Playing The friends of Ringo Ishikawa is an extremely strange experience. It's a game that obviously is made with a small team, and even less money. Yet despite that, the ambitions of this game are extreme. It tries to do so many different things with it systems.
I think the thing Ringo Ishikawa does most of all is make the players want to root for this game. At least, I wanted to root for this game. Tackling a life sim genre is extremely difficult, and while pared down, it still holds itself together in such a way that one can applaud.
Some of the best moments in Ringo Ishikawa happen when nobody is talking. It happens when Ringo studies until midnight, and the player decides that Ringo wants to go out on his balcony to have a cigarette. It doesn't do anything to the gameplay to do this. No stats go up. Nothing changes. It just feels like the natural thing to do at that moment. When on the balcony, a fight breaks down between rival gangs below. Sure, you could join them to get some experience. Or you could just keep smoking the cigarette for awhile until one side wins. That's what The friends of Ringo Ishikawa is all about.

Reviewed on May 15, 2020


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