The friends of Ringo Ishikawa

Great game. Lets you do a little bit of everything and play an everyday life with convos with other characters and even the possibility to date others. Overall good experience, have played it through 3 times now and still enjoying it.

This game has gone above and beyond what I had hoped for it.
Despite its simply appearance and controls. The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa is a shockingly deep game. You'll bond with friends, get high grades, hold down a job, and train like crazy. This is a slice of life game that you cannot miss out on. 5 out of 5 this game right here shows why the Indie game scene should be supported.

I was moved to write this review after reading that the creator, yeo, called Arrest of the Stone Buddha their favorite project because I think Ringo Ishikawa is not only the flawless execution of yeo's themes it's also a flawless execution of the life sim as promised by Shenmue and Yakuza series. Japanese games have a long history of combining school life with life simulation aspects but that style of balancing work/life has rarely broken out of the Sims franchise in the West.
Ringo is ostensibly a beat 'em up like River City Ransom with no real drawback for losing fights because it's not a game about winning. You're barely even rewarded for fighting but fighting and training are core to the school punk life that you're expected to take the time to work out after school. But you're also a student and so the majority of your monetary allowance and progression is tied to studying. But you also owe it to your fellow delinquents to participate in their lives and are expected to follow a sane schedule and hang out to progress.
It all adds up to a feeling of listlessness that I feel is core to yeo's narrative style. Stone Buddha is a game of cinematic violence punctuating long stretches of aimless wandering to run out the clock. Ringo Ishikawa is about a school punk who resigns himself to be better but can't escape the violence and pervasive self-destructive attitudes of being a gang member. It's a game without a manual or obvious goals, a game where the next narrative thread happens seemingly randomly and in this way it feels more organic than any Yakuza title. It feels aimless up front but as you discover the ways to improve the characters, as you explore the small but detailed world, interact with optional NPCs, learn the schedules of activities, and participate in dialog exchanges with your friends it really breaks free from its arcadey roots and transforms into something deeply meaningful.

The friends of Ringo Ishikawa is a synthesis of both the modern and classic, it commits to its concept of roleplaying as a small town high school gang leader, Ringo Ishikawa, at the end of the line, that line being the final semester of high school. Therefore the game gives you no guide, no direction beyond how to interact with the world through combat and menu controls. As a delinquent, Ringo has been resistant to all forms of authority and is left with nothing but his own will to guide him. The player essentially acts as this will, pointing Ringo to various locations and people, all with whatever preferences that may strike you. The game itself is truly open world, but that also comes with the restrictions of a bleak reality plagued by violence and such. You can do as you wish, but only within the limits of what is reasonably possible for a highschooler with no support network. Whatever experience you end up having, will be almost entirely your own. Even cutscenes and story beats are up to you to find and be in the right place at the right time. I think if I had to put the game's concept into a couple of questions, they would be "What do you do once you've essentially softlocked your own life?" and "What difference will that choice make?" I think the game is one of a kind, and even compared to the developer's other games, it is wholly unique. On Steam and Switch I've logged about 100 hours in the game, which ain't bad at all for the price point.
TLDR: If you're not willing to engage with this game on its own terms and learn through experience, you won't find the artistic value over raw game-play. One of my favorite video games, 8/10.
Some spoiler-free tips for new players would be:
-Don't be afraid to mess things up, the only progress you can lose is if you don't save.
-Be curious, the game holds much more than you can see through rudimentary action indicators.
-Your actions have consequences, try to consider what you do and how it'd actually effect a real world.

the developer has a true grasp, understanding and respect of martial arts
you can see shades of inspiration from other classic games of similar genres (beat 'em up, 90s slice of life, etc)
while also branching past those inspirations - in the best of ways
the dev has been updating the game again, thoroughly checking with his fanbase for their thoughts and opinions
100% worth it at full price, a complete steal if it's on sale
furthermore there's a prequel manga for ringo, and on the otherside of japan, is where yeo's newest game Fading Afternoon takes place, which not a direct sequel, is an outstanding next chapter and new story

I would recommend this game because the music, interactions, and story are very great!

The friends of Ringo Ishikawa is a game unlike many I've played before. It's a blend of a beat-em up and a slice of life take on mid 80's Japan. While I don't regret my time with the game, I came away with a less than stellar appreciation for the game. It's something that I won't regret playing, but it's a one time experience that I'll move on from.

The idea of delinquent students in their relatively final semester of secondary school is not new, but it's nice to take control of this group and tentatively lead them through their lives. My biggest problem is the disconnect between what the player can do with Ringo and what the game has in store with its story. Much of what you might sink time into will only payout in the form of an achievement. The most manifest example of this disconnect was when I found myself pretty regularly running into story sequences that pulled me out of a routine. Half annoying, and half a fun little way of the game throwing unexpected life curveballs at the player.

When I moved on from that, I was getting enjoyment out of this game. I began to get immersed in the dealings between the titular friends and took joy in picking up details from story sequences. Even if they were unexpected. My only critique in this area is that the ending came along rather rapidly. It lacks a little bit of emphasis, but I am impressed that all of this came together all the way back in 2018. As far as releases on Steam, this makes and made for an impressive first title for developer Yeo.

I also want to express my appreciation for Yeo in that they never left this game by the wayside. Around the middle of January 2025, Yeo released the EX update which added achievements, trading cards, and reworked systems for quite a lot. I was a bit disgruntled that it came two days into my first playthrough and replaced my progress, but I could have always have grabbed the beta files if I wanted to. Impressive work, Yeo.

At times this game is pretty rough around the edges, but I think that for a product that came out in 2018 and has had Yeo's continued support even now, 7 years later, this game is really good. I'll leave it as a one time playthrough for now, but I am glad this game came my way.