Rift Racoon - PS5 Platinum Review

Grab a sub-30 minute Platinum Trophy as you control a teleporting racoon in this tricky but short 2D platformer.

There isn't an awful lot in the way of a story for this game. You play as a racoon starting off in a science lab, picking up a device that allows teleportation. Using this (by pressing Square and holding a direction) you can warp a few feet either in front or above your current position and you'll use this ability to help you navigate some tricky platforming hazards.

Each of the levels can be completed in about 30 seconds once you get the hang of them and you'll only need to complete 13 for the Platinum Trophy, as well as finding 3 gems which are fairly difficult to miss as you play through.

Your racoon has the ability to climb up walls for a short amount of time, so using your teleport at the right time is the key to getting to the top when necessary. Throughout your journey you'll need to avoid falling in pits, touching spikes and being careful around moving platforms.

Overview

Release Date: 12th May, 2021
Publisher: eastasiasoft
Developer: Marcos Game Dev, Ratalaika Games
Date Started: 12th May, 2021
Date Completed: 12th May, 2021
Version Played: Digital
Price: £3.99 (PS4 & PS5 Version Bundle)

The Good

The game is fairly quick to complete with 2 Platinums for one low price.
Nice retro styled pixel art graphics.
You play as a teleporting racoon!

The Bad

The controls are complicated. Some of the challenges will require you to jump, climb and teleport in 2 different directions one after the other. Because you're holding the dpad or analog stick to move, it makes it quite difficult to also aim your teleport direction.
It's quite hard - and not because of clever level design - but mainly because the controls are pretty awful.
Most of the time you might find mashing the buttons until random luck gets you through a tricky part the best way through the game. There are a number of levels you can almost skip straight through by mashing teleport and warping through dangerous obstacles before they kill you.

Hardest Trophy

Level 2-4 - Beat level 2-4.

There were 2 levels which I found particularly tricky, but on both of my playthroughs of this game it took me quite awhile to get through this specific level. Again, this was because of the difficult controls rather than not knowing what I was supposed to be doing.

Helpful Tips / Bugs / Glitches / Exploits

Make sure you set the difficulty to casual before you start. I didn't play on any other difficulty, but I imagine this allows you to get hit twice rather than once which makes everything a whole lot easier. The best technique I found is just to mash jump and teleport and try to warp your way through the hazards where possible. It doesn't work on every level but on some of them it's better to just get lucky than try to work out how you need to time your teleports and direction presses. Once you get hit you become invincible for a few seconds so try to use this to run or warp through any nearby dangers.

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 3/10

3/10

I Platinum'd it twice within an hour so it can't be too difficult but there are a few levels where I definitely just got lucky. The difficulty mostly comes from the controls rather than the actual platforming.

Platinum Time - 20-30 Mins

I Platinum'd the game on PS4 first which took slightly longer as I learned the controls and levels, but even if you struggle on a few levels, you should be able to complete the 13 required for the Platinum in way less than an hour.

Platinum Enjoyment Rating - 6/10

6/10

It was quick and I suppose not too difficult to Platinum, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it a great deal because of the tricky controls. Thankfully there are only 13 levels required for completion because if there were many more, I would have struggled to force myself through this game twice.

Overall Game Rating - 5/10

5/10

Pretty good if you're looking for a quick and easy Platinum or two, however if not, personally I think there are much better games to spend £3.99 on... Unless you really like raccoons.