Raccoin review

Not so long ago, Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike would have seemed like an absurd and impractical idea for a game, but in the wake of time-wasting roguelikes like Balatro and The clover pitit seems to be little more than a natural progression. sure, Raccoin wears its influences on its sleeve and ultimately proves to be a valuable addition to the pseudo-gambling genre, but whether that's enough to draw players away from the countless other addictive roguelikes on the market remains to be seen.

I'll admit I was a little skeptical Raccoin first. Coin pushing isn't a game with a lot of depth or strategy: you simply insert coins and hope they'll end up pushing other coins against the front of the machine, giving you points/cold hard cash. Real poker involves countless different combinations of cards, different point types, antes and other variables as a game that Balatro can manipulate for interesting mechanics, but coin shooting is almost painfully simple. Thankfully, my skepticism soon disappeared, as Raccoin exploits this simplicity for some surprisingly well-designed and nuanced systems.

There are persistent power-ups you can acquire during one Raccoin run, but basically all advantages and disadvantages boil down to the effects of special coins. There's a dizzying amount of such coins to exploit, and you'll unlock more as you complete the runs, and while this means that Raccoin has a slightly steeper learning curve than other “dopamine machine” games, it also keeps things interesting and chaotic over time. Coin-pushing's lack of pre-established mechanics means that Raccoin can get unusually creative with these coins and other player-controlled variables, but it also means that Raccoin lacks some of its contemporary elegance.

Raccoin spins gold from the simplest premises

I hesitate to do too many Balatro comparisons, such as that and Raccoin ultimately play quite differently, but another parallel worth mentioning is the overall structure. Raccoin runs start with you choosing a card and ticket, which is the same as Balatro's decks and stakes respectively: Cards provide special benefits, while tickets are difficulty modifiers. Each run consists of 15 rounds, and between each round there is a shop where you can buy long-term buffers called Chips (equivalent to Balatro's Jokers) and disposable items to enhance your run. Then there are Bad Coins (Boss Blinds) which cause negative effects but give extra rewards when clearing.

But while Balatro is precise and scientific, Raccoin is hectic and chaotic. This is one of the reasons I was turned off the game at first: because so much of Raccoin is physics-based, it can sometimes feel random and even unfair – a feeling reinforced by random effects like Bad Coins and spin-wheel rewards that add new coins to the field. Once you accept this relative lack of control and familiarize yourself with the positive effects of various specialty coins, Raccoin blossoms into a ridiculously addictive whole.

Depending on which upgrades you prioritize during a run, you can have well over ten special coins available at any given time, and there are many ways to acquire more during rounds and make individual coins stronger. The effects of these coins vary dramatically, with my favorites including those that must remain in play. For example, some coins will increase your score multiplier as long as they are on the field, rewarding you for strategizing to keep them out of the scoring zone. Other memorable coins include one that gets coins it touches to grow in size, and a “wolf” coin that increases in value by chasing “pig” coins. In almost all cases, these modifiers set the stage for viable and unique experimentation, facilitating the satisfaction of build-crafting that is the key to so many great roguelikes.

Raccoin faces a sea of Roguelikes that want to eat up your time

After hitting a race with almost every character, I can confidently say that Raccoin is a strong and multi-faceted roguelike with plenty of replay value and room for experimentation. I'd even go so far as to say that it does certain things, such as meta progression via in-run unlockables, better than most games in the genre. In fact, taken at face value, Raccoin is an easy sell for roguelike fans.

Once you accept this relative lack of control and familiarize yourself with the positive effects of various specialty coins, Raccoin blossoms into a ridiculously addictive whole.

But does it do enough to meaningfully stand out against its relentless competition? on paper, Raccoin has everything a good roguelike needs and then some, but it never really grabbed me that way Balatro, Hades 2, Megabank, Kill the Sproutand Mewgenics have. I wouldn't say I've seen it all Raccoin has to offer, but that drive for “just one more time” just isn't as palpable as it is with other mainstays of the genre, and it's hard to say why. The aforementioned chaos of the coin-shooting premise may have something to do with it, as this lack of player control undermines the calculated feel of master-crafted construction evoked by the best roguelikes.

At the same time, Raccoin sometimes it feels like it's holding itself and the player back. Design choices like forcing you to break your combo to activate a special prize wheel, or requiring you to acquire several unique special coins for a relatively low effect, can sometimes make for an unfortunately underwhelming experience. In general, persistent upgrades can often feel underwhelming, many of them offering such small or context-specific bonuses that they're hardly worth the trouble. This problem is prominent in the keychain upgrades, which are meant to be the most significant and least frequent offered: they range from major benefits like a brand new upgrade slot, to insignificant buffs like an 8% chance to turn a regular coin into a random special coin from your inventory.

The flaws in Raccoin is ultimately far from game-breaking, and I still find it fun, charming, and mechanically unique: it can easily give you a few dozen hours of solid gameplay. But we live through an unprecedented era of deep and massive roguelikes, many of which offer hundreds of hours of ever-evolving gameplay. Against just a handful of these more avant-garde and ambitious titles, Raccoinwhile well done and fun, it feels inconsequential. It might just be marginally less compelling than something similar Slay the Spire 2 or Balatrobut in this time-consuming genre space, it makes a huge difference.