Gray spirits behave like the yellow-outlined point items in Mountain of Faith, granting the maximum possible amount of points no matter where on the screen they are collected. Blue spirits increase the value of point items collected at the top of the screen, and most importantly, fill up the trance gauge a little bit. There are 4 varieties of spirits: blue, gray, purple, and green. Divine Spirits are released when enemies are killed, bosses are damaged, and at certain scripted events.

The major additions to the basic danmaku gameplay in Ten Desires include the Divine spirits and the Trance gauge. In particular, the game's pacing and stage design have been changed significantly, and later games mostly bear this design. While the changes are not as extreme as Mountain of Faith, many of the gameplay and engine traits of Double Dealing Character come from this game, not so much Undefined Fantastic Object.

Ten Desires is unusual in that it represents a similar kind of 'soft reboot' that Mountain of Faith did, but has never been recognized as such. Main articles: Gameplay, Strategy, and Spell Cards

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