A child escaping to a fantasy world because of his internment is hardly original, but sharing that experience with an adult makes the questions you’ll be asking yourself far more interesting.Īnd questions you’ll ask, because there are equivalents to everyone you meet in the hospital in the fantasy world, sharing allegorical stories, with actions both physical and relational having an impact in both. Secondly, it dramatically changes how your approach understanding and interpreting the game’s use of fantasy. This has two enormous effects - firstly it puts a dynamic relationship at the centre of the story, the two able to chat at any point, Mom able to offer hints, and most importantly, chat to and argue with the game’s characters alongside you. Boy (as the game only ever refers to him) is accompanied for most of the game by his mother, the two of them exploring both the hospital and the world of Rakuen together. There is so much to celebrate here, and I want to start with what stood out the most: this is the only game I can think of that so prominently features a mum. The result is the washed out, near-monochrome hospital that is suitably sombre, contrasted with the vivid and explosively colourful world of Rakuen, a huge and sprawling village that gradually opens up to you as you progress, replete with floating islands in the sky, elaborate underground cave networks, and the best tea shop you could ever imagine. Lovely extra details are all over, like the moving sunbeams that shine across the land of Rakuen, or the gruesomely grim tones evoked during nightmarish sequences, making the engine far prettier or more adaptable than you might have realised it could be. In fact, to pay it quite the compliment, at times I was reminded of the outstanding character movement in the Mario & Luigi RPG games. They are implemented here with a deft hand, outreaching the limitations of the engine via some sublimely fun and daft rushing about. And colour is so important here.Ĭharacter animations and movement are another crucial factor. And then someone switches the lights on and colour fills the room.
It’s a hospital ward, you’re playing a young boy (with no given name) who’s lying in bed, visited by a couple of other characters. And on top of that, the game is smart with some subtle nods in the design.Īt the very start the game is displayed in a green-grey monochrome, echoing the look of early Gameboy RPGs. The use of lovely close-up character art, and brilliantly bright and cheerful pixel backgrounds, immediately helps it to stand out from the Steam churn. Fortunately, Shigihara has ensured the game stands out in so many ways, crafting something really wonderful from its confining limits. RPGMaker is a restrictive engine, limited to a weeny 640x480, and only scaling up to fullscreen. If anything, it feels like a more fleshed out, more elaborate game than Ken Gao’s gorgeous tear-jerker. Both certainly are about exploring people’s pasts on some level, and both are presented in RPGMaker meaning there’s that unavoidable look, but Rakuen is very much its own distinctive thing. Shigihara worked on that splendid game’s music, and was clearly inspired by it in Rakuen’s inception, but beyond this the links are mostly incidental. I think it’s important to get To The Moon comparisons out of the way at the start. In this combat-free RPG, you explore both realities as they intertwine and overlap, delving into patients’ lives and emotional backstories, and meet a vast, utterly lovely cast of deeply crafted characters. There's an abundance of darkness to match that light. Other patients in nearby wards have complex stories behind their reasons for being there. Following some sort of incident the whole hospital building is in recovery, the staff still shellshocked, areas still being rebuilt. However, this is directly contrasted by the cruel reality of the hospital, and mature topics like dementia, disease and death. Which might, alone, sound a perhaps twee set-up for a game. After his hospitalisation, the boy’s mother visits him each night to read the book, and eventually reveals to him a secret: the book’s world is real, and together they can visit. Rakuen is a book, a story regularly read to a young boy by his mother, about a magical land wherein lives the Guardian of the Forest, a creature who grants wishes. A hilarious and heartbreaking tale of loss and redemption, with songs. Composer, performer and now developer Laura Shigihara’s first game, Rakuen, is out now, and it is something truly special.
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