Candy Rangers is creative, unique, and undeniably full of personality, but it is also overwhelming, repetitive, and sometimes downright frustrating.
Every now and then a game comes along that feels like it was pulled straight out of someone's sugar rush dream. Candy Rangers is one of those games. It is strange, colorful, loud, and unlike much of what you normally find on modern consoles. At its core, this is an on-rails shooter, but not in the traditional sense. It mixes in rhythm-like timing challenges, action platforming elements, and constant split-second decision-making, all wrapped in a candy-coated aesthetic. On paper, it sounds like a mashup of arcade fun. In practice, it is chaotic, overwhelming, and depending on your tolerance for repetition, either exciting or exhausting.
The premise is straightforward. You play as a squad of four candy-themed rangers, each a brightly dressed magical girl whose mission is to save their sweet world from invading monsters. There is not much depth to the storytelling, at least not in the traditional sense. The game offers light cutscenes that introduce new bosses or quirky enemies, but the real narrative is told through the chaos of the stages themselves. Every level is like a rollercoaster ride through a bizarre amusement park built out of candy, frosting, neon lights, and surreal backdrops. The charm lies in its simplicity. The rangers do not talk much beyond their attack shouts and victory poses, but their personalities shine through in their animations.
You are not here for a layered, emotional narrative. This is Saturday morning cartoon energy, and it embraces that tone fully. It is cheesy, over the top, and unashamedly silly. That suits the gameplay because what happens on-screen is so wild that it almost feels wrong if the story tried to be serious.
What makes Candy Rangers stand out is the way it combines two seemingly different genres. The rangers march forward on a set path, almost like a sidescrolling action game on autopilot. You do not move them directly, but you command their reactions. When spikes jut out of the ground, you press a button to make them jump. When energy beams streak across the screen, you make them dodge. When a projectile heads their way, you time a parry. All of this is happening while, at the same time, you are aiming a cursor across the screen to shoot enemies.
Enemies are color-coded and mapped to the face buttons. Red enemies require one button, blue another, green another, and so on. Early levels ease you into this system by throwing enemies slowly and predictably. It feels almost playful at first. But soon the screen becomes littered with enemy waves, bullets, environmental hazards, and bosses with wild attack patterns. Suddenly you are juggling so many actions at once that your brain starts to split in two. One half focuses on keeping the rangers alive, while the other frantically taps buttons to blast enemies before they overwhelm you.
When it clicks, it feels amazing. There is a strange satisfaction in perfectly timing a parry to deflect an attack while simultaneously shooting a wave of color-coded enemies in rhythm. But when it does not click, it is a mess. The screen can become so chaotic that you feel like you are reacting to noise rather than playing with intent. And that can be frustrating because Candy Rangers does not slow down to explain itself. It expects you to keep up.
Progression is tied to coins you collect during levels. At first, this seems harmless. You pick up coins as you go, earn some from defeating enemies, and naturally build up a stash. But then you hit a wall. Levels are locked until you have enough coins to unlock them. If you did not collect enough the first time through, you are forced to replay earlier stages.
This is where Candy Rangers shows its weaker side. The levels are already chaotic enough on their first run, but having to replay them over and over to scrape together coins quickly saps the fun out of it. Instead of feeling like you are progressing naturally, you are grinding. And since enemy placement and stage hazards are mostly the same each time, the replay value comes down to improving your score rather than discovering anything new. For players who love chasing high scores and perfect runs, this might not be a problem. But for those who just want to see all the levels without busywork, it becomes a chore.
The gating system is made worse by how demanding the coin requirements become later in the game. By the time you reach the mid-stages, you are essentially locked into replaying earlier content until you master it enough to gather enough coins. This design choice feels out of step with the otherwise frenetic arcade-style flow, and it will likely divide players.
If nothing else, Candy Rangers nails its aesthetic. The visuals are loud and colorful in a way that almost feels overwhelming. Imagine every candy wrapper from your childhood, every neon sign from a fairground, and every rainbow sparkle filter crammed together into one screen. That is Candy Rangers. At times it looks beautiful in a surreal, dreamlike way. At other times it feels like sensory overload. But that is part of the charm.
Character animations are lively, and the bosses are especially fun to watch. Giant candy beasts, bizarre contraptions, and over-the-top attack patterns make each stage feel distinct. The PS5 hardware ensures that even when the screen is packed with bullets, explosions, and sparkles, the frame rate stays smooth. Technically, the game runs well, which is crucial because any slowdown would completely ruin the flow.
The soundtrack complements the action with fast-paced, upbeat tracks. There is a lot of electronic flair mixed with sugary pop tunes that keep the energy high. It is not necessarily music you will remember after the credits, but it fits the mood perfectly while you are playing. The sound effects, from the blasts of your weapons to the over-exaggerated enemy cries, all contribute to the sense that you are trapped in a candy-fueled arcade fever dream.
Candy Rangers is one of those games that is hard to recommend universally. It is creative, unique, and undeniably full of personality. It is also overwhelming, repetitive, and sometimes downright frustrating. If you are looking for something completely different, something that throws traditional rules out the window in favor of chaos and spectacle, then this might be worth trying. But if you value smooth progression and hate replaying the same levels just to see new content, then Candy Rangers will test your patience more than your skills.
In the end, Candy Rangers feels like a sugar rush. Bright, energetic, and exciting at first, but with a crash that comes later when the grind sets in. It is a game that some will adore for its weirdness, while others will walk away scratching their heads. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a PS5 via a promo copy provided by the publisher. Candy Rangers is available on PS5, PC and soon on Xbox Series.
