I think I'm done with HSoB for now. I was planning to complete all the characters 1 more time, but on Normal, since Easy mode seemed to run decently well on my laptop some of the time. It ended up running worse, presumably because of the denser spellcards / larger volume of bullets.
(Look specifically at the FPS in this shot)
Anyway, I really enjoyed my time with the game. Performance issues aside, the game has some really inventive spellcards and gimmicks in the later stages that are worth experiencing at least once. I also personally think the music and characters in this game are seriously on point. Like I think a few of the characters are so good and could fit so easily into the canon setting that I'm actually disappointed that they'll never be official characters.
Siran's probably my straight up favorite character.
Because of her shady personality, her prayer beads (which look really cool during battle) and her
theme (which is super underrated.
Bonus piano arrangement here.) After her, I really like Hikariko (because of that relatability, aesthetic and theme) and General Set (because Egyptian Touhous are an awesome idea, and Set has an awesome fight and acts like a supervillain), though I honestly find the whole cast to be pretty good (and not just "good compared to other fan made characters" either).
Anyway yeah, HSoB is really solid and I think the fact that it's a free Danmakufu script means there's no real reason not to check it out imo. I'm definitely looking forward to the Extra Boss, even though I probably won't be able to beat them.