Rabi-Ribi

who up here rabing they ribi rn

I'm playing it for the gameplay.

lesbians

Just to get it out of the way first, the character designs are weird. Luckily they don’t come up often so it’s easy to ignore if you’re really put off by them but it is still a needlessly weird thing to include. Your only real interaction with the characters (and their artwork) comes from their introduction before/after fighting them and some brief moments during the story. These sections are brief and the story itself is pretty unimportant so you could even skip it if you really wanted. It's all just an excuse to keep pushing you forward through the game rather than anything crucial to understand.

The greatest strength of the story is how it allows you to proceed at your own pace. You don’t unlock anything substantial through story progress and nearly everything you need is found directly on the map. There are bosses scattered throughout the overworld and the story unlocks new chunks each time you defeat a specified amount of them, but there’s little to stop you from going well past the required amount and fully exploring the map before you’ve even finished the 2nd chapter. So you can just ignore anything not immediately gameplay related until the very end and skip most of that anyway.

Rabi Ribi prioritized its gameplay over everything else and given how the final product turned out this was easily the right call. I haven’t played many bullet hell-style games so my opinion might diverge from the genre’s more dedicated fans, but I thought this was a pretty well-designed game overall. There’s plenty of variety to the fights and they strike a good balance between being difficult enough that you can’t relax mid-fight without being so overwhelming as to make the experience mentally taxing. I’ll confess there are still a good number of moves I struggle to deal with or don’t see a clearly reliable way to avoid, but most times I experienced this I could eventually find the tactic the game probably had in mind. So I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt for those where I couldn’t find anything similar.

What helps Rabi Ribi work compared to other bullet hells is the combat. You’re not just sitting back and shooting from afar or avoiding the bullets until a timer runs out. You need to be at least a little bit proactive, moving in to hit the boss whenever their attack ends or, if you can tolerate the risk, jumping in mid-attack and getting some extra hits in exchange for making it more difficult to avoid whatever they’re throwing at you. The melee combat forces a much greater degree of interaction between you and the boss compared to other game’s I’ve seen and helps raise the skill ceiling without throwing more and faster bullets on the screen.

There are only two noteworthy complaints I have about the combat system. While it does add a lot to the fights, there isn’t much depth to the melee attacks themselves. Bosses don’t respond much to being hit apart from a brief stun period, making the melee feel secondary to the rest of the combat mechanics. Enemies won’t try to avoid you, they don’t move after taking damage, nor do they have any melee attacks of their own to complicate your moves. The damage you do through your own attacks is valuable, but the skill ceiling for your offensive moves is much lower than the defensive aspects of combat. It’s only when you take on the extra risk and attack at the same time an enemy is attacking you when the skill ceiling reaches its peak, but the game often makes this impossible through moves that can only be avoided from a certain distance away from their starting point. The second issue I have is with the visuals during combat. They’re fine most of the time but there are a good number of times where the color of the bullets blends in with the background in a way that makes them frustrating to track and avoid. But that's something which could have been fixed a lot more easily so, while frustrating that it wasn’t fixed, it's not worth spending much time on to explain in detail.

Rabi Ribi’s combat is its main strength while the exploration was a lot weaker. While it worked as a bit of downtime between bosses, there was very little about the map itself that stood out as particularly engaging. It's just the standard 2d Metroidvania fare but without the strong visuals or level design typically used to keep traversal interesting. Movement is relatively simple and the platforming sections are rarely challenging nor do the generic enemies pose much threat. While I had a decent enough time with the exploration and the marginal upgrades scattered around various nooks and crannies was decent encouragement to pay attention while moving around, the map is still the weakest part of the gameplay. It would have been nice for the environment to play a greater role in fights (To my memory, none of the bosses were fought in anything but a normal rectangular room with no platforms) but I suppose it's not a huge loss.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Rabi Ribi quite a bit. Its a surprisingly engaging game once you get the hang of it and I’m definitely interested in checking out Tevi next time I have some time available. The core gameplay here is already pretty solid but I see quite a few areas where a spiritual sequel has the capacity to improve it even further. But even as-is, this is still definitely worth playing.

somehow the best metroidvania and it's not even close

My hands are shaking.

6.6 / 10

bnuy

bnnuy

Fully explored movement techniques in a deeply non-linear world that never reveals itself as such. The bullet-hell-style combat tests both reflexes and adaptability, while only turning from difficult to frustrating in some optional post-post-endgame battles in the game's 25+ hours long campaign. The music, marrying catchy electronica with cinematic leitmotifs, shines especially during boss fights. The game mixes pixel art and cel-shaded portraits in a charming (and unorthodox) way, but most character designs fail to be particularly memorable. The biggest glaring flaw is the ridiculous, meandering plot: while all dialogue can be fast-forwarded and ignored, every scene feels like a lost opportunity that barely justifies the events of the game and sprinkles in the occasional unnecessary fan-service CG. While the meaningless but light-hearted story could be much better, Rabi-Ribi doesn't get lost in it, managing to hatch as an unparalleled Metroidvania and a testament to the genre.

When metroidvania met Touhou

Rabi-Ribi is a delightful anime-styled Metroidvania with bullet hell combat. For context, I purchased the two relevant story DLC that contain extra super hard boss battles, as well as more plot and the "true ending" and I just wish this game was about 10 hours shorter or had the plot wrapped up in the base game as I did not have enough fun mashing my head against the wall in the DLC battles, so to YouTube I shall go for the true ending.

Base game - Gives me that same feeling playing Cave Story or Astlibra: Revision for the first time...exploring a vast, interconnected world with great combat, a story with memorable characters and plot with more depth than first appears and all from a Japanese perspective. There is so much content here for anyone who wants to dive deep into the bullet hell end of the combat pool will have a lot to master and enjoy. For me, I hit my enjoyment ceiling before clearing the DLC and decided to play their follow up, TEVI, instead of slogging through to see a few more cutscenes.

Great mix of platformer and bullet-hell. A lot of areas to explore with many hidden treasures.

I bought this game in honor of an aussie egirl named lolipilled my deepest regret is not telling her i would grape her...

The game has some phenomenal boss fights and great vibe with the music, characters and scenery. The only gripe I have against it is the slightly degenerate parts. Can't recommend it enough though, most fun I've had in a while.

lovely everything honestly. a really fun metroidvania but this game can get haaaard at least it was for me

yes

Game of the Year since 1775

So cute >.< ♥

i slept on this for years why is this genuinely so peak

I found the exploration dull because so many of the areas feel disconnected from one another, made worse by their layouts frequently being straight paths from the left to the right or vice versa. Combat against regular enemies was boring to me because there wasn’t a lot of enemy variety, and most enemies were extremely easy to kill. Combat only got exciting during boss fights, but because you are seemingly exclusively fighting against characters that are the same size as you, many of the encounters started to feel same. I wasn’t enjoying many of the aspects of what I look for in a Metroidvania, so I saw no reason to continue playing.

Exploration is great, bosses are great, combat is great, music is amazing. It does get harder in the later parts of the game but that's the point. Very good game + rabbit(s).

Good would recommend

my first ever bullet hell game, and its awesome.

the best game i ever played

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.

i spent 12 mins well

game so cute im touching all the devs

fun

Incredible metroidvania bullet hell mixture. The metroidvania aspect of the game is incredibly well done and is even designed in such a way that "0%" runs of the game are possible by design which is just incredible. The bullet-hell side of the game is of course the boss fights and they are incredibly well done for this style of game. Many bullet-hell games that use side-scrolling platformer as the the base don't consider that lack of free flow movement when deciding how many bullets to flood the screen with, but Rabi-Ribi doesn't do that. It gives you the full room to work with and always makes sure that the bullet patterns make sense and are fair for the controls you have to work with.
Overall I'd rate Rabi-Ribi a solid 7/10. It is definitely worth grabbing and will get you tons of hours of playtime.

awful and not fun to play

Amazing

Honestly, FUCK Ribbon.

bnuuy :)

Funny

kawaii <3

"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.

As the time of this review, I don't remember who gifted me this mess, but I didn't even play an hour of this crap even though steam says I played an hour it's actually one 7th of an hour which is 42 minutes, but I will eventually and just to clarify, I am NOT into the "cute anime girl culture" or loli junk, but I remember watching someone play this game a couple of years back, and I liked the soundtrack. Other than that I could care less about these stupid anime girls and their story in this damn game. Do I recommend this game for others? Sure. but personally HELL NO!!

A "metroidvania" that is really more of a boss rush. The bosses are a mix of bullet hell and classic metroidvania. Game has a cute aesthetic, with some ambiguously dark undertones if you pay attention to the lore.

The game is pretty hard FYI.

cute bullet hell platformer with some really surprisingly satisfying combat!
also super cute bunny girls!

cute girls are the greatest

Adventures of Erina and Ribbon on magic island. Well, this game about "How to Rabi-Ribi" with great soundtrack until you meet Irisu after that the game will change.

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Idk just a pretty boring game. The bosses are cool but anything in between feels like a complete time waster

Bunny girls are hot

This game breaks 3 of the most fundamental rules of game design:

1. A long fight is not a difficult fight.

This game adopts the approach starting in the late-middle game that a good way to get free difficulty is to draw out fights as long as possible, often hard limiting how long certain fights must last, which in some cases even exceed 10 minutes. If someone wants to completely minmax for damage, even entering every fight with 2hp and end the fight in 2 minutes at most, they should be able to. But they can't, no matter how good they are, for no real reason.

2. Your game can be lost, but that doesn't mean it should.

For some reason, there's this attitude in a subset of the gaming culture that you have to lose a game before you can win. While it certainly should be possible for anyone to lose, that doesn't mean players should have to expect to lose, or developers should expect their players to lose. There's a clear line between a game that challenges you to become better and better, and a game that is made to defeat you. This game crosses that line.

3. It is never okay to punish a rational decision.

This applies to both bullet formations and consumable usage. If there's a path through a formation that any reasonable player would try to take, they are not to be punished by a second surprise attack just for taking that route. Similarly, there are players that don't mind using consumables, especially in major fights, and the game itself actively encourages them to be used. Don't then give their opponents such insane buffs, no matter how temporary, for quite literally playing the game as intended.

Uno de mis metroidvania favoritos junto con Hollow Knight, la historia deja mucho que desear pero el gameplay es genial, combina metroidvania con bullet hell (tu hurtbox es un punto literalmente), los jefes son dificiles al principio pero cuando les agarras la mano (dependiendo la dificultad que elijas) se hace mas ameno

La música es un 10/10, algunas las sigo escuchando a día de hoy

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.

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