RIN: The Last Child Review: A Creative Metroidvania With Plenty of Magical Potential

Introduction

Metroidvania games often rely on exploration, challenging platforming, and abilities that gradually open up new parts of the world. RIN: The Last Child brings those familiar elements together with a dark fairy-tale setting and a spell-crafting system that gives players plenty of freedom to customize their combat abilities.

Developed around themes of mythology, family, and personal freedom, the game follows Rin as she explores a fallen world and confronts her corrupted siblings. Its interconnected environments, magical progression, and multiple endings give the adventure an interesting foundation. However, floaty platforming, inconsistent controls, and some frustrating design choices keep the experience from reaching its full potential.

The Story

RIN: The Last Child takes place in a dark fairy-tale world created by a powerful being known as the Teller. To maintain this world, the Teller created five demigod children, each responsible for a different aspect of existence: Essence, Time, Death, Space, and Life.

Over time, the Teller became too weak to guide the world, while the five children became corrupted by their own powers. Their actions sent the world into chaos and decay.

Rin, the Teller's last child, is different from her siblings. Rather than receiving a divine power, she was given free will. Her journey takes her across the fallen world in search of her siblings, forcing her to confront what they have become while uncovering the truth behind her creation.

The story explores obedience, personal freedom, family, and the responsibility that comes with power. Decisions made throughout the adventure also influence the fate of Rin's siblings and the Teller, leading to three different endings.

The Presentation

On Xbox Series X, RIN: The Last Child runs at 60 FPS, providing smooth performance during exploration, platforming, and combat. Rin's movements and animations are fluid, although the controls do not always feel as precise as they should.

The visual direction draws from ancient mythology and elemental themes, creating a dark fairy-tale atmosphere. Different environments are built around fire, water, earth, and air, giving each area its own appearance. Rin's glowing white hair makes her stand out, while the large, stylized bosses help give the major encounters a stronger visual identity.

The spell-crafting system also adds variety to the presentation. Different combinations can change the appearance and effects of your magic, making experimentation more visually interesting.

The soundtrack and sound design help establish the atmosphere. Calmer music accompanies exploration, while wind, percussion, and quieter musical moments add mystery to ruins and dungeons. The audio becomes more intense during boss encounters, helping each area maintain its own mood.

The Gameplay

RIN: The Last Child is a 2D Metroidvania focused on exploration, platforming, and magic-based combat. Players travel through an interconnected world filled with hidden paths, environmental hazards, and locations that require newly unlocked abilities to access. Jumping, dodging, and using wind currents are important parts of navigating the environment.

The biggest feature is the spell-crafting system. Rather than relying on traditional weapons, Rin collects five types of magical aspects and different spell patterns to create her own attacks. There are 18 base spells divided into attack, defense, and utility categories. These can be customized with lesser runes that increase damage and great runes that change how certain spells function. With the different aspects, runes, and upgrades available, the system offers up to 7,776 possible spell variants.

Players can equip three spells at a time and switch between sets during gameplay. Spells can also be disassembled so their components can be reused in new combinations. This gives players plenty of opportunities to experiment and adjust their abilities to different situations.

Combat features smaller enemies such as slimes, mosquitoes, rats, and spitting plants, along with five major boss encounters against Rin's transformed siblings. Consecutive hits can build damage during combos, making attack timing and spell selection important.

Fountains of Life provide a way to restore health and serve as rebirth points after defeat. Beyond combat and exploration, the decisions made throughout the journey affect the story and determine which of the three endings players receive.

The Flaws

Despite its creative ideas, RIN: The Last Child has several problems that affect the overall experience.

Platforming is one of the biggest concerns. Jumping can feel floaty, and movement does not always respond with the precision expected from a game built around challenging platform sections. Combat also suffers from occasional delays between button inputs and the actions appearing on screen, making some encounters feel less responsive.

The spell system offers considerable customization, but managing all those abilities can become frustrating. Some controls share the same buttons, which can result in the wrong action being triggered at important moments. Certain movement and progression abilities also feel repetitive rather than meaningful.

Exploration has its own issues. Although the world is large and interconnected, some areas lack clear landmarks or directions, making backtracking more tedious. There have also been reported progression problems involving required abilities that can leave players stuck until they discover the correct upgrade.

Technical issues, including occasional stutters, input problems, and clunky menus, add to the frustration. The audio also has some rough edges, with certain ability sounds occasionally lingering through cutscenes and clashing with the soundtrack.

Finally, the story does not always create a strong emotional connection with its characters. Rin does not speak, and the limited time spent with some of her siblings before their boss encounters can make the more emotional moments feel less impactful.

The Verdict

RIN: The Last Child has a creative foundation that makes it worth experiencing for fans of Metroidvania adventures. Its dark fairy-tale world, mythology-inspired environments, and extensive spell-crafting system give players plenty to explore and experiment with.

The ability to create thousands of spell combinations is easily one of its most interesting features, while the interconnected world and multiple endings provide reasons to keep progressing. Unfortunately, floaty platforming, inconsistent input response, frustrating ability management, and exploration issues prevent the game from delivering a consistently satisfying experience.

There is plenty to appreciate here, but the rough edges are difficult to ignore. RIN: The Last Child is an ambitious adventure with some genuinely interesting ideas, even if its execution does not always match its potential.

The Gamer Section Score

4 OUT OF 5

Pros

• Creative spell-crafting system with up to 7,776 possible variants

• Dark fairy-tale world inspired by mythology

• Interconnected environments with exploration and platforming

• Multiple endings influenced by player decisions

• Smooth 60 FPS performance on Xbox Series X

Cons

• Floaty jumping and inconsistent controls

• Delayed combat inputs

• Spell management can become frustrating

• Backtracking and unclear navigation

• Technical issues and occasional audio problems

• Limited character development and emotional connection

Platform Reviewed: Xbox Series X