RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike Review (PC)

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t dreamed about planting a stick of dynamite in an old coin pusher machine back in my youth. Regrettably, I still have that urge. Well, perhaps I’m not quite as desperate for that dopamine injection. Yet it continues to bewilder me that, despite having grown out of childhood dreams, I still feel that unquenchable desire when it comes to slotting coins into RACCOIN. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about the tickets or the prize booth. But I do, however, care about the synergies—the wildcards and the machine-altering effects that dramatically alter the odds of scoring a jackpot. I’m not in it for the cash; I’m in it for the dazzling combos and the occasional boon. I just want to witness the coins plummet — even if it means having to kick the machine and ruffle a few well-oiled feathers.

It feels as if I’m stuck in a perpetual cycle, where I’m either slotting coins into an arcade machine like an elderly person on the slots or adding new coins to a wallet to unlock different abilities. It doesn’t matter if the jackpot topples; the coins allow me to collect more upgrades and opportunities to amass greater wealth. A flurry of coins means more benefits—a Cat Coin that can attract rats and double the payload, or a Water Coin that can absorb seeds to create a profitable cash cow, for example. It matters not if I have a cascading tower of coins; it matters only that there are hundreds of scenarios that I can knuckle in on and even more card-like synergies that I can examine and deploy. I hate that I love it, but I also can’t seem to keep myself from exploring new combinations. Either the child deep within is living the dream, or RACCOIN really is that addictive. At this point, I’m really not sure what it is, much less how two hours have passed and I’m still abolishing towers.

It doesn’t take much to connect the dots here, nor does it take a genius to come to the simple conclusion that coin pushers, of all things, are a guilty pleasure that almost anyone can enjoy without needing to tap into their inner tactician. And I’ll be frank, while most generic coin pusher apps would normally run their course and lose their novelty factor after a handful of minutes, RACCOIN has something a little different to keep your fingers tapping and your wallet puffy. Take the coin combinations, for example. Unlike most coin pusher games, RACCOIN makes it so that every turn you have a new wildcard to submit, be it a coin that can quadruple the value of the drop, or a coin that can boost your chances of scoring a heftier payout. And, to echo, there are tons of combinations to work with here, with each experimental synergy having its own distinct advantages and drawbacks.

While the gameplay loops doesn’t go out of its way to reinvent the wheel, it does provide a tactical edge that allows you to experiment with various characters, all of whom foster their own strengths, themes, and coin preferences. But other than that, what you see here is exactly what you get: a mind-numbing arcade game that’s as equally striking as it is addictive. There isn’t  a lot to it. Simply put, it’s about jarring coins into the slot and watching the multipliers accumulate whilst all sorts of sparks and frills shroud the screen and fill your eyes with points, perks and, of course, more coins to play with. And that’s really all there is to it. It’s simple fun that has an edge, albeit a small one that doesn’t exactly require the smartest of cookies to comprehend.

As with most bite-sized gimmicks, there is a limit to how much entertainment you can truly squeeze out of RACCOIN before the process begins to feel a little dull and repetitive. Of course, there are several ways to keep the rollers in motion, with a generous collection of characters (six, to be exact) and upwards of 150 coin combinations and items to choose from to help spice up the gameplay. However, I wouldn’t say that there’s a lasting quality to it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great deal of fun to watch unfold for the first hour or two, but like a lot of things, that all-important novelty eventually begins to fade and the experience soon transcends into something far less impactful. Even still, for a relatively low admission price and for all of the dopamine top-ups that you should be able to wring out of it, I can’t say that it’s unworthy of your time. It might not be the best choice for alleviating your boredom, but it ought to be a choice companion for helping you scratch that itch, at least.

Verdict

RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike hovers somewhere between being a great coin-fumbling dopamine cortex and a pointless chore that has no defining purpose other than to dazzle you with the glitz and glamor of digitalized spoils and the joyous colors of stacked synergies and combinations. Is it an unnecessary addition to the incremental field? Maybe. But, it’s also, rather strangely, a lot of fun, too. And I find myself sitting on the fence here, because on the one hand, I want to acknowledge the fact that it’s a game without any real purpose. But on the other hand, I can’t help but sing its praises and enjoy it for the simple pleasures that it rolls out like clockwork.

As long as you’re able to waltz into RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike with the intention of whittling down a few hours to help cure your boredom and nothing more, then you should find more than enough to keep you busy here. Again, don’t expect a flawless arcade game, because honestly, it isn’t much more than a generic coin machine with a roguelike twist. However, if you can appreciate the little things—the simple deck-building process and the glamorously detailed visual effects, for example—then I can imagine you’ll enjoy the mindless act of slotting coins into its machine.