Agari — Riichi Mahjong

Very nice riichi mahjong game. It delivers what it promises - a well made game that you can freely play solo or with friends. Exactly what I was looking for.

Tentative yes vote...but probably something most people will want to check back in on a few months or so from now. I feel like this project should've been marked 'early access'. There does seem to be promise in this, as there is active development that does seem to be working hard towards several goals, but it still faces the battle of other clients existing for the cost of nothing. Granted, the client mentions 'no frills' and it does succeed in it but at the same time that might not be a wise selling point either - it can lead to a mountain of criticism in its current state. It's very barebones. Currently, it lacks several game modes that most other free clients have, notably Sanma/3P which, to be fair, is in active development as of this post but likely should've been there at launch. It also lacks several other options that should be polished up as well, notably some of the audio and graphic assets. They feel like placeholders more right now, even with the voice acting that has been done. It's very flat and unnatural, the music looping isn't the best and, frankly, I don't think audio was on their minds or their strong point when they made this aside from the menu loop (which is actually pretty good). Online play is code only, so there are no lobbies to browse or easy matchmaking...something that makes the process take more steps and removes the element of finding people at random on this game, all of which is very low given its current space of being a new title on Steam. Of all the criticism, this is one of the most important problems that this game needs to consider changing since modern clients live and die on this aspect. At the very least, the AI seems competent - whether intentional or not, I lose a lot more on this client than most regardless of the settings chosen...so there's that at least. There's a lot of work left undone, I feel, hence my feelings on the EA listing. However, I've dug into the assets a bit out of curiosity (not that I think the devs appreciate that) and found there's definitely a skeleton that shows potential on what this could be and could actually mod-able if you took the time. So I can't really discount the project just yet because I do believe with the proper work it could become a very good competitor in a growing list of clients for Riichi Mahjong. I would say that if you've already played a few clients or are looking for a client without the anime images and have the funds, you likely need to check this out and see what you think by purchase or otherwise. If you're relatively new or you haven't experienced other online clients yet, Mahjong Soul might be a better option or even Riichi City if you're good with the possible explicit material with the latter. In either case, I think it's good that we have more options and I do encourage the development of this game which is why I feel confident leaving this a review in the direction of the positive. With enough time, I think this will be worth it.

Finally, a smooth Mahjong experience with flexible customizability, no gatcha, and excellent QoL features. The definitive way to play Riichi Mahjong on Steam.