There’s initially one thing so tantalizing about RKGK / Rakugaki’s daring utilization of coloration in its anime-inspired artwork model. From the leap, the sport’s story appears rambunctious and absurd in the very best approach, accompanied by gameplay the place split-second choices reward your well-timed jumps and dashes with transient explosions of coloration. As the sport continues, nonetheless, the aesthetic of every stage begins to run collectively and the underlying narrative loses steam, leaving solely the platforming challenges to evolve in any significant approach. So although the story does not go away a long-lasting impression, your acrobatic escapades by every stage do, carrying the sport to gratifying heights.
In RKGK, you play as road artist-turned-rebel Valah, who is about on taking her metropolis again from Mr. Buff, a rotund megalomaniac set on enslaving the populace with hypnotizing billboard screens and a military of robots. With spray paint cans in hand, Valah does battle with Mr. Buff’s robotic minions in an assortment of third-person 3D platforming ranges, returning to her house base between every mission to speak along with her allies or swap outfits.
Every stage of RKGK is a self-contained gauntlet of shifting platforms, explosive traps, twisting rails, and breakable containers that Valah should double-jump over, sprint previous, grind by, or smash. Enemies populate every stage however are simply overcome with a fast spray of Valah’s paint–it’s not all that difficult or rewarding to take them down. Some present a further problem by shielding themselves or releasing area-of-effect assaults, however nothing that comes near stopping Valah, even on the tougher problem the place she has much less well being.
![The world doesn't have much of a story to tell, but it makes for a fun platformer!](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1587/15875866/4310376-rkgk2.jpg)
However the secret for every stage is velocity, not fight. Your efficiency for every stage is graded, with completion time affecting the curve most of all–it’s clear enemies are supposed to be a velocity bump, not a fight problem. Chasing that sooner time is the crux of RKGK, and it is pleasant to replay ranges in hopes of uncovering hidden shortcuts or determining sooner methods to chain collectively sufficient platforming combos with out Valah being hit to unlock a velocity enhance that rockets her ahead. Deducing a brand new approach wherein to shave off an important handful of seconds to earn a greater letter grade looks like a victory over the robotic minions in itself.
Even RKGK’s boss battles are structured round platforming, prioritizing Valah’s positioning and timing till the boss opens itself as much as an assault. It is not probably the most thrilling approach to take down the hulking constructs that impede Valah’s approach, nonetheless, which lessens the fun of overcoming them–hiding behind an impediment and ready for the boss to stupidly ram into it for the third time simply is not as thrilling as performing a death-defying leap to shave a while off a stage, for instance.
Valah’s actions possess an exuberant sense of velocity with out sacrificing control–whenever I fell off a platform or missed a leap, the fault was mine. The build-up of the platforming challenges is a rewarding climb as effectively. As Valah continues by the sport and reaches later ranges, she encounters faster-moving platforms, flame-spouting traps, and more and more obtrusive obstacles, however RKGK by no means piles on a number of new components at a time. As an alternative, they’re usually launched in a vacuum, forcing you to deal with the brand new component one or two occasions, earlier than then discovering methods to weave it into elements of stage design you have encountered, subsequently remaking an previous impediment into a brand new problem that you have already got an inkling of easy methods to overcome.
![As Valah makes her way through the city, her attacks and traversal abilities will paint the environment.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1587/15875866/4310378-rkgk3.jpg)
This technique of stage design ensures RKGK has a gentle momentum in relation to development. Even on the tougher of the 2 difficulties, you are hardly ever stymied for lengthy, permitting you to finish every stage in a matter of minutes and transfer on to the following stage if you need. Each stage hides secrets and techniques off the crushed path and some comprise a handful of shortcuts, incentivizing you to replay them to earn the next grade and unlock extra rewards, which might then be spent to purchase cosmetics for Valah, like outfits and paint colours.
This construction centered round replayability does assist alleviate the shortcomings in RKGK’s story, which is bland and shallow. Valah will not be a simple protagonist to narrate to, spouting quirky action-movie one-liners and wanting to face as much as the large dangerous however probably not present past these common characterizations. The story rushes by her battle with Mr. Buff, by no means fairly delving into both character’s motivations or rivalry in an intriguing approach. Halfway by the sport, I had utterly checked out of its story, solely incentivized to maintain going to benefit from the well-designed ranges and more and more advanced platforming challenges.
The blandness of the narrative bleeds just a little bit into the aesthetics of the degrees, too. Although they’re designed effectively and every presents a handful of obstacles and challenges distinctive to it, an enormous swath of the degrees that Valah parkours by all visually look the identical. Presumably, that is to go together with Mr. Buff’s motivations to make all the things look as similar and lifeless because the robots he instructions, however in follow, this interprets into dozens of ranges that every one bleed collectively in my thoughts. This does not damage the moment-to-moment of RKGK’s gameplay however does influence the general recreation’s memorability and additional detracts from the narrative components of the world. It is exhausting to care a couple of world so same-y, and I want Valah’s efforts to clear every stage and remind the populace about their house metropolis’s uniqueness was translated into the sport in order that I may see it, too.
![Valah's artwork blends elements of Japanese anime and Mexican graffiti.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_super/1587/15875866/4310377-rkgk1.jpg)
You see a snippet of one thing like this each time Valah occurs throughout one of many hypnotic billboards on this planet, which she will paint over for additional factors if she’s collected sufficient paint all through the stage. When she does so, you are offered with lovely artistic endeavors that pull inspiration from each Japanese anime and Mexico’s graffiti tradition, hinting at what sort of world Valah did dwell in earlier than all of it turned crimson and grey. They’re all the time awe-inspiring to see, and Valah out of the blue portray one thing new shortly turned one of many issues I most seemed ahead to whereas enjoying by every stage. These situations are uncommon, nonetheless, hiding away one of the crucial beautiful elements of the sport.
RKGK / Rakugaki is a enjoyable debut for Wabisabi Video games, incorporating an unimaginable anime-inspired artwork model into an approachable 3D platformer. Similar-y trying environments, disappointing boss battles, and a bland story all make it exhausting to hook up with the narrative components of the sport, however the gameplay is sound and the extent design is rewardingly difficult. Regardless that the story is forgettable, my want to additional grasp my timing and precision in my quest to get higher and higher completion occasions is, for now, persevering with to deliver me again.