A game that, despite it's flaws, packs a serious emotional punch and deserves to be played.

Completing this game was difficult for me, since the first half was a bit disappointing. The first 2 "substories" (out of 5) were interesting, but a tad overdramatic and didn't elicit the emotions I was hoping for. The gameplay felt a little grindy, with time being wasted on walking back and forth between locations and doing very little interaction with the world. I ended up stopping for about 2 months halfway through the third character story, since it just didn't feel like it was worth my time.

It took me a while to find the motivation to continue past that point, but I'm really glad I did - the endings of the last 3 character stories were heartbreakingly emotional, managing to make me cry during reveals I'd already put together beforehand.

Rakuen is far from perfect, but there is definitely a lot to admire in the end.

Rakuen è un gioco di cui comprendo le recensioni negative, purtroppo ogni singolo aspetto del gameplay è tedioso. C'è poco da fare, i puzzle so stupidi e lenti nella risoluzione. Sei disperso spesso, non capisci bene che fare e vai a tentoni in un mondo che graficamente tutto sommato è sufficiente ma niente di eccezionale. E allora perché mi schiero tra gli estimatori? Perché...ho un finto rapporto conflittuale con mia madre e siccome il gioco tocca bene varie sfaccettature di questo tasto dolente non posso non riconoscere una buona scrittura che mantiene tutta la baracca

Review in progress:

The gameplay is ass. Press the button next to every sprite until something happens. Insert key card. Move boxes. Why not just make it a visual novel at that point?

The story makes no sense. Why are there no security cameras in the hospital?

I can't get the game to run with the build that has controller support. Most of the time, it just crashes.

Pros:
- Rakuen’s story is beautifully affecting, as you gradually learn about the other patients and their pasts culminating in an ending that’s not hard to see coming but I’m sure most would be affected by
- Great music from Laura Shigihara

Cons:
- I wanted to like how this actually plays more but it’s… pretty simple for most of it. Similar to say To The Moon, it’s a game without combat where you walk around talking to characters with very light puzzles or basic fetch quests to break it up. This would be fine, but Rakuen also goes on for 10 hours or so and it wore thin by the halfway point. Still, very much worth it for the story

Rakuen is one of those games that gets nearly everything right--the story, the music, and the visuals are all (for the most part) good--but that fumbles the gameplay aspect so hard it almost ruins the entire experience. Imagine To The Moon but every other half hour you have to spend completing a bunch of Animal Crossing-esque delivery boy/fetch quests back to back and also you don't have any way to walk faster than a leisurely stroll.

It's just frustrating, because this could have been so much better without the almost comically boring gameplay stapled onto it. You could for the most part just put all the major story sections one after another and the game would be better for it, but alas, that's not the game we have.

I've shed a tear and choked up playing games like TellTale's The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, and Life is Strange. Rakuen is the first game to just make me straight-up sob. It starts a little slow with the first story arc not being the most compelling, and the mechanics aren't the most interesting, but the character work, art, and music are just top-notch throughout the game. The light-hearted whimsy of a child going on a fantastical journey balances out the bleakness of the overarching narrative. Also, we need more games that show the strength of good moms!

A short and sweet emotional journey that really tugs at the heartstrings. I have a deep respect for any piece of media that can make me feel some significant amount of emotion and Rakuen pulled this off in a very genuine and heartfelt way. The character stories all hit hard while also having a distinct "family-friendly" vibe to them. The art looks very nice and the music is great and very emotional, particularly the vocal songs. The dialogue has an endearing charm to it that kept the game feeling uplifting when it should despite the overarching dread of where the plot is going and the fate of the characters. Even though I was carelessly spoiled on the basis for the story, the small revelations of the events before the story pertaining to the boy's family and his hospitalization still kept me invested. The only problem I have with the game is the lackluster controller support that wouldn't allow me to use my d-pad and the fact that I had to patch it to be able to sprint which felt like it should be in the game by default.