies drop an additional card reward |
| Dolly's Mirror | Purple Mirror | Upon pickup, obtain an additional copy of a card in your deck. |
| Bird-faced Urn | Gensokyo Chronicle | Whenever the Player plays an Ability, gain 2 life |
| Runic Cube | Ticket to Hell | Whenever you lose HP, draw 1 card |
| Ring of the Serpent | Peaked Cap | At the start of your turn, draw 1 additional card |
| Gambling Chip | Blink Dagger | At the start of each combat, discard any number of cards then draw that many |
| Old Coin | Ball with Wings | Gain 300 gold |
| Tingsha | Lunatic Gun | Whenever you discard a card during your turn, deal 3 damage to a random enemy for each card discarded |
| The Courier | Portal Gun | The Merchant no longer runs out of Cards, Relics, or Potions. Their prices are also dropped by 20% |
| Shuriken | Hannya Mask | Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 1 Strength/Firepower |
| Kunai | Fox Mask | Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 1 Dexterity/Spirit |
| Ornamental Fan | Hyottoko Mask | Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 4/5 Block |
| Molten Egg | Bicycle | Whenever you add an Attack card to your deck, it is Upgraded |
| Toxic Egg | Watch | Whenever you add a Skill card to your deck, it is Upgraded |
| Frozen Egg | Radio | Whenever you add a Power/Ability card to your deck, it is Upgraded |
| Peace Pipe | Moriya Purification Rod | You can now remove cards from your deck at Rest Sites / Gaps |
| Singing Bowl | Inchling's Bowl | When adding cards to your deck, you may gain +2 Max HP instead |
| Vajra | Tengu's Clog | At the start of each combat, gain 1 Strength |
| Oddly Smooth Stone | Tengu's Pompoms | At the start of each combat, gain 1 Dexterity |
| Bag of Preparation | Tengu's Cellphone | At the start of each combat, draw 2 additional cards |
| Wing Boots | Crow Tengu's Wing | You may ignore paths when choosing the next room to travel to 3 times |
| Cloak Clasp | Secret Cloak | At the end of your turn, gain 1 block for each card in your hand |
| Omamori | Hina Doll | Negate the next 2 Curses/Misfortunes you obtain |
| Whetstone | Chopper | Upon pick up, Upgrade 2 random Attacks |
| War Paint | Tape | Upon pick up, Upgrade 2 random Skills |
| Regal Pillow | Exquisite Tea Set | Heal an additional 15/20 HP when you Rest |
| Dream Catcher | Butter Robot | Whenever you rest, you may add a card to your deck |
| Darkstone Periapt | Huge Spoon | Whenever you obtain a Curse, increase your Max HP by 6/7 |
| Membership Card | Membership Card | 50%/40% discount on all products! |
| Clockwork Souvenir | Hakurei Amulet | At the start of each combat, gain 1 Artifact/Amulet |
| Question Card | Omikuji | On Card Reward screens, choose from 4 cards instead of 3 |
| Lee's Waffle | Delicious Waffle | Raise your Max HP by 7/4 and heal all of your HP |
| Sling of Courage | Robot Model | Start each Elite combat with 2 Strength/Firepower |
| Golden Idol | Hi-Tech Glasses from Outside World | Enemies drop 25% more gold |
| Blood Vial | Eye Cream from Outside World | At the start of each combat, heal 2 HP |
| Warped Tongs | Sardinia Mooncake | At the start of your turn, Upgrade a random card in your hand for the rest of combat |
| Ginger | Television | You can no longer become Weakened |
| Turnip | Fridge | You can no longer become Frail |
| Frozen Eye | "A Brief History of Time" | The draw pile can now be viewed in actual order |
Yeah, you read that right. Those are 45 exhibits from Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend that are exact or almost-exact copies of relics from Slay the Spire.
There are quite a few more relics in the game which are original content, but this is probably one of the areas where they plagiarized the most from Slay the Spire.
Card effects
A few card effects are plagiarized from Slay the Spire, too:
| Slay the Spire | Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Exhaust | Exile | Remove card from deck |
| Ethereal | Ethereal | Automatically exhausted if in your hand at the end of your turn |
| Innate | Innate | Card always starts in your opening hand |
| Retain | Retain | Keep the card in your hand after the end of turn |
| Scry | Scry | Look at X cards on top of your draw pile. You then may choose to discard any number of them |
Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend does add several new mechanics of their own, though, like:
| Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend | Effect |
|---|---|
| Accurate | Accurate attacks cannot be Grazed |
| Debut | Activates when this card is played for the first time each combat |
| Instinct | Activates if this card is the leftmost or rightmost card in the hand |
| Overdraft | At the start of your next turn, lose X mana at random |
Status effects
A whole bunch of status effects are plagiarized from Slay the Spire, too:
| Slay the Spire | Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | Firepower | Increases attack damage by X (per hit) |
| Dexterity | Spirit | Increases Block gained from cards by X |
| Artifact | Amulet | Negates X Debuffs |
| Poison | Poison | At the beginning of its turn, the target loses X HP and 1 stack of poison. |
| Constrict | Drowning | At the end of your turn, take X damage |
| Weak | Weak | Target deals 25% less attack damage. |
| Frail | Frail | Block gained from cards is reduced by 25% |
| Vulnerable | Vulnerable | Target takes 50% more damage from attacks |
| Thorns | Static Charge | When attacked, deals X damage back |
| Metallicize | Defense Matrix | At the end of your turn, gain X Block |
| Intangible | Flawless | Reduce ALL damage and HP loss you take to 1. (Lasts X turns) |
| Divinity | Burst | Gain 3 energy and a damage multiplier for one turn |
However, they do add a few new status effects of their own:
| Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend | Effect |
|---|---|
| Graze | This Character takes 0 damage from attacks. Lose 1 Graze when attacked or at the start of each turn |
| Ward | Negate the next Status cards that would be added (Exile them instead) |
| Lock on | This Character takes more damage from attacks. Lose 1 Lock On at the start of each turn |
| Extra turn | When the player turn ends, take another turn |
| Time limit | Until the enemy's next turn, cards cost more mana to play |
| Reflection | When damaged, deal damage to the attacker and remove this effect |
| Optical Camouflage | This Character takes half as much damage from attacks |
| Frost Armor | Whenever the Player gains Frost Armor, gain that much Block. At the start of this Character's turn, gain Block and lose 1 Frost Armor |
| Time Pulse | At the end of the Character's turn, deal damage equal to enemies equal to the level of Time Pulse. Lose a level for each enemy dealt this way |
| Cold | At the start of this Character's turn, they lose 9 life and lose Cold. Whenever Cold is applied to this character, they lose even more life. By default, stacking Cold deals 18 damage |
Game flow
You start every run with a whale bonus:
… and (just like in Slay the Spire), you get fewer options available if you died in Act 1 for the last run.
There are 3 Acts by default, which each have:
- normal fights ("hallway fights" in Slay the Spire jargon)
- elite fights
- fireplaces / "gaps" (a place to heal or upgrade cards or activate certain relic abilities)
- events
- merchants
- a boss fight at the end of each act
- a boss relic awarded at the end of each Act
Also, just like Slay the Spire, you have an optional fourth act that you can unlock by fulfilling a special condition (won't spoil it here). The fourth act in Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend is structured very similarly to the fourth act from Slay the Spire, which is:
- a fireplace / "gap"
- a merchant
- the Act 4 boss
The main difference is that there isn't an elite fight preceding the Act 4 boss like there is in Slay the Spire.
Magic: the Gathering influences
So far I've focused mostly on Slay the Spire influences, but the game also borrows heavily from Magic: the Gathering, too.
The game has a five-color wheel, just like Magic: the Gathering, and it even uses the same colors, too: white, blue, black, red green. Also, just like in Magic: the Gathering, card costs are a mix of colored mana and colorless mana:
You even have multicolored cards, too!
… and cards very similar to planeswalkers, too!
