The Friends Of Ringo Ishikawa (With Tim!)
738I (Tim Rogers) played The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa on the Nintendo Switch. Its presentation resembles a game in the classic Japanese Kunio-Kun series—players control a high school ne'er-do-well who fistfights, level up, and learns something about life in the process.
Western players might know the Kunio-Kun series because it includes the classic River City Ransom. However, The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa more closely visually resembles later games in the series.
Meanwhile, it evokes comparisons to Persona with its daily schedule and time-management aspects.
Most amazingly, this god darn game right here is written like actual literature. The dialogue is some of the best I've ever seen in a game. The texture of the English feels like someone with a PhD in literature translated it from Japanese. I can't think of a better compliment.
A single developer in Russia made this game. Yet now it's tearing up the charts even in Japan, for the nuanced cultural sensitivity of its script.
Look, man, if you've read all of this description, I don't know what else to tell you. The game is hot. I can't believe how hot this is. These YouTube descriptions are pretty much My Blog right about now, so listen: if I were you and I found any of this interesting, I'd just buy this.
I play the game sort of like a buffoon in the early parts of this stream, though only because I was not expecting it to contain so much incredible depth. It just does such a good job of looking like a pure, simple game—and it is. Though wow. It has so much more inside it. I will continue playing it until I have unpacked everything.
Definitely one of the best games I've played so far this year.