What would happen if the doors of a hospital could open onto a fantasy world, populated by strange beings and endowed with its own rules? It was 2017 when the developer Laura Shigihara had tried to answer this question with his Rakuen, a role-playing game belonging to the genre Isekai which puts us in the shoes of a child who does not accept the grayness of his hospitalization. Thus we embarked on the discovery of a fantastic and colorful universe, with a soundtrack that is still memorable today - Shigihara is a brilliant composer and singer - that remained engraved in the memory of several members of our editorial team and that was very loved by the Steam public. .
Rakuen returns with a Deluxe Edition starting next March 23, and it does so on Nintendo Switch, a console that perhaps more than any other has managed to become a welcoming home also for low-budget independent productions in recent years. Six years after its release, we can say without hesitation that it is worth experiencing (or reliving) this Rakuen, which with its retro aesthetic and its careful soundtrack maintains its appeal unaltered.
Flanked by the spin-off Mr. Saitou (also available from March 23 as an "independent" product on Steam) and the animated series Farmer in the Sky, Rakuen is an unmissable date for lovers of traditional role-playing games with simple mechanics and an intense narrative.
We tell you the adventure of the boy and his mother in the rakuen review.
Towards the realm of fantasy
A boy rests under the covers of his hospital bed. After meeting a mysterious boy named Yami, the protagonist begins to walk around the ward and meet the other hospitalized patients. There's gruff Tony, an elderly coffee enthusiast, and then Cora, with her pink mohawk; There is Winston, who never leaves the bedside of his wife in a coma, Kisaburo, obsessed with his excavation operations that drive the health personnel crazy, and little Sue. We learn about the characters through their dialogue and their impressions of each other; It will be essential to clarify yours personal stories, everyone intense and well written.
We don't want to reveal too much about it. plot - which is revealed slowly, with delicacy and a very high level of writing on average - also because Rakuen is a video game that thrives on surprises and twists, small and large. Suffice it to say that the boy and his mother discover that it is possible to access a fantastic world through doors inside the hospital: it is Rakuen, a universe narrated in a book passed down in the mother's family for generations. The most successful aspect of Laura Shigihara's work is undoubtedly the opposed entre el gris del hospital - interpretado también a nivel musical, y no sólo estético - y la alegría vibrante del Bosque de Morizora y los demás entornos que los protagonistas explorarán durante la aventura. El uso de lindos hongos, gusanos llama, cogollos y ositos de peluche le permite a Shigihara abordar problemas difíciles y a menudo dolorosos mientras mantiene a Rakuen accesible incluso para un público muy joven; A pesar del tono de fantasía infantil, la trama también presenta momentos intensamente conmovedores, especialmente en el exitoso final, que llega después de aproximadamente ten hours of play. In our opinion, it is a shame that the relationship between the boy and the mother does not develop throughout the story, to receive a sudden acceleration towards the end, also taking into account that the two protagonists are almost always together, with consequences also in the game profile.
A simple and immediate RPG
Rakuen does not intend to put players in front of complex puzzles, which require at most a spirit of observation and the ability to listen to the different characters, who will reveal their desires to the protagonists, and whose problems we will often have to solve to continue. . By pressing the Y button you can talk to the mother at any time, who gives you Tips for solving puzzles: It's a shame that the dialogue is generally very generic, with no concrete directions to move forward. For most of the time, the mother remains a silent, inactive presence, following the child but not interacting with him.
Rakuen is developed with RPG Maker XP y los elementos del escenario no siempre tienen un aire tan distintivo que invite a la interacción: a menudo, sin embargo, se entiende que incluso la más banal de las mesitas de noche de los hospitales puede esconder objetos esenciales para continuar la aventura. Hay un inventario muy simple, accesible a través del menú, que contiene elementos clave y varios objetos coleccionables que pueden usarse para decorar el hospital. El Hospital/fantasy world dualism It also works and convinces from a gameplay point of view: it is often necessary to alternate crossing the two worlds to transport objects from one side to the other, talk to the different characters that populate these very different environments and thus continue the adventure. Rakuen lives above all narrative excellence, and in this sense it can be said that the plot and the dialogues become the main reward for the player, who even after an apparently banal search accesses intense and deeply human stories, which we relive with great pleasure in this Rakuen Deluxe Edition. .
New content and an excellent soundtrack.
This new edition of Rakuen is accompanied by some additional content Definitely interesting. First up is Mr. Saitou, a spin-off also available on Steam, focused on the Saitou sword worms already seen in Rakuen; then we have a nice animated series, Farmer in the Sky, which attests to Laura Shigihara's desire to create a sort of "expanded universe" of Rakuen, spanning multiple media. As for Rakuen itself, we appreciate the improvements made in terms of the game's stability, which had some technical issues when it launched six years ago.
Stay The game's soundtrack is exceptional., which stands out for its skillful use of keyboards and for its delicate and at the same time incisive use of varied sounds, capable of perfectly accompanying the different moments of the game, and above all - as those who have already played the original edition of Rakuen will remember : decisive in pushing the player's feelings in the direction desired by the developer. On several occasions we were moved to tears not only by the stories of the boy and his secondary characters, but also by the excellent music, which was indelibly recorded in our memory. The construction of an effective contrast between the fantastic world of Rakuen and the hospital also involves the sounds that distinguish these places, and Shigihara, in this sense, reveals herself to be a true master. Desafortunadamente, aún falta una traducción al español de Rakuen. and its additional contents.
Conclusions
digital delivery Nintendo eShop Price 24,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.0 Readers (3) 7.2 your voteRakuen is an isekai adventure that deserves to be experienced for the first time by those who missed it at the time of its release and to be appreciated again by those who already loved it. This Rakuen Deluxe Edition brings together the existing materials of a well-characterized and recognizable universe, with its characters and its rules, full of intense and memorable stories. Laura Shigihara and her collaborators have achieved the feat of creating a simple but not banal role-playing game, enriching it with a soundtrack of absolute depth and a plot of universal scope and strong emotional power. We unreservedly recommend Rakuen Deluxe Edition to anyone who wants to enjoy an adventure full of warmth and feeling.
PRO
- La trama de Rakuen todavía funciona muy bien.
- musica memorable
- Great additional content
AGAINST
- The relationship with the mother could have been handled better.
- The advice system is insufficient.
