[Game Review] Rakuen
A sick young boy fascinated with a hero from the stories of his mom. Seeks out to help his fellow patients in the hospital, in small ways that barely change anything but with overflowing kindness that makes you smile.... and cry.
"Rakuen" is the Japanese for Paradise.
Rakuen tells the story of an ill boy who travels to a magical world and helps people in the way, the story is simple but the narrative is powerful. The game was made by a professional composer 'Laura Shigihara.' (Rakuen is her game design debut) first released in 2017 can be played on bought steam.
[Click Here For Steam Link]
Story & Characters
The story follows unnamed boy who lives in a hospital due to a terminal illness. To counter his lonely time, he has "Rakuen" a story book that his mother reads to him every night. It's a story of a hero that faced many challenges to have his wish granted by Morizora (the gaurdian of the forest) and reached the wonderful world of Rakuen.
One day in the hospital, the boy's mother tells him that the world in his book is real and he can go to it a certain way. Top have his wish granted the boy starts to see a secret doors and go through them, and he finds Morizora, but that guardian was asleep due to the sadness of the world. Only one song can wake him up.
So the boy have to help other patients and in turn learn parts of the song, to free Morizora and has his wish granted... A wish we wouldn't know until the end of the game.
The White World, The Colorful World
The game takes place in two worlds, the hospital (Real World) where humans reside, and Morizora forest (Book's World) where many creatures live.
The thing is, that people in Morizora forest have the same names humans in hospital have with their personalities is what I call simplified (naive) version of their human selves. This alone gives the story a huge amount of depth because when the boy helps the people of the forest, something changes in the real world.
The other main character is the boy's mother (also unnamed) which is very brilliant character (and mother) in my opinion, she's kind, strong, and knows when to talk. She spends most of the story watching from close, only 'helping' when the her son gets stuck or when he attempts to do something wrong. She guides him in a very inspiring way, never taking the lead from him but never leaving him alone.
"Lets go find Morizora and get you that wish"
Yami, the first character the boy meets in the game works as a foil to his idealism, he only appears at night but seems to know what the boy goes through during the day, he has a habit of telling the boy of the negative side of every thing he does. Their friendly fights between idealism vs pessimism are interesting to see and think upon. Especially in the second play-through after you've seen the final chapter!!
"Who would take care of you when I'm gone?"
People In The Hospital
And there are the residents of the hospital, Jacky a doctor in real world and carpenter in the forest. Cora she is the biggest child patient in the hospital and an artist in both worlds. There's the cook Panky, the woman who likes to take care of patients Danielle.
Sue is a fellow child patient who loves her worlds built imagined with marbles and longs to see both her friend and father again, out of all of the patients she's the closest to the boy and she's an Elf in the forest world.
"Her father was/is a gambler."
Tony is an old man who screams on everyone but actually very lonely & wishes to see his daughter again. He is a bear in the forest world.
Winston afraid being the reason of his wife's coma, feels terribly guilty for it & visits her everyday. He and his wife are both leebles in the forest world.
Kisaburo who's implied to have Alzheimer and it seems that only the boy understands his words (or maybe, the boy only thinks he does as we see the game from his eyes.) He is a kappa in the forest world.
"The doctors think I have lost it."
Finally, there's a mysterious old man who knows about Rakuen: Uma. Though he is not a patient himself, his story/backstory is important to the plot.
Every one of the patients has a heartbreaking story, and while the boy helps them through the game it's not like their problems can be solved that easily.
are suffering around us, and while we can't help
Only "you're not alone," might be what they needed to hear.
Gameplay & Puzzles
Being made with RPG maker, the game plays like the exploration parts of a traditional RPG, the game challenge is mainly in form of puzzles. Though I think some of them are too easy and/or feel like a chore. While others are challenging or have a meaning in the story.
"Tea Puzzle?"
The puzzle parts of the game are usually in their own tiny worlds, and those worlds are very dark and are littered with backstory complete with dates (I never ordered them but they sould tell a complete story if ordered.) They also foreshadow the strange things in the hospital somehow.
I was surprised in the last few hours of the game as the puzzles are different in a very subtle way that made me think the developer felt they need to change "something" when creating these parts.
As the boy helps people in both worlds, sometimes the game narrative changes from the boy perspective to the character in question. In one part you play as Gemma relieving her past, it wasn't explained if you're playing Gemma, or you're playing the boy imagining what's like to be in her situation.
I feel that the story of Rakuen is so simple
That the way it was narrated through gameplay
is what makes the game shine.
Would Recommend This Game
Some of the story is left for interpretation, things aren't explained and the dots are left there for the interested players to connect them. Many things can be seen with different meanings depending on the angle you see the story from, and the sad parts can get stronger when you think the meanings behind them.
"Our parents want us seperated."
The ending made me think again: whose story is that? I can think of three characters in the game who might be the real narrators of the story.
I Recommend Rakuen to anyone who wants to play a story about coping with illness, about interacting with people who lost so much but are still there, or someone who wants to a strong narrative, because this game is beautifully written. The game is short (around 10 hours or less) but is totally worth it.
Despite it's dark parts I'd recommend it to children too, and older people. I would especially recommend to those who like to reflect on the stories they read. There's too much to reflect on here!!
I Won't Recommend to people who want a great puzzle challenge, or a different types of gameplay. People who don't care about narrative and sad/bittersweet story. Or people who played similar games and didn't like them.
It's okay to cry a lot when you play this game.
"Even with my eyes closed
I hear you speak to me."
Looking Forward To Your Comments
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My Related Gaming Posts:
| Cover | Game Review |
|---|---|
 | Playing Rakuen: a post I wrote midway through playing this game. |
 | ahmadmanga's Game Shop: Selling games for SBD/STEEM & Crypto. You might find a game that you like here. |
Fascinating! Talk about an interesting game concept...
Yeah, I like both the idea and the execution of it.
I need to agree that game looks in some ways similar to RPG maker things, but still I very like how it looks, and I see that creators puts big effort to achieve this.
I think that, we should promote games who takes very important topics and create from it good, not always only happy stories.
Yeah, I totally agree.
I think every good RPG Maker game should have something unique to it, that makes players think "Wow, I would still play this even if I hate RPG Maker with passion!" I think this game can achieve this.
Great article my friend! really makes me want to play the game after reading this in depth article! Nice job!
Thanks, hope you tell me your opinion if played it :)