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.