RKGK, or Rakugaki, is an interesting game I initially pinned as fully understanding, even from a brief demo. Although I wasn’t far off, as RKGK, at its core, is a heavily anime-inspired action platformer with an emphasis on speed, the amount of fun I had with the game, particularly by the final two worlds, far exceeded my overall expectations of what I thought was just another bog-standard platformer with a bit of cel-shaded flair, blemished slightly by some cheap boss encounters that lean too heavily on simply overwhelming the player with a gauntlet of enemies and lasers to deal with, in addition to a somewhat bland story that undermine an otherwise fun time.
For the uninitiated, RKGK/Rakugaki is the debut title from Wabisabi Design, a studio based in Mexico. RKGK follows Valah, a rebellious young street artist who aims to save her city from the greedy, brainwashing corporate control death grips of one, Mr Buff. Unlike Mr Clean, Mr Buff is a garish cartoon villain with all the evil machinations required for a hero to beat up or, in this case, deface with the power of spray paint.
RKGK consists of 6 worlds, which in itself roughly consists of 5-7 levels, with some unlocking later on after progressing through the campaign, and finally, a hub area consisting of NPC vendors, complete with an area for the player to grind out some extra coins and collectables from within the hub environment, which can be traded-in for some cool anime-inspired outfits, spray paint decals, and skins for your robot-companion.
In my preview, I mentioned that I truly began to appreciate RKGK once I started playing with speed in mind. This sentiment translates to the full game as well, as RKGK features some very precise platforming sections, with stages that often feature a lot of verticality, rails to grind on, and other interesting stage gimmicks, like altered gravity, rotating platforms, and stages focused purely on platforming, similar to the bonus levels found in some Mario games.
“…playing stages in RKGK multiple times seems to be the way of the game, first to see if you can get all the secrets, and then trying to beat your best time and go for gold.”
Going through these as fast as possible can feel rewarding, especially when Defacer mode is activated, a heightened state that grants Valah a considerable speed boost and a pseudo-invulnerability state that lends itself to quickly running through a level while decimating the robot enemies along the way.
Of course, speed and platforming aren’t the only objectives in RKGK. Instead, the game features a considerable amount of side content, mainly consisting of time trials and clearing a level without a single death. Chief among them is having to deface digital signage throughout the level, which takes the form of Mr Buff’s evil propoganda. Vandalizing the signs requires spray paint, which the player can find peppered throughout the levels, hidden in boxes and often close to your target. Still, as the game wears on, paint can become scarce, only found hidden behind nooks or areas just off the beaten path, requiring the player to slow down and explore.
In other words, playing stages in RKGK multiple times seems to be the way of the game, first to see if you can get all the secrets, and then trying to beat your best time and go for gold. Speaking of time trials, some of the time requirements set by Wabisabi feel just shy of impossible, but this just might be due to not being someone who regularly plays platforming games. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the community embraces RKGK once it has time to settle, particularly the speedrunning and platforming community.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my time with RKGK, but some inconsistent checkpoints during boss encounters, a story that seems to want to say more but holds back, and side-challenges that seem only accessible to platforming purists leave me with the impression that perhaps a sequel or some balancing patches could truly elevate Rakugaki to the top platforming pedestal it truly deserves. For a first effort, however, RKGK is a solid platforming experience worthy of Riot Games’ Underrepresented Founders Program initiative, which will hopefully allow Wabisabi to keep the ball rolling and build on its already solid foundation.
