Rakuen

Too wholesome for me

Why

Why Not

Impressions

Rakuen definitely has some strong points, but I think it's just not for me. You play as a (probably terminally ill) kid in a hospital, whose family conveniently happens to own a magical book granting access to a parallel world with a wish granting deity (the Morizora). Less conveniently, said deity is taking a nap and can only be woken through the power of empathy, requiring you to dig into and help with the sad pasts of your fellow patients.

From the chunk of the game I played this seems to take the form of meeting their counterparts in the magical world then doing fetch quests/puzzle solving interspaced with flashbacks fleshing out their backstory. This then has some impact on the real world & provides some progress to waking up the Morizora. Piecing together their pasts is kinda interesting since it's done through letters and journal entries which generally only allude to what's happening, or magical world flashbacks which offer a parallel to real world events. Unfortunately they're (at least so far) pretty standard stories, and there's nothing engaging enough about them to drag me throughout the formulaic fetch quest/puzzle gameplay. By contrast, 1000xResist had even less 'gameplay' but kept me invested throughout with the same style of storytelling, better executed and with a more unique setting.

There are some good parts though; the art is pretty/does a good job juxtaposing the drab hospital with the magical world, the marble girl is very cute and the hints at some darker story behind the seemingly relentless wholesomeness are interesting. Rakuen isn't a bad game, it's just not for me. I don't really recommend playing it personally, but I can definitely see what lead to it getting Overwhelmingly Positive reviews from the people it's for.