Let me preface this by saying that yes, I am slightly biased in writing this review. Not only do I have a nostalgic soft spot for Bunraku, but I also had to go through quite a search for it that was a journey in itself. For anyone unaware, Bunraku was released on the site years ago. I was able to play it before it was taken down, and just the other day while going through Google Street View, I suddenly remembered that it exists and went on a bit of a hunt (with the help of fellow RMNers, huge shoutout to lordbluerouge for finding the dev's facebook) that ended with reaching the dev and asking if they would be willing to share the files. They were kind enough to not only share them, but also upload the game back on the site. Now you could argue that my biased review is not objective, but to that I ask, what review ever is? A lot of us on the site write reviews for our friends' games and perhaps give them a bit more praise than we would have had we not known the developer personally. In the end, this is a small community, ratings are all arbitrary and objectivity is no big deal, really. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I really enjoyed playing Bunraku, and even if there might be some slight bias in just how much I enjoyed it, I recommend checking it out for yourself regardless now that it's finally available to the public again.

Just from its concept alone, Bunraku is a pretty unusual game for rpg maker. It's a point and click style first person game, which in itself is rare enough for the engine, but it also was made almost entirely with backgrounds from Google Street View. The idea of exploring real places in Japan in a game are enticing enough, but the reason Bunraku is so great is not just thanks to the awesome setting, but also what it does with it. It's an incredibly clever and well made puzzle game. A really difficult one, but also an incredibly satisfying one to solve. Usually with puzzle games I run straight to a walkthrough when I get stuck, but Bunraku does not have one as far as I'm aware. Yet I wanted to replay it so bad that it felt wrong to give up, and I'm glad I kept going because figuring it out was immensely satisfying.

Bunraku is largely open ended, and doesn't really give you a clear direction on what to do. You have a lot of puzzle pieces available, but it's entirely in your hands to piece them together. Things only really become clear once the game's main mechanic clicks, which for me didn't even happen until the first hour or two that I spent on it. I was blindly wondering around and inspecting everything available to me before I had a huge revelation, audibly gasped and went "OH SHIT I FIGURED IT OUT." It was an incredibly satisfying moment (granted one I missed for so long only because I was being stupid and not checking what something did) and from that point onwards it basically turned into the equivalent of having the edges of a jigsaw complete and trying to fill in the center. I now had a fully clear idea of where to go next and what to do and the game left it to me to figure that out rather than explaining it to me.



It's not without its issues that some players might frustrating, but to me those issues just added to the charm of the game. Bunraku has a very strong feeling akin to older point and click games, and the "issues" just add to that vibe even more. One such issue would be that there are no shortcuts - if you want to get somewhere, you're going to have to travel there. It's hard to describe exactly what I mean without spoiling the main gimmick of the game, but I can sort of describe it as having to repeat certain points over and over to traverse to the next one. I must acknowledge some players might find it annoying, but I don't think the developer had much of a choice since the game is already pushing what rpg maker can do in terms of eventing, and adding a quicker way to travel would likely result in a lot of bugs, so it wasn't a real problem for me. The only genuine issue I have with the gameplay was a softlock I ran into about 3-4 hours in that would have required me to reset the entire game. Fortunately, I was able to open the game in the editor and cheat my way past the softlock, but I can imagine that would be genuinely frustrating for players who wouldn't be able to do that. I did mention it to the developer, and they mentioned foreseeing that softlock and working your way around it was meant to be one of the game's hardest puzzles, but I personally think it would be better off without it since the pros of its removal would outweigh the cons. To anyone who wants to avoid it:


Depending on the player, how cryptic the game is might also be a negative moreso than a positive. As I mentioned earlier, I found it very satisfying to piece everything together myself, but I'm sure some players might not proceed very far into it due to having no clear direction on what to do. I think it will just boil down to a personal preference, and though it was a highlight for me it could very well be the reason you don't bother completing it.

On the topic of the gameplay, I suppose the other thing I should mention is how you navigate the Google Street View maps. Another thing some players might find annoying is that there are no indicators on which directions you can turn or move to, so exploring might feel kind of clunky to some players. This was another aspect that I found added to the old adventure game charm, but perhaps an option to toggle indicators on where you can go would be a nice addition. But regardless, after you stick with the game for a little while you do get a sense for where everything is and become much better at navigating. Towards the end I was able to traverse the maps very quickly from one end to the other with litte to no issues, and once I got the hang of the movement I found it really fun to explore these real life places with actual player movement rather than just clicking where you need to go like you would on Google Street View.



I suppose the next logical thing to talk about would be the visuals. Bunraku is a very nice looking game, which is kind of to be expected when you're exploring real life Japan I suppose. Even so, the developer went above and beyond with the game visually. There are some characters you encounter during the game with really great looking movement. The way they glide into view from off-screen or zoom on their graphic as they get closer is incredibly charming and looks awesome. Objects photoshopped into the environment stand out, but never look out of place. The only thing from a visual standpoint that I think could be better would be the windowskin, which I hear the dev replaced with a scroll in the upcoming remake of the game, which was a wise decision. In the current version, it's the default rpg maker windowskin, but I suppose it is nice to be reminded when you see it that you're still playing an rpg maker game. My only other suggestion would be to move the choices menu to the center of the screen rather than the right edge, but that's basically the definition of a nitpick.

Lastly we have the story to talk about, and there's not really much for me to say here. I don't recommend Bunraku to anyone looking for a more story centered experience since it's much more about the gameplay, and the story that's there isn't really a linear dramatic experience but more of a spiritual journey that's either hinted at or read about rather than told in a convential narrative format. It's perfectly servicable and does go quite nicely with the game's tone. The exploration feels quite solitary in Bunraku. Even if you run into some people (and sometimes there will be people in the background but this is Google Street View so what are you gonna do about it), you always get the sense that you're alone. It's strangely foreboding, despite the game's very calm visual style and soundtrack, and the story compliments that very well. Something you can't quite understand, something that's foreboding just like the gameplay is. It's not the primary purpose of the game, but it would be unfair to discredit it altogether because I think focusing on the gameplay was the right choice.

Overall, Bunraku is a very professionally made and unique experience that you don't find in a lot of other rpg maker games. It's also very well polished and I don't recall running into any bugs or janky sections. I think it's well worth your time, and now that it's back on the site I hope more people will check it out. I'm really glad I got to experience it again (and actually beat it this time) and I would once again like to thank the developer for their generosity, and I certainly hope it inspires more developers to try out similar concepts. Please. I would certainly not mind playing more Google Street View games.

As much as the creepy memories of the cloaked figures and the dolls watching you, and the unique Google Street View gameplay and visuals I only remembered in a brief dreamlike manner were very well fit for a piece of lost media, I'm really glad to have played through this again. I give Bunraku four and a half ningyo out of five.