Someone Made an Amazing Free RPG Video Game About Rap Beefs Called 'The Legend of Drake'

Have you ever wanted to be Drake, Lil B, or Future, and fight through your own rap beef? Me neither—until now. Rapper and apparent game dev Sprightly has released the 16-bit game called The Legend of Drake: Rise of the 6 God, available for download on both Apple and Windows. Players assume the role of rap’s biggest stars and live vicariously through their beefs. The game is based around turn-based battles, reminiscent of old fighting games, except you're fighting Future in pursuit of 6 God status. 

The game is all at once a joyful parody of hip-hop and a call to action. Aside from a good laugh, this game is a great example of how to use your platform and your creativity to inspire change. The opening screen features a call to action against systemic racism, inspired by Meek Mill’s recent court case. Sprightly also includes a link to donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Sprightly tells us, "I started working on this game basically as a joke a year and a half ago, but during the course of that time, a lot has transpired in terms of major racial injustices, specifically affecting the hip hop community. Make no mistake, this game is still a ridiculous joke at its core, but I wanted to include a note at the beginning of the game, empowering people to fight for what's right. I wholeheartedly respect hip hop culture and meant this as a loving parody. But we need to do what we can to protect the community if we want to continue to enjoy it. If my weird-ass Drake RPG can help with that at all, then those 500 hours were definitely worth it."

We spoke briefly with Sprightly about his inspiration and process for putting the game together. Get the game here, read the interview below, and continue for more gameplay screenshots.

Where did the original idea for this game come from? Which rap beef inspired you to make a whole video game about them? 

Telling you that might ruin some of the surprises the game has in store for players. But I will say I chose Drake as the main character not only because I like his music, but because of how polarizing he is in the rap community and the many enemies and friends he has aligned himself with over the years. I feel like rap beefs have been the igniter for some of my favorite songs, so the initial thought for the game came from imagining how great that adversarial energy would work for a video game.

Do you have experience making games like this?

Nope! When I first started the game I was using it as a vehicle to learn how to code and then it just kind of snowballed from there. I just thought of a funny idea to use for my "test" game but then I kept going back and making improvements until it turned into what it became. I still think the ending is the best part, because I learned so much as I worked on the game over the past year and a half. As you play the game, you can see me getting better and more ambitious as the game progresses.

How long did it take to get everything together?

The program I use actually logs the time you spend working on it, and it was over 500 hours. In between working a full-time job and like, having a life, it amounted to about a year and a half. 

Do you have any other rap-themed video games for us in the future?

During the credits sequence in this game, I tease my next project. It's definitely hip hop-influenced, but all of the characters, artwork, and music will be original. Hip hop is such a part of my life that I'm sure it will find its way into whatever I work on.

What was your favorite part of the process?

My favorite part was taking these rappers and making them into characters within the game. Everything from their personalities in dialogue to their in-battle attacks is representative of who they are or at least who they show themselves to be in their songs. For example, Lil B's Twitter account is hilarious, so I decided early on that one of his attacks would be tweeting absolute nonsense to confuse his enemy.

Anything else you'd like to share?

I started working on this game basically as a joke a year and a half ago, but during the course of that time, a lot has transpired in terms of major racial injustices, specifically affecting the hip hop community. Make no mistake, this game is still a ridiculous joke at its core, but I wanted to include a note at the beginning of the game, empowering people to fight for what's right. I wholeheartedly respect hip hop culture and meant this as a loving parody. But we need to do what we can to protect the community if we want to continue to enjoy it. If my weird-ass Drake RPG can help with that at all, then those 500 hours were definitely worth it.