RKGK / Rakugaki Review

Have you ever been going really, really fast and thought to yourself, “Boy, I wish I could suddenly stop and interrupt the flow of this feeling for no reason.” Well, that’s kind of how I feel about RKGK / Rakugaki. But before I get to that point, let’s explore what this game is all about.

The game with a double-barrelled name is set in a neon-dappled futuristic world where the villainous Mr. Buff (who I’m pretty sure is modelled on Steph Sterling) has made everyone dumb and boring by installing screens around the city. Now you, the player, have to stare at a screen to take down the screens. There’s probably a message in there if you want to stare into the void long enough.

Putting the player in control of the totally radical Valah, you have to save everyone through the power of surfing on spray paint and graffiti. You zip around various levels, tagging screens, and then people dance and are somehow cool again. To be fair, the music is pretty dope, so I can see why the people want to boogie.

Thank god for Mr Buff

In terms of world building, the game is pretty bare bones, and admittedly the dialogue really didn’t click with me, so I found my eyes rolling to the back of my head often. The conversations with fellow graffiti artists are filled with cringe-worthy one-liners that feel overly stylised and try-hard. And the sudden shifts from voice-acted segments to static images and text are jarring and break the immersion.

All of that being said, the setting is all just window dressing for the main event, zipping around and painting shit. And for the most part, RKGK / Rakugaki is a fun time. I really enjoyed the feeling of traversing the maps when the game was at its best. And in the earlier levels, you get quite a bit of this.

The controls limit you to just a handful of moves, including jumps, double jumps, a basic attack, a boost, and grinding. You can string together combos to make your movements around Cap (no cap) City faster and more fluid. However, the limits burst at the seams when the level designs introduce more enemies and complex environments. For example, the combat is not a strong point of the game, and levels where you have to face arena-type challenges felt like a real swing and a miss for me. The encounters are not varied enough, and the battles feel more like chores than challenges. The abundance of auto-locking turrets and shielded enemies, combined with waves of damage from unseen sources, can be frustrating to deal with. It’s not that I don’t think the game could benefit from combat and different styles of play, it’s just that I felt you don’t have enough of an arsenal in the limited controls to make it feel rewarding.

How do you do, fellow sci-fi dystopian kids?

Overall a bit more polish and some more variety in how you control Valah would have greatly improved the game. And while I’m writing this, I do feel the need to call out the influences the game wears on its sleeves. The 3D platforming elements and controls hark back to genre heavyweights like Crash Bandicoot and Jet Set Radio, and while that’s all well and good, there’s been a lot of quality of life improvements since that time, and RKGK/Rakugaki could have used them to build on the genre and offer something that feels more modern.

Movement itself is a big issue later in the game too, which given it’s at the core of the gameplay, is hard to look over. For instance, using rails literally puts you on rails. You just watch your character rather slowly skate forward on a set path, occasionally jumping in what feels like a run-of-the-mill mobile game. And certain puzzles result in you standing there waiting for Phantom Menace-style barriers to open up (sorry Qui Gon, guess I’ll just watch you die from behind this red barrier). All in all these moments were limited, but they definitely tarnished my opinion of the game.  For something built around going fast, to design entire sections where you feel like you’re stuck in molasses frustrates more than it challenges.

Despite these issues, RKGK / Rakugaki does have its moments. A low gravity concept later in the game and the risk-reward mechanics of surfing on glass add an interesting twist across certain levels. And for the most part the boss battles were interesting and a nice break from the basic skating and spraying gameplay.

Some solid character design work throughout

In terms of replayability, I have no doubt that a certain type of gamer will absolutely adore this game. There are a lot of unlocks to acquire, characters at your base to buy cosmetics from, and rare currencies and secrets hidden in maps. Replaying missions to beat times will likely be a major drawcard, and the cute nods to anime and genre titles are a nice touch, too (I enjoyed rocking some DBZ-inspired clothes).

While I’m not one of the players who will be sticking with the game, I can clearly see the passion the developer put into it, and even though it didn’t click with me personally, hats off to it and happy speed-running to everyone who enjoys what’s on offer.

Final Thoughts

RKGK / Rakugaki offers a visually stunning world with great music but struggles with slow pacing, flat interactions, and frustrating gameplay mechanics. The game has potential, but it needs more polish and variety to truly shine.

Reviewed on PC // Steam Deck. Review code supplied by publisher

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