Rakuen Introduction:

In 2017, an adventure video game titled Rakuen was brought to life by Laura Shigihara. Fashioned using the RPG Maker XP engine, the game saw its release on May 10 of that year. Operating within a sprite-based explorative realm, Rakuen employed text boxes as the primary means of interaction. The moniker "Rakuen," derived from Japanese, translates to "paradise." This gaming creation is compatible with Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows platforms.

With a gameplay duration estimated at 10 to 12 hours, Rakuen consciously omits combat elements. Instead, it embraces a more peaceful approach.

On the fifth anniversary of its debut, specifically May 10, 2022, Laura Shigihara shared news on her Twitch channel. This announcement revealed ongoing efforts to adapt the game for mobile operating systems. Subsequently, a Nintendo Switch version, developed by Leeble Forest, emerged on March 23, 2023. Additionally, a related spinoff named Mr. Saitou made its entrance on March 24, 2023.

Gameplay:

The narrative orbits around a boy confined to a hospital ward, regularly visited by his mother. She arrives bearing a special book named Rakuen, intended for their shared reading sessions. Within this book's pages, a tale unfurls, featuring a mystical realm inhabited by the Guardian of the Forest, a wish-granting creature. Astonishingly, the mother unveils the reality that the book's world is accessible, inviting joint explorations.

Embracing the notion of seeking a wish from the Guardian, the boy urges his mother to venture into the storybook world. To earn this wish, a series of trials must be surmounted. His principal objective involves gathering musical fragments, fostering connections with newfound friends throughout the journey. Music occupies a central role in this narrative.

Final Words:

Amidst the boy's exploration, an entrance materializes into a parallel fantastical realm, intimately entwined with reality. Encounter with peculiar characters becomes inevitable, including a cantankerous onion and a pompous rose. Embarking on quests for the sake of hospital patients and their virtual counterparts, the boy tackles diverse challenges—searching for lost items, collecting essentials, and unraveling logical enigmas by following basic instructions. Successful completion of these quests brings joy and solace to the boy's companions.

Rakuen garnered "generally favorable reviews" from critics, as documented by the Metacritic review aggregator. A Metascore of 84/100 was the consensus among reviewers.

Notably, Polygon assigned an impressive rating of 9.5/10 to the game. Furthermore, the game claimed the 32nd spot on Polygon's compilation of the top 50 games of 2017. The rationale cited for this ranking lay in the game's ability to convey meaningful quests through a diverse array of characters, mirroring the very anxieties that resonate universally—rejection, solitude, remorse, apprehension, and pride.