Skip to main content

Rabi-Ribi

This is a game I would absolutely recommend to any gamer looking for a great platformer and a decent challenge. Look past the overly-saccharine exterior, and you have an excellent game that marks a strong start for indie releases in 2016.
Rabi-Ribi Game Cover
92%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
grinding, optimization
96% User Score Based on 2,912 reviews
Critic Score 83%Based on 3 reviews

Platforms

PCPlaystation 5Playstation 4Steam DeckWindowsPlayStationPlaystation Vita
Buy Nowfrom $1.90
Buy NowGet on Steam $17.99
Rabi-Ribi Game Cover

About

Rabi-Ribi is a single player arcade role playing game with fantasy and anime themes. It was developed by GemaYue and was released on January 28, 2016. It received positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

Dodge bullets, missiles and lasers in battle as you wrap your head around that bunny girl costume! Combo away with your mighty Piko Hammer or spam various spells from afar with your fiery fairy friend. Explore and explode through Rabi-Rabi Island as you collect power-ups and uncover secrets...

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
Rabi-Ribi screenshot
+18
Skip User Reviews

96%
Audience ScoreBased on 2,912 reviews
story235 positive mentions
grinding29 negative mentions
  • Excellent blend of bullet hell and metroidvania genres offering challenging and rewarding boss fights.
  • Huge non-linear map with plenty of secrets, upgrades, and sequence breaking encouraged for high replayability.
  • Outstanding soundtrack and smooth, responsive controls enhance the overall experience.
  • Art style and character designs may put off some players due to heavy anime fanservice and sexualization.
  • The story and dialogue are often considered shallow, convoluted, or awkwardly translated.
  • Late-game content features punishing difficulty spikes and lengthy boss fights that may feel tedious or frustrating to some.
  • story
    882 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in Rabi-Ribi is generally considered lighthearted, simple, and anime-inspired, serving primarily as a framework to tie together the gameplay and boss encounters. While some players find it cute, charming, and occasionally intriguing with quirky characters, others criticize it as superficial, nonsensical, or overly cliché, with translation issues and pacing problems detracting from the narrative experience. Overall, the story is appreciated mostly by those who enjoy the game's style and characters but is often viewed as secondary to the strong gameplay and exploration elements.

    • “The story revolves around Erina’s search for her lost master and her gradual understanding of her transformation, accompanied by a growing cast of quirky, friendly, and occasionally eccentric characters.”
    • “The story is so delightfully bizarre I find it hard to wrap my head around sometimes, so I will leave you to discover it!”
    • “Great level design, incredible Metroidvania + bullet hell gameplay, god tier soundtrack, heartwarming story (with a few surprisingly dark themes), full of moe and a bit of fanservice.”
    • “The story is bare-bones, mostly being an excuse plot whose main purpose is to string together the boss fights.”
    • “The most frequent and valid complaint is that the story is incomprehensible and goes in many directions, and the fact that memory alteration is involved does not help, with only the ending of the post-postgame being the one to tie up most of its crucial loose ends.”
    • “The story and characters are horrifically bad, but and the graphics and enemy variety aren't great, but the gameplay is pretty solid.”
  • gameplay
    710 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Rabi-Ribi excels in delivering tightly designed, fluid, and challenging gameplay that masterfully blends metroidvania exploration with bullet hell combat, notably in its boss fights. The game offers a high skill ceiling with responsive controls, diverse mechanics, and rewarding progression, complemented by multiple difficulty modes and vast post-game content that enhance replayability. While the story and aesthetics may divide players, the gameplay alone is widely praised as engaging, addicting, and mechanically impressive within its genre.

    • “Rabi-ribi is genuinely one of the very few metroidvania games that understands what makes Metroid and Castlevania fun from a gameplay perspective.”
    • “The movement is crisp and creative, gameplay always keeps you on your toes, and the bullet hell mechanics make the boss fights challenging but never unfair.”
    • “The gameplay is a unique blend of metroidvania exploration and action with bullet hell boss mechanics, featuring tight controls, varied combat options, and high replayability with multiple modes and difficulty settings.”
    • “Too much stopping gameplay for talkie talkie.”
    • “The bullet hell mechanics in the boss fights are a little bit interesting, but then there are completely unavoidable attacks in some of them which is a super no-no in bullet hell games.”
    • “The flaws it inherit from the metroidvania side of things: bosses have invincibility phases; design usually ignores your mobility options and devolves to what i call the 'skip rope then mash button' type of fights; and tons of bosses have 'quirky' hidden mechanics that you'll only ever discover if you look up a walkthrough.”
  • music
    706 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised as outstanding, catchy, and perfectly fitting each environment and boss battle, often described as energetic, memorable, and a major highlight that enhances the gameplay experience. Many players consider the soundtrack a "masterpiece," with tracks ranging from upbeat and cute to intense and epic, making it so compelling that some bought the soundtrack separately. Overall, the soundtrack significantly elevates the game's atmosphere and replayability, being recognized as one of the best aspects of the title.

    • “The soundtrack deserves particular praise—it’s fast-paced, energetic, and infectious, elevating every boss encounter and exploration sequence.”
    • “The music, marrying catchy electronica with cinematic leitmotifs, shines especially during boss fights.”
    • “The music perfectly enhances the atmosphere as you explore different areas, enriching the overall experience.”
    • “The music was fine for the most part, although some songs drove me insane from how often I heard them during boss fights.”
    • “The story is pretty weak though and the music is meh; the basic visual style is alright but the cutscene art is all really gratuitous and kind of... bad.”
    • “Just, the soundtrack DLC I bought doesn't include the battle with Rita BGM, which makes me a bit disappointed (I was expecting to get it by purchasing the DLC).”
  • graphics
    433 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a cute, colorful, and retro-inspired pixel art style that many find charming and well-executed, complemented by detailed character illustrations and vibrant environments. While the anime aesthetic and some fanservice elements may be off-putting or misleading to some players expecting a casual experience, the visuals effectively support the game's challenging gameplay and lively atmosphere. Overall, despite some criticism for simplicity or stylistic preferences, the graphics are praised for their consistency, artistry, and how well they mesh with the game's tone and mechanics.

    • “The artstyle, pixel graphics, and character sprites are cute and very well done, complemented by beautiful CG artwork and an amazing soundtrack, making for a charming and visually appealing experience.”
    • “The visuals are a delightful mix of retro-inspired pixel art and polished character illustrations, creating a pleasant aesthetic that balances vibrant colors and lively animations, truly enhancing the game's atmosphere.”
    • “The graphics skillfully combine cute, colorful pixel art with expressive character designs and fluid animations, delivering an engaging and visually satisfying metroidvania and bullet-hell hybrid gameplay.”
    • “The visuals are generic and not very inspiring.”
    • “Game has a cute aesthetic, with some ambiguously dark undertones if you pay attention to the lore.”
    • “Rabi-ribi's graphics can be an eyesore at times (some sprites literally ripped from Touhou, on top of mixing several artstyles), but it's super long, super challenging, and super fun, doesn't hold your hand other than teaching you certain mechanics.”
  • replayability
    116 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game boasts exceptionally high replayability, driven by its non-linear design, multiple difficulty levels, diverse modes (including boss rush and speedrun), numerous achievements, and post-game content. Its challenging boss fights, sequence-breaking possibilities, and community mods further extend playtime, making it highly engaging for both casual and hardcore players. Overall, it offers vast replay value well beyond the initial completion.

    • “The game also includes post-game content, additional modes, and multiple endings, adding considerable replay value for those who become engrossed in its mechanics.”
    • “Between the non-linear world design and the highly sophisticated combat, the game has tons of replay value, and I can see myself playing it for several hundred hours more.”
    • “Plenty of replayability if you want to get better.”
    • “I don't think it has much replay value but I could see myself going back in to 100% at some point.”
    • “Rabi-ribi is a metroidvania game with bullet hell touhou like incarnate battles, a decent gameplay time and a bit of replay value if you do it for the achievements.”
    • “The game offers a bit of replayability due to its different difficulty options, and its different modes that changes the gameplay a bit.”
  • humor
    82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is widely praised for its lighthearted, cute, and playful tone, filled with witty, self-aware, and anime-inspired jokes that enhance the charm and appeal of the story and characters. While some find the humor occasionally forced or groanworthy, most appreciate its blend of absurdity, clever references, and heartwarming moments that complement the engaging gameplay. Fans of quirky, anime-style comedy will likely find the game consistently funny and enjoyable.

    • “The dialogue is filled with humor and references to anime tropes, giving the game a light and comedic tone.”
    • “Extremely open ended but guidance provided if needed, plenty of environments to explore, tons of power-ups and items to find, bunch of bosses which are difficult but fair, plenty of difficulty choices, frequent autosaves including always before a boss fight, solid controls, good music, humorous characters and dialogue, good length, plenty of extras (special bosses, boss rush, etc), comes with a free DLC, still being updated and having things added to it 3 years after release.”
    • “Packed full of humour, especially hilarious if you're already into the cutesy anime-style brand of humour that this game has in spades.”
  • character development
    71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game is generally seen as shallow, with many side characters lacking depth or contribution to the story, though main characters tend to have more defined personalities. The character designs are consistently described as cute and charming but also heavily fanservice-oriented, sometimes risqué or questionable, which may alienate some players despite their appeal to others. Overall, while character designs are visually appealing and fit the anime-inspired aesthetic, the storytelling and development behind them receive mixed reactions.

    • “The character designs are cute, though maybe a little too generic sometimes, but the personalities shine through and make the characters all fun to talk to and interact with.”
    • “The main characters have their own personality which further adds to the story and character development.”
    • “Character designs are... fanservicey to say the least, and characters themselves do not have much depth.”
    • “While having distinctive character design and backstory, many side characters contribute almost nothing to the plot, making you question whether they are relevant to the story or not.”
    • “- shallow character development.”
  • emotional
    44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers a charming, cute, and heartwarming story that gradually builds emotional depth, especially toward the end and in post-game content, though some players may find the narrative somewhat superficial or overshadowed by its quirky, anime-style presentation. Its lovable characters and touching moments provide genuine emotional resonance without being profoundly heavy, appealing mostly to those who appreciate wholesome, lighthearted storytelling paired with challenging gameplay.

    • “The story starts cute and innocent, but eventually as the world builds, your emotional walls may break.”
    • “Even though the story only really gets serious towards the end and in the DLCs, under the cute and lighthearted mask lies something that, after finishing it, I would even call 'emotional'.”
    • “Great level design, incredible metroidvania + bullet hell gameplay, god tier soundtrack, heartwarming story (with a few surprisingly dark themes), full of moe and a bit of fanservice.”
  • grinding
    31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game ranges from minimal and engaging, focused on learning enemy patterns, to somewhat tedious with repetitive boss fights and backtracking for items. While normal runs don't heavily rely on grinding, post-game content can demand significant time investment, which some players find rewarding but others consider frustrating. Overall, the grinding aspect balances challenge and progression but may test players' patience depending on their tolerance for repetition.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “It's not too grindy on a normal playthrough and it's not the worst when it comes to cramming fanservice down your throat, which surprised me, to say the least.”
    • “A few downsides with the game is having to refight the same bosses multiple times; I know it's part of the main story but it became tedious.”
    • “Grinding bosses to learn patterns just to squeak out a win with less than 10 HP left gets mind-numbingly tedious.”
    • “The new post-postgame bosses were some of the most challenging stuff I have seen in jump 'n' runs and took me up to 15 hours of learning patterns, grinding, quitting and coming back to finally beat them.”
  • atmosphere
    26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its perfect synergy with the music, which ranges from upbeat to somber and richly enhances each area and battle. Despite some mixed opinions on the art style and story, the overall ambiance is described as charming, engaging, and well-suited to the game's aesthetic, with a relaxing and wholesome feel that keeps players invested.

    • “The music perfectly enhances the atmosphere as you explore different areas, enriching the overall experience.”
    • “From upbeat tunes like adventure starts here, to the sombre floating graveyard, to the relaxing unfamiliar place, to every one of its battle themes, every note is beautiful, and always sets the perfect atmosphere for what it's used for.”
    • “The soundtrack is one of the best ones I have heard, and helps create the atmosphere for each area.”
    • “The art is mediocre, and a bit too lewd for me, as it tries hard to create a wholesome atmosphere.”
    • “The story is a bit wack; however, in the end I suppose it complements the naive and clueless (in a cute way!) atmosphere the main character has.”
    • “While the dialogue (mostly the translation) and story are kind of lacking, the atmosphere is just right.”
  • optimization
    19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is generally well-optimized, running smoothly at up to 60 FPS and even playable on older PCs, with good controller support. However, some users report occasional performance issues, particularly during complex scenes or on lower-end laptops, and stuttering during credit animations due to lack of preloading. Overall, it offers strong technical performance complemented by responsive gameplay and minimal optimization concerns.

    • “With well optimization, you can even play it on an old PC.”
    • “Performance-wise, the game runs like a dream, with great controller support, especially considering how Steam handles controller input these days.”
    • “The game runs at a maximum of 60 FPS, providing smooth gameplay.”
    • “The game doesn't preload or cache the CGs and animations it plays during the credits, resulting in noticeable stuttering every time it loads one, even when running off an SSD.”
    • “You need unlocked FPS to play properly with good performance and precise shots.”
    • “The game does have a few performance issues, usually in areas where there's a lot going on in the background.”
  • stability
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game runs smoothly and stably at high settings with minimal bugs, and includes options to re-enable glitches for speedrunning purposes. While generally bug-free, some users note occasional clunky controls and level design issues that can lead to repetitive backtracking. Overall, stability is solid with minor frustrations related more to design than technical performance.

    • “Runs great at 4K 60fps with GTX 1050 Ti.”
    • “Mostly bug-free.”
    • “It would be fun, apart from its clunky controls, buggy level design, and poor story which leaves you backtracking to areas you've already been, exploring rooms you've already explored just because you've unlocked one tiny little thing and there might be something in the room that was previously inaccessible.”
  • monetization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The provided text does not address the game's monetization aspect. Therefore, no summary regarding monetization can be made.

Skip Critic Reviews

83%Critics’ scoreBased on 3 critic reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy Rabi-Ribi

47h Median play time
81h Average play time
11-105h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 18 analyzed playthroughs
Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like Rabi-Ribi

Games Like Rabi-Ribi

TEVI Image
90%1.2kreviews

TEVI

2023Casual Role Playing Shooter
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+6
Games like TEVI
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight Image
85%7.8kreviews

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

2016Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchLinuxXbox Series X|S+9
Games like Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse Image
87%1.8kreviews

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

2015Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchPlaystation 5Playstation 4+10
Games like Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Touhou Luna Nights Image
94%5kreviews

Touhou Luna Nights

2019Hack and Slash
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+6
Games like Touhou Luna Nights
Khimera: Destroy all Monster Girls Image
96%917reviews

Khimera: Destroy all Monster Girls

2016Platformer
PCWindows
Games like Khimera: Destroy all Monster Girls
More games like Rabi-Ribi
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Rabi-Ribi is a arcade role playing game with fantasy and anime themes.

Rabi-Ribi is available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

On average players spend around 81 hours playing Rabi-Ribi.

Rabi-Ribi was released on January 28, 2016.

Rabi-Ribi was developed by GemaYue.

Rabi-Ribi has received positive reviews from players and positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Rabi-Ribi is a single player game.

Similar games include TEVI, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Touhou Luna Nights, Khimera: Destroy all Monster Girls and others.