A hospitalized boy and his mother enter the storybook world of Rakuen, where the characters in that world are connected to people in the hospital. World is well designed in a 16-bit sprite style. Good music, with creator being behind the music of To the Moon. Funny moments that poke fun at game tropes. Puzzles and quests to help your friends take the place of combat. Well told story dealing with patients and memories lead to themes of death, illness, loss, and acceptance.

A not dead mother is a major character, that's rare.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/934605130111926272
https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/934981728375943168

"An Emotional Tale of Love And Innocence"

Rakuen is a RPG Maker title that contains a deeply emotional plot, some wonderful and colorful characters, and fantastic art and music. It is a game that took me a few years to actually finish and appreciate, and is a game that has contributed to my newfound respect for games built in a similar way to many RPG Maker titles. In the past, I have tended to find these game a bit dull and generic, with simplistic stories that tend to tug at the heartstrings or focus on pure horror and puzzles that are either braindead simple or smothered in moon logic. Thankfully, Rakuen breaks through these conventions not only to bring forth a great video game, but for many this might be one of the best titles of its genre ever made.

I'll start by going over the visuals, music, and sound, since it is what you will encounter first. The visuals in this game are stunning, with colorful environments and detailed, original characters everywhere you travel. It feels as if nearly no color is left underrepresented, and various lights and darks are showcased in impressive fashion. The stunning art is paired quite well with a great soundtrack and some quirky sound design. The music fits many situations and amplifies the personality of every location and character that you encounter. The sound design fits well here as well, with various bumps, sound effects, and short melodies adding richness to each encounter and dialogue interaction. It is truly a great mix of art and sound design, with only one flaw that I personally have - the theme songs that play throughout the campaign. These songs were structured well and made great sense with the overall plot, but I just felt they were a bit too "cheesy" at times for me to fully enjoy them. Each voice actor has a bit too much crispness in their singing, and it feels a bit "off" when listening to it. I may be in the minority here, but I felt it reduced the impact that some of the songs were aiming to make on the player. Still, besides this minor flaw, Rakuen shines on an appearance and auditory level. Yet how does it fare once you peek under the hood and listen a bit closer to its message?

The main selling point of this title is the story, and it is pretty damn good here. The plot revolves around a young boy needing to assist various characters around a hospital with their personal issues, all of which involve a mix of personal strife and medical complication. The boy's goal is to help everyone in order to get chance to wake up and talk with a great and powerful forest god named Morizora, who will grant him a single wish upon his completion of his journey. The plot throws many original backstories and interactions at the player, and many bits and pieces of the main character, various side characters, and the world are introduced as you progress. There is a lot of emotion in this one, so have some tissues ready if you tend to react a bit more strongly to emotional titles. The plot wraps up pretty nice, but I also have an issue with a bit of the pacing. I felt that there could have been one less story out of the four or five you encounter, and it would have helped with the length and pacing of the game a lot more. I sank a bit over 12 hours into this one, and if it were to have ended around the 10 hour mark I would have had a bit less fatigue with the game as a whole. The plot is still great at the end of the day, and it is likely the primary reason you would play and enjoy this title.

Next up, gameplay. If I had to pick a part of the game to label the weakest, it would likely be the gameplay portions. The gameplay is by no means poor in any way - however, it could have used with some more interactivity, minigames, side quests, and puzzles to shake things up over time. The puzzles in this title were a bit less than what I was expecting, and they never ended up being too tricky besides the occasional one or two. Since most of the game is spent walking around and talking to characters, it also would have been nice to have some more minigames/activities to do during these encounters. The gameplay seems to show everything its got by the 3-4 hour mark, and while it never becomes horribly dull, I feel that they missed a huge opportunity here to add a bit more life to the title. This is the weakest aspect of Rakuen , and while traditional RPGMaker fans may not be bothered too much by this aspect of the title, other players may find it to become a bit repetitive.

As for other aspects of the game, I will cover them in this section. The UI is fairly simple and clean, with not too much involved from the jump. The lack of voice acting is a smart choice overall, though it does become a bit jarring to hear a character's voice in a song if you had never heard it in any other context beforehand (which may be the reason I was so put off by it from the start). The game is very theme-heavy, with each character representing a specific emotion, lifestyle, or character trait. Lastly, some background details may require the player to put two and two together, as it delivers information in a bit of an ambiguous yet intriguing fashion.

Overall, I found Rakuen to be a delightful game. The story, characters, art, and music made it such an enjoyable experience to partake in, and I'll likely remember my run through the game for a long, long time. I played this title with my girlfriend, and it was a memorable way to bond, talk about complex topics, and get emotional together. The shortcomings in gameplay, some aspects of the music, and the overall length/pacing brought this title down a bit more than I expected, but I still thought the overall experience was something extremely valuable and artistic. I can easily Recommend this title to those looking for an emotional story with some albeit simple gameplay, all wrapped up in an attractive visual and auditory package. Rakuen is one of the best RPGMaker-style titles I have ever played, and one that should not go under the radar for fans of indie titles.

Final Verdict: 8/10 (Great)

Alexa, play “It’s Okay to Cry” by SOPHIE.

Rakuen is without a shadow of a doubt the saddest game I’ve ever played, and Laura Shigihara deserves every ounce of credit for both developing and scoring this game that she can. I both wish and don’t wish I could replay it because of how emotional it made me, which games rarely do.

Telling the tale of a boy who is terminally ill and hospital bound, Rakuen is a combatless walking adventure in the same vein of To the Moon and Finding Paradise (of which Shigihara was also involved,) however this game is much more of a tear jerker and less of a dramedy as opposed to the other two listed. As this young boy you meet and greet all the other characters in your hospital ward who soon become characters in the story of your favorite book, Rakuen. The main characters mother visits the protagonist each day and reads to him from this book and takes him (and by proxy you) on a journey through this fantasy world in which those members of the ward are all different creatures with problems that need solving. By solving all their needs and making sure they are at peace you may finally meet the great wise one of your story world and fulfill your one wish. Again, I will remain spoiler free but every step of this games journey, through learning more about the protagonist and his dilemma as well as learning and helping those in the world of Rakuen, is a heartbreaking affair.

The game took me around ten hours, which is why I’m so quick to recommend it to just about everyone I know. It is a fantastic story that is not very long, yet will leave you with the feelies forever.

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.

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!

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.

Pros:
- Rakuen’s story has a gut punch, 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

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.