RKGK – also known as Rakugaki – is the debut title from Latin American studio Wabisabi Games, and its development was partially funded by Riot Game’s Underrepresented Founders Program. The game is a passion project, made with love and joy for what the team enjoyed in childhood. Here’s the thing: You don’t need to know any of that when you play RKGK for the first time, because you can feel it. RKGK is an ultra-polished indie platformer that, for the most part, lets you play at your own pace.

The sci-fi metropolis of Cap City, once a centre for art, has been dystopia’d by the evil B Corp and its CEO, Mr Buff. They’ve put up large screens around the city to drain the colour – and minds! – of its citizens. Our protagonist Valah is the leader of a rebel group known as Rakugaki (RKGK for short) who won’t rest until she destroys every screen, and Buff’s army of robot minions, through the power of graffiti.

RKGK is a level-based platformer where you’re encouraged to speed through as quickly as you can. Though this can prove difficult when each level is full of hidden rooms, pathways, collectables, and sometimes entire side-levels that you should search for, but that’s the point. Valah can sprint and glide and attack with her spray cans, leaving a paint trail on the ground. It’s satisfying to reach a high point and look down at the trail of paint you’ve left behind. You’re meant to leave your mark everywhere. Valah’s main objective in levels is to find screens for her to graffiti over. Once you’ve collected enough paint cans to deface a screen, all you need to do is press a button for Valah’s art to explode into reality. Especially on larger, hard-to-miss screens, the graffiti is a 3D effect that gushes out of the wall, and bounces along to the beat. 

The last third of the game is by no means bad, but is where a lot of the elements I enjoy get tamped down. Levels become longer and more difficult (so 10-15 minute runs become 20+). There are also a handful of times you encounter long (1-2 minute) stretches where failing once means starting over. The game introduces timed sections, including collectables where you only have a few seconds to nab them correctly, or even find them. Enemies become harder to beat and come at you in greater numbers. The chill vibes experienced in the first half of RKGK were harder to find towards its endgame. But this is exactly what the game wants to be, so it isn’t a knock against its quality.