bouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebounce

jeSUS i haVea craked save no amule

Rabi-Ribi is a metroidvania with a large side of fanservice. The story revolves around a rabbit turned human’s quest to find her owner’s lost sister, which is where my understanding ends because the story is mostly a thin vaneer to go fight and collect people from different areas of the map so you can make repeated attempts to save the sister.

The gameplay is the usual metroidvania affair, with a combination of combat and exploration, which leads to items to allow you to explore even more of the map. There is a heavier emphasis on exploration than other metroidvanias I’ve played, with numerous collectables available to increase your power and acquire new moves. There is an “experience“ type system for your different weapons, where they get stronger and acquire new features the more you used them, but unfortunately this lasts for about 10 minutes after you get the weapon before it is fully levelled and you don’t think about it again.

The combat in the map I found quite flat, most enemies were either no threat, or were capable of sniping you homing bullets from across the screen, but still being a non-issue once you got to them. The variety between the enemy designs was also lacking, with most of the enemies being bunny ear wearing girls, with others including palette swapped fish, fairies, flowers, and fungi.

The boss combat on the other hand goes for a bullet hell angle, which started out neat, but eventually drove me nearly to the point of quitting the game; as each boss fight would be a 15 minute affair (when successful) with the boss pulling new moves out of their cleavage until their final hit point; which would cover the screen in bullets, often randomly or with homing elements, rather than set patterns. With some moves I’m convinced being undodgeable without the limited use invincibility move. Bosses will also blast out moves as you’re hitting them, with too many effects and numbers covering the boss to see what’s about to happen. This lead to the game being more frustrating than rewarding to play.

I didn’t find the art style of the game appealing, and it almost put me off getting the game. The character sprites and portraits are good, but the backgrounds universally look flat and uninteresting, each area I visited did well to be distinct from the others, but still were not interesting to explore. The music was fine for the most part, although some songs drove me insane from how often I heard them during boss fights.

Overall I don’t recommend Rabi-Ribi, mostly due to the frustrating boss fights, boring story, and flat environments. Though you may get more out of it if you’re particularly into bullet-hell games or bunny suits. Even in that case I would still recommend playing the excellent Touhou Luna Nights before this.

An amazing metroidvania with more bullet hell elements than reaction speed checks.

The difficulty curve is a bit weird at the start, with the first two bosses notably harder than the rest due to lack of power ups. The power ups are hidden in quite ridiculous ways, and you're unlikely to find them all by yourself, which is good or bad depending on what kind of person you are.

The platforming is pretty non-existent, which is honestly fine because the combat is the focus.

There are definitely places where there can be more polish, but they don't detract much from the game.