WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:18.720 There's no denying that 3D platformers have been geared and tailored to younger audiences 00:18.720 --> 00:24.080 for quite some time. That's not to say that only kids play 3D platformers, because that's 00:24.080 --> 00:28.720 far from the truth. But whether it's Ratchet and Clank, Spyro the Dragon, Banjo-Kazooie, 00:28.720 --> 00:34.840 Sonic the Hedgehog, the list goes on. 3D platformers have tended to have a design style and theme 00:34.840 --> 00:37.280 that befits younger folk. 00:37.280 --> 00:41.640 The Latin American Wabi Zabi Games is looking to turn that idea on its head with its upcoming 00:41.640 --> 00:47.920 3D platformer RKGK, also known as Rakugaki. This is a title set in a metropolis where 00:47.920 --> 00:52.800 creativity and personality has been sapped from the people by an evil and greedy corporate 00:52.800 --> 00:58.640 overlord known as Mr. Buff. As the young Vala and her robot companion Ayo, your goal is 00:58.640 --> 01:03.000 to break down Mr. Buff's oppression through artistic expression by travelling around the 01:03.000 --> 01:08.800 city and painting over the many mind-controlling, Big Brother-like monitors and billboards scattered 01:08.800 --> 01:15.120 around, defacing them with colourful, vibrant and chaotic Japanese-inspired graffiti. 01:15.120 --> 01:19.960 In many ways RKGK is a bit like a mature take on De Blanc. Yes, that is perhaps a strange 01:19.960 --> 01:23.840 comparison but both games see you suiting up as a protagonist where the aim is to fight 01:23.840 --> 01:29.400 oppression by painting and colouring your surroundings. RKGK features similar brutalist 01:29.400 --> 01:34.280 architecture devoid of charisma and downtrodden and crushed citizens that need to be freed 01:34.280 --> 01:40.240 from their turmoil, and quite frankly, this as a concept works like a charm. 01:40.240 --> 01:45.360 RKGK doesn't need a complex and emotionally challenging narrative to be entertaining, 01:45.360 --> 01:49.500 instead it leaves that goal to the fluid and smooth mechanics that align and excel in the 01:49.500 --> 01:54.980 ways that all good 3D platformers should. Vala can do all the traditional movement techniques 01:54.980 --> 01:58.980 including double-jumping, sliding, gliding and even wall-jumping, but she can also employ 01:58.980 --> 02:02.900 Splatoon-like abilities that enable her to skate through each level, leaving a trail 02:02.900 --> 02:07.180 of paint behind her. The levels are quite straightforward in their design. They're 02:07.180 --> 02:11.620 self-contained levels featuring verticality, grind rails, varying enemy types, a plentiful 02:11.620 --> 02:16.180 array of hazards including bottomless drops and searing hot crates that each last for 02:16.180 --> 02:20.680 around 10 minutes in duration if you're exploring frequently and attempting to unearth 02:20.680 --> 02:24.980 every secret. Wabuzabi Games has done a good job at cramming 02:24.980 --> 02:30.060 levels with secrets that are admittedly quite challenging to dig up, alongside a slate of 02:30.060 --> 02:33.980 extra challenges that more often than not will require you to return and replay levels 02:33.980 --> 02:40.360 for the elusive 100% mark. You might be wondering why, besides the sake of being a completionist, 02:40.360 --> 02:44.860 you would bother collecting all of these various items in each level. Between levels Vala will 02:44.860 --> 02:49.220 return to a hub area where she can interact with vendors to acquire cosmetics, such as 02:49.220 --> 02:54.080 new outfits or appearances for her drone companion Ayo. And don't be worried about microtransactions 02:54.080 --> 02:59.300 creeping in here, as Wabuzabi Games has confirmed that RKGK will be an entirely offline game 02:59.300 --> 03:03.900 with zero online support. Yes that does mean there are no leaderboards to compete on, but 03:03.900 --> 03:08.540 it also means there won't be a premium store to try to sell items to you. 03:08.540 --> 03:13.300 One of the strongest aspects for RKGK is its presentation. The polarisation of the drab 03:13.300 --> 03:17.340 urban landscape matched up with the colourful impact of Vala and her vibrant and brilliantly 03:17.340 --> 03:22.980 animated graffiti make this game a treat for the eyes. But we do think that RKGK faces 03:22.980 --> 03:27.060 a bit of an identity crisis in a way too. It's clearly a platformer tailored to more 03:27.060 --> 03:31.380 mature fans, as the theme and narrative and explicit dialogue affirms, yet the gameplay 03:31.380 --> 03:36.380 does often feel a bit too rudimentary and basic. Again 3D platformers don't need to 03:36.380 --> 03:40.260 have the depth of a soulslike to be entertaining to adults, but we do think there's a distinct 03:40.260 --> 03:45.140 difference between how challenge is offered and the audiences these games look to target. 03:45.140 --> 03:49.300 Yet none of this changes the fact that RKGK came across as a very entertaining platformer 03:49.300 --> 03:53.700 during the few levels that we had the luxury to test. We think Wabuzabi Games has delivered 03:53.700 --> 03:57.740 enough unique elements and themes here to allow the game to stand out and thrive and 03:57.740 --> 04:02.260 be something that people should be keeping an eye on when it makes its debut on PC this 04:02.260 --> 04:02.540 summer.