Rabi-Ribi
Our New Game
the Game
Halloween is coming, for those that haven’t experienced it yet, don’t forget to grab the free Halloween DLC!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/547660/
There never quite seem to be enough bunny girls in the world, so here is another for you aficionados out there. This 2D sidescrolling exploration platformer follows the adventure of Erina, whose humdrum life as a regular rabbit is turned upside-down when she finds herself in an unknown world and turned into a human (with rabbit ears)!
Along the way she meets the cheerful pink-haired fairy, Ribbon, who mysteriously chooses to stay by Erina’s side.
These unwitting heroes embark together on their quest to restore Erina’s life to normalcy, but who knows what troubles lurk, waiting for them…
Rabi-Ribi is a 2D exploration platformer that focuses on non-linear gameplay. There will be hints to guide the player along, but they’re never required to follow them, which allows for much greater freedom to—you guessed it—explore.
Players will play as our protagonist Erina, who focuses on close quarters combat. Ribbon the fairy is the ranged attacker who follows Erina’s lead, indirectly controlled by the player.
Erina may be a little rabbit that was turned into a human, but that doesn’t stop her from being capable of some pretty neat moves.
Both Erina and Ribbon’s abilities can be improved by learning new skills and attacks through collecting items and upgrades that are spread throughout the world.
What trinkets and skills to pick up is up to the player; dare you challenge hard mode without any items?
– Retro exploration platformer featuring a bunny girl.
– 4+n difficulty settings for all types of players.
– 9+ main areas and 20+ sub-areas to explore.
– Bunny.
– Over 60 items and upgrades.
– Over 20 fully illustrated characters with cutscene illustrations.
– 40+ boss battles, 1000+ attack patterns with Boss Rush Mode to fight some or all of them in a row.
– Post game story and content with speedrun mode which takes out every section of the game where the player cannot control the main character.
– Over 50+ pieces from an original soundtrack.
– English, Chinese and Japanese support.
– Bunny.
UPRPRC Edition contains
- Rabi-Ribi Game
- Digital OST (Original Soundtrack)
- Rabi-Ribi Digital Artbook
Game Discussion
Steam User 17
Rabi-Ribi is a game where at first glance it might be hard to get an idea of what the game is about. Well... it's about bunny girls, and there is lots of them! This game is a bullet-hell metroidvania where you play as a cute bunny girl named Erina, with her cute companion Ribbion. Despite your initial impressions on this game, what if I told you that this is one of the best metroidvanias out there? I have put hundreds of hours into this game, and after getting all 220 achievements I figured I should write a quick review for anyone who wants to potentially try this game, and to explain my thoughts overall. I’ll split it up into what I found good about it, what I found bad about it, and what to consider if you end up giving this game a try!
Pros
- Absolutely great music
- Amazing gameplay and encourages replayability
- Many difficulty settings for casual play and people looking for a brutal challenge
- Unique and varied boss fights
- Many great locations to explore and many collectables to find
- Beautiful character design and art
- Pixel art is beautiful and still holds up despite being released about 10 years ago
The music in this game is really good, and there are a lot of great themes that fit the mood of the place you are in and the bosses you fight. The game is very open-ended and you can go pretty much anywhere if you have enough game knowledge, as there are lots of places you can go to earlier than normal. You can beat the main and post game with 0 upgrades or items for reference. The world is very expansive, and contains many collectibles in the form of progressive abilities or potions to increase your stats.
Cons
- Story is fairly average and serviceable at best
- Dialogue contains a lot of anime tropes that you either like or despise
- There are some bugs but very few; notably in the second Ashuri fight she sometimes just clips in the ground
- Character design might not be your cup of tea
- Not very accessible to colorblind individuals
The story is in my opinion the weakest part of the game, as it was more of an afterthought than anything, however it does what it’s supposed to do fairly well. The game plays very much into common anime tropes, which isn’t too surprising considering the game is based on you playing as a bunny girl in a world filled with cute girls... and more bunny girls! However, whether you like it or not is purely on preference. The same applies to the character design, as I can understand if you don’t like how the characters in this game are designed. Since this game is a bullet hell there are a lot of things to dodge, and this game likes to put these bullets as the same color as the background sometimes, and while I find it easy to differentiate it, it might be something that you should keep in mind.
Things to consider
- If you plan on getting this game, I would highly recommend also getting the “Rabi-Ribi: Is The Order a DLC” DLC as it adds 2 extra chapters and ties loose ends in the story
- There are 2 free DLCs you can get which include the Halloween content and the TEVI Collab Skin which add new skins and content for free
- If you enjoy the game enough only then would I recommend the “Cocoa mode + Before Next Adventure” DLC as it adds a whole separate playable character and 4 superbosses, and the artbook DLC which does contain some exclusive gameplay content as well.
Closing Thoughts
This review only takes a portion of my full thoughts, as this review would be many paragraphs long if I really wanted to get into everything I love about this game. However, if any part of this review has interested you at all, this is a game I highly recommend and think more people should play!
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TL;DR
Rabi-Ribi is a bullet-hell metroidvania and despite the quirky premise, it’s one of the best metroidvanias out there (in my opinion). This game has incredible music, deep replayability, challenging boss fights, beautiful character design and pixel art. The story is a bit average and leans heavily into anime tropes, which may not be for everyone, and there are minor bugs and accessibility issues. Recommended DLCs (as explained in the last section) expand the story and add new content but are not required to fully enjoy the game. If you're into metroidvanias and/or bullet hells, this game is a hidden gem worth checking out.
Steam User 10
Metroidvania, but with a cute anime bunny girl—and platforming, bullet-hell bosses, and anime hijinks that bite back.
Steam User 6
No one talks about this game because it's anime bunny girls or whatever but Rabi-Ribi is genuinely one of the very few "metroidvania" games that understands what makes metroid and castlevania fun from a gameplay perspective. Bought it back in 2017 on my ps4 completely on a whim and it's been one of my favorite games ever since.
Steam User 8
Usually I don't reviews without having achieved at least 80 percent of what a game has to offer but since this example is so vast in its potential content, I'd surely need hundreds of hours to get each achievement. So for those, who have more playtime than myself, the review might not do it justice.
I have played quite a lot of games from all kinds of genres, including the original Tomb Raider, Dark Souls, as well as pretty tight platformers such as Crash Bandicoot. So, while certainly not even being close to others in terms of sheer reflexes or brain power, I think I am valid to say that I need to have a bit of persistence to have finished or even completed said games.
Rabi-Ribi so far has the potential to be one of the hardest games I have had the pleasure of playing so far. So if you are walking into this, expecting a cute and laid-back platformer with metroidvania elements, it certainly is not. Rather, the game is a Boss Rush game that has platforming and metroidvania elements to give you some room to breathe, with the main gimmick that the attacks of said bosses strongly resemble bullet hell genre attacks.
This does make the game not only chaotic at times, but requires precise movement and memorization to prevail, especially at higher difficulties. Therefore, I can understand people, who are not accustomed to these kind of obstacles, perhaps simply for the fact, that it is unique in how these genres are forged into a singular experience.
Does it make the game unfair? I am willing to bet, that it does not.
So far, each attack could have been avoided, as long as you have seen it once before and pay attention to how it behaves. Even if it couldn't have been, you get an amulet early on, that grants you the ability to become invincible for a couple of seconds, so I find this aspect frustrating, but in a good way, the same way you'd need to invest brain power into learning to drive, to draw, or anything that requires precision really. With the ability to choose from various difficulties, I think people need to appreciate the level of care the devs have put into making this a game, even a beginner of these genres can pick up and learn.
The music I find super fitting and some tracks are really striking a nerve, in a good way mind you. M.R. has got to be my personal favorite, though there are a couple that come close. I would say more, but the job is just nicely done here, no complaints.
The platforming was really hard to get into at the start. What I don't like is that there are special moves like a hidden walljump or reverse wall kick, that can make the starting hours until you've gotten your whole moveset - as is tradition in metroidvanias - unnecessarily unpleasant if not found out about. I almost put the game off, until I read of those moves and it really made a monotonous task an enjoyable exploration of "Can I get up there yet? How cool would it be if I could reach this now with a precise move?" rewarding experiments.
Lots of saves and teleporters to traverse the big maps make it hustle-free for the player to return to each spot previously blocked off. Important to note, some areas are a dead end, in a way, that you must load a save to get out of them without some upgrades. I noticed this two to three times, and could see it be a hindrance to some people more short-tempered than me.
Why I haven't addressed the fan service yet? Because it is subjective, could be a deal breaker to some and is the art decision of a developer, that I find fitting for what the game wants to represent. If you find bunny girls, succubi and little ladies only wearing thin clothing something disgusting, that is not for me to judge. All I can say is that it didn't break my enjoyment of the game. And I am willing to bet, that this game has more to offer than a discussion about preferences in presentation.
Such a long review, but in my eyes, the game deserves it for its abundance of items to collect, game modes, forgiving difficulty settings as well as a combination of genres, I have not yet seen done so exceptionally well.
Thank you for reading.
Steam User 9
Dont judge a book by its cover, even though the cover is of a girl of questionably age scantily clothed in a bunny suit, this a legit great metroidvania with great gameplay, hard but fair bosses, a huge map, spectacular exploration (like on par with hollow knight), the only " cons" are the story which is at most serviceable (which btw you can completely skip on speedrun mode) and of course, the artysle, which with some mods can be changed as well leaving you with a truly well crafted metroidvania
Steam User 5
When I first bought this game way back near release in 2016, I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting. A new metroidvania with a pixelated style? I love me a good metroidvania. On the surface, this game looks like standard weeb anime fare. But the more I played it, the more it became apparent that this was anything but.
It really warms my heart that there still exists a few devs that absolutely put their heart and soul into creating a truly amazing product, and that is what Rabi Ribi is to me. It is the most charming, beautiful, well put together game, that has probably the best map and exploration mechanics of any metroidvania to date. It's also one of the most soul-crushingly difficult games I've ever played, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Beat me until I get better.
There's so much to do and see. The visuals, though pixelated, are strikingly good. The ost is still one I go back and listen to from time to time and is incredible. The controls are very tight. If you get hit and killed, you can seldom blame the controls. Each boss fight is unique, almost like a puzzle to figure out what works and what doesn't. There is a ton of content to be had here. And the difficulty, as mentioned earlier, is quite punishing, but not in a bad way. Some games have you just smash your head up against a wall until it breaks. That's not good difficulty. Rabi Ribi is a game that forces you to adapt and get better, and you won't succeed until you do, which is how it should be.
This game is easily a top 5 for me and deservedly so. You can tell the devs did everything they could to deliver a stellar game that I still come back to from time to time, just to do it all over again. The devs most assuredly have my confidence and respect for giving me and many others a truly wonderful experience.
Eagerly looking forward to your future endeavors.
Steam User 7
This is what you get when a game is made with care and passion. The exploration around the map is perfect, the music are just pure bangers, the bosses are insanely fun to beat. Even after 10 years this game is as good as always.