Rabi-Ribi

Best Played Behind Closed Blinds
Listen, buddy. Rabi-Ribi is what happens when you mix top-tier metroidvania design, bullet-hell boss fights, and an art style that makes you reflexively check if Chris Hansen is hiding behind your couch. It’s wrapped in the most sus anime art style imaginable, and yet… the gameplay is immaculate. Like, so good it almost justifies the FBI watchlist you’ll mentally put yourself on.
Every boss fight is a glorious hurricane of lasers, pixel-perfect dodges, and white hot rage distilled into something that feels borderline religious when you finally win. The level design is so tight you’d think it was wearing yoga pants, and the upgrades feel impactful without ever holding your hand. Plus, the soundtrack slaps. Hard. You’ll have these tracks on loop in your head while you’re trying to fall asleep, wondering if your Steam profile should be set to private.
Look, Rabi-Ribi is one of the best games you’ll play in this genre, but maybe pull the blinds down and keep your headset volume low. Just in case.

Don't let the scantily clad theming fool you, this is genuinely one of the best and most brutal metroidvanias out there and somehow made bullet hell + platforming work extremely well.

The first time I played this game was back in 2018, where I did a normal run through everything and a 0% items run as well. Both of those were incredibly fun, and back then I was not as good at video games so just completing the game on a lower difficulty was still a challenge. I really liked the way that everything was so deliberately set up in the world for a curious-minded player, with so many hidden items and new paths that reward you for checking every nook and cranny. The combat is enjoyable enough, I liked the way that every boss got very unique attack patterns that made them all stand out from each other since the story doesn't give a ton of room for that. I do like the story, but it isn't particularly deep or anything.

I came back to the game briefly for the newer dlcs when they came out, but this year in 2024 I decided I would go back and try to collect more of the game's achievements, to revisit a game I love and challenge myself. After all, this game is amazing for achievement-hunters, offering a massive variety of tasks that aren't just difficulty-based, but also depend on things like your ability to speedrun, find secrets, play runs that prioritize or avoid certain items, etc. I probably had to do like 6 or so new playthroughs just to get everything, and that was with me already having about 60% of the achievements from my earlier time playing. Back then, my playtime was around 115 hours, this journey added about 170. Yet none of them felt too repetitive, because I always had special goals and progress to be made towards the many achievements. Getting good enough to actually complete everything on the highest difficulty, BEX, was very rewarding, especially being able to use all my game knowledge to gain as many item advantages as I could for every boss encounter. Even though you may not be given a ton of agency in how you are able to damage bosses, the exploration aspect always feels like the game is waiting to be cracked open by your knowledge of how to traverse the map and find its items. It really was a rush of a few months gathering up all those last achievements, from no-hits to boss rushes to cocoa mode and so many little fun tasks. Although, my incredible momentum came to a screeching halt when it came time to defeat SP Irisu on BEX. Unlike every single challenge that had come before, this one was so many steps above in terms of diffiuclty. It stomped me so hard that I had to put the game down for another month before I finally came back to grind out the hours of practice and beat her for good today. That marked the final achievement, and the last thing I will probably ever do in Rabi-Rabi. Despite the troublesome finale, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the bunny-filled journey that was my time playing this game, both in the past and this year. Seriously recommend it for achievement hunters and anyone that loves metroidvanias, since the game really feels like it was made with these people in mind.

"Rabi-Ribi" is a fun metroidvania game that combines exploration, platforming, and combat.
From the moment you start the game, the main theme plays, immersing you in the spirit of the upcoming adventure. The music perfectly enhances the atmosphere as you explore different areas, enriching the overall experience.
The level design is quite good; the locations create a labyrinth where certain areas remain inaccessible until you acquire specific abilities, such as a double jump or others. This is a common feature in metroidvanias, but it’s implemented in a way that feels enjoyable rather than frustrating.
The boss battles are meticulously designed, each opponent featuring a unique set of attacks and style. This makes dodging their projectiles engaging and prevents the encounters from becoming tedious. The difficulty level adjusts smoothly, and you have the option to change it during gameplay if you find it either too challenging or too easy.
Overall, "Rabi-Ribi" is a game that doesn’t get boring until the finish. Highly recommended.

Despite appearances which.. I admit, you probably wouldn't want to play this game in public, this game is actually really fun.
Now, if you're an idiot by me, you're going to set the game at the highest difficulty on your first playthrough. And.. sure, respectable, but take it from another idiot (me) who did that, you will suffer, genuinely. It is going to be hard, like really hard. And that's exactly why I love it, and hate it at the same time. Definitely a fun challenge if you've got the patience to learn the patterns. I'm only at the beginning of the game though and it already feels like the game has hit one or two difficulty spikes, I wonder just *how* hard it could possibly get, because some challenges already felt close to impossible lol.
Anyways, it's a fun game.

It's a really cute game <3 I haven't gotten far in it, but I enjoyed playing it. So far my favorite characters are Cocoa, Rumi, and Erina. If you haven't played Rabi Ribi, I recommend it. It's a 10/10 game in my opinion.

Adorable little metroidvania with lots of bosses. You already feel like you've got a full game by the time you finish it, but then It's got MORE after the main story too. Multiple difficulties also gives it a bit more range.
Just don't let yourself get dragged into trying to get all achievements, some of those are insane.