There's no denying that 3D platformers have been geared and tailored to younger audiences
for quite some time. That's not to say that only kids play 3D platformers, because that's
far from the truth. But whether it's Ratchet and Clank, Spyro the Dragon, Banjo-Kazooie,
Sonic the Hedgehog, the list goes on. 3D platformers have tended to have a design style and theme
that befits younger folk.
The Latin American Wabi Zabi Games is looking to turn that idea on its head with its upcoming
3D platformer RKGK, also known as Rakugaki. This is a title set in a metropolis where
creativity and personality has been sapped from the people by an evil and greedy corporate
overlord known as Mr. Buff. As the young Vala and her robot companion Ayo, your goal is
to break down Mr. Buff's oppression through artistic expression by travelling around the
city and painting over the many mind-controlling, Big Brother-like monitors and billboards scattered
around, defacing them with colourful, vibrant and chaotic Japanese-inspired graffiti.
In many ways RKGK is a bit like a mature take on De Blanc. Yes, that is perhaps a strange
comparison but both games see you suiting up as a protagonist where the aim is to fight
oppression by painting and colouring your surroundings. RKGK features similar brutalist
architecture devoid of charisma and downtrodden and crushed citizens that need to be freed
from their turmoil, and quite frankly, this as a concept works like a charm.
RKGK doesn't need a complex and emotionally challenging narrative to be entertaining,
instead it leaves that goal to the fluid and smooth mechanics that align and excel in the
ways that all good 3D platformers should. Vala can do all the traditional movement techniques
including double-jumping, sliding, gliding and even wall-jumping, but she can also employ
Splatoon-like abilities that enable her to skate through each level, leaving a trail
of paint behind her. The levels are quite straightforward in their design. They're
self-contained levels featuring verticality, grind rails, varying enemy types, a plentiful
array of hazards including bottomless drops and searing hot crates that each last for
around 10 minutes in duration if you're exploring frequently and attempting to unearth
every secret. Wabuzabi Games has done a good job at cramming
levels with secrets that are admittedly quite challenging to dig up, alongside a slate of
extra challenges that more often than not will require you to return and replay levels
for the elusive 100% mark. You might be wondering why, besides the sake of being a completionist,
you would bother collecting all of these various items in each level. Between levels Vala will
return to a hub area where she can interact with vendors to acquire cosmetics, such as
new outfits or appearances for her drone companion Ayo. And don't be worried about microtransactions
creeping in here, as Wabuzabi Games has confirmed that RKGK will be an entirely offline game
with zero online support. Yes that does mean there are no leaderboards to compete on, but
it also means there won't be a premium store to try to sell items to you.
One of the strongest aspects for RKGK is its presentation. The polarisation of the drab
urban landscape matched up with the colourful impact of Vala and her vibrant and brilliantly
animated graffiti make this game a treat for the eyes. But we do think that RKGK faces
a bit of an identity crisis in a way too. It's clearly a platformer tailored to more
mature fans, as the theme and narrative and explicit dialogue affirms, yet the gameplay
does often feel a bit too rudimentary and basic. Again 3D platformers don't need to
have the depth of a soulslike to be entertaining to adults, but we do think there's a distinct
difference between how challenge is offered and the audiences these games look to target.
Yet none of this changes the fact that RKGK came across as a very entertaining platformer
during the few levels that we had the luxury to test. We think Wabuzabi Games has delivered
enough unique elements and themes here to allow the game to stand out and thrive and
be something that people should be keeping an eye on when it makes its debut on PC this
summer.