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radiofloyd
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Capital R, small i, captial M and capital E. You can't change it, so just accept it.

 

Anyway, RiME is nothing like the last game I played. I'm not sure it qualifies as indie, I guess it does since Tequila Works re-acquired the rights from Sony. The Switch version is out in November.

 

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I've played 1.4 hours. There are some pretty obvious comparison points - Ico, The Witness - however from what I've played RiME would have to improve dramatically to match either of those games (even though I only played 6 hours of The Witness). The game takes played on a large island but you are guided along by a fox, and so far I've been following a very linear path. I'm not sure yet if there's a point where the games says "ok, now go explore", or it's simply up to you to do that if you want. The game tells you nothing. Essentially, you move along solving quite simple puzzles to open doors, and everywhere you go there's always a red-caped character in the distance ahead of you (not always, but e.g. in the doorways of towers like in the photo above). The puzzles in the opening hour are simple and don't remotely give any sense of achievement like in Ico or The Witness. The controls are ganky but serviceable, it would be nice if sprinting was a bit faster than it is. Everything else just works I guess. The camera is mostly ok although the few times I dived underwater it was really annoying (didn't Spyro have perfect swimming over 20 years ago?)

 

The game looks and sounds very nice, although again, it isn't remotely on the same artistic level as the two games I mentioned. The game has a day/night cycle and I remember reviews complaining about how daytime was too short and you spent half your time playing in the dark, and I agree.

 

On the whole, based on the first hour, it's a pretty decent 3D adventure game/puzzle-platformer. But the gameplay has been the weakest element.

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3.6 hours into this now. I'm well into the game's second "level" now, so to speak, so I think it was up to me to explore that first area, if I wanted. But I had no idea that the game was going to yank me out of there, or if I'll be returning... So far it's been a pretty linear game, light platforming, light puzzle-solving. I've figured out the swimming by the way, the swimming is fine.

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4.5 hours now, I'm sort of falling victim to this game's charms. In its own way it's really not such a bad attempt at an Ico-like game at all. I definitely had the misconception that this was more of an open-world game, and I probably should have taken the time to explore the opening island more, but since that opening area the game has been quite linear. I like the game's gentle ambiance and the consistency of its puzzles that nearly all involve manipulating light, even if they are quite simple.

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Finished after 8 hours.

 

It's a €35 game that I bought at a 30% discount, I think relative to other games on Steam it's on the borderline in terms of value for money, not even because of the length but because how light the gameplay can be at times. Like I said in my steam review, if you like your games to have meat on the bone then RiME might not be for you.

 

After being confused at the beginning, I enjoyed playing through the game. It's a very linear adventure where the main focus is on you experiencing a world and story that the artists have created, not on gameplay. Although I think the quality of the puzzles improved as the game went on, and in general the game improved as it went along, especially the third level which was very impressive.

 

Price considerations aside, the game's length feels about right. The game's ending is quite powerful (the ending, and the fact that the game kind of has a story within a story, reminded me of Rakuen). It's not really a great game in any department but it's a pretty good game.

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  • 5 months later...

I've just been genuinely astounded by this game. I'm not really going to talk about gameplay as @radiofloyd covered it all perfectly. Literally everything he's said about the layout mirrors my thoughts.

 

I'm going to talk about the impact it's just had on me instead. So the rest is going to be in spoilers as it'll break down certain important aspects.

 

Spoiler

Basically the game is an allegory for dealing with death. The chapters are based on denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance, and as such, the format of each level has a loose theme attached to it.

 

You play as a young boy through each of the levels, and it becomes pretty evident that he's dealing with the death of his father in a dream-like manner, playing out each of these fantasies in his head. Now as the father of a toddler, and with the fact I'm currently in hospital with a terminal illness, this idea has hit me more than normal, but anyway...

 

Denial is all about the light and bright, 'everything is fine' feel. Anger sees you being attacked by a large bird as a dark cloud looms over. Bargaining sees you bringing lights back to life (I loved that one), and acceptance has them all 'die' again.

 

As it reached the end of the game I knew where it was going, and knew the last chapter was going to feel especially melancholy. It absolutely did. Grey, drab, pissing down with rain.

 

There are also 'enemies'. There's no real combat in the game, so I can't really call them enemies, but that's the closest I can go with. These are symbolism for the boy's feelings. They start to appear from the Anger chapter, where they actively avoid him and his wrath. The desperation of Bargaining allows them to take advantage of him, and drain him - literally, they pull the colour from him - until he reaches a point where he's revived the lights and can kind of fight back. This sets up perfectly for Acceptance, where the enemies are there, but they don't bother with him. They don't affect him anymore. They can now coexist.

 

This is what I think Tequila Games have done so well. They might have been a little bit heavy handed with it, but it feels like they've really tried to drill in to how it feels when you're dealing with the death of a loved one. They respect it, and even throw in little references to depression like the rolling black clouds, which hit at the end of chapter one.

 

Now we're getting into spoiler within spoiler territory...

 

Spoiler

At the end of acceptance it turns out you actually play as the boy's dad, and it's the boy who died. This honestly gave me goosebumps, even with the cartoony artwork.

 

 

If you've read the spoilers, you might understand why this game has had such an impact on me. It's something I'd definitely recommend, but it may have more of an effect on anyone with kids due to the story.

 

Given that it is pretty much an indie game, I honestly don't mind that it's a little rough around the edges, but like floyd, I'd have preferred a little more prompting to go and explore. Looking through the extras I only found 17 of the 41 collectibles hidden throughout.

 

Highly recommended though. I adored this game.

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Cheers @retroed. It's one of those games that got really average reviews for the gameplay, and I can absolutely see why, but I thought it needed a little bit of attention for the things that it did incredibly well, and the way it handled stuff.

 

Spoiler

The hug and then letting go of the scarf/sleeve at the end killed me. Fantastic touch.

 

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I loved the game. Pricing is always one of my bug bears with these indie games so interesting to see others with the same thoughts.

 

Gameplay was a bit light. I took it in a similar manner to Journey, or a lesser extent, ICO. Nothing too complicated just enough to satisfy the emotional ride you're on. 

 

Spoiler

With you @regemond on the scarf. Got me too ?

 

 

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Just finished the windmills chapter. Some definite hitching and frame rate wobbles but nothing that’s really made me want to stop playing.

I haven’t opened any of the spoiler tags so I’m intrigued of how the story plays out, because at the moment I’m not seeing much of a story

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Made a bit more progress, feels like I’m approaching the end. To give a spoiler free description of where I’m up to - made some friends and I’m not sure whether I played a flashback section or flash forward.

 

There appears to be a lot of collectibles I’ve missed but I’m not fussed about finding them, if they appear in front of me I’ll grab them but I’m not gonna 100% it.

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Apart from gameplay niggles like not being able to climb stuff you should be able to, I really enjoyed this.

Anyone who got this on PS+ should certainly give it a fair shake.

 

I thought the story was handled well. @regemond details it better than I could but I wouldn’t recommend opening the spoiler tags until you’ve finished it.

 

I wasn’t planning on playing it again but you never know. It’s relatively short and not too tricky with the puzzles.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finished this last week, took me just under 5 hours.

 

Really enjoyed it overall, specifically the first 1-2 hours where you're still getting your bearings and seeing how the island fits together.

 

The middle part where you're solving a lot of puzzles one after another did drag a bit but that was remedied by the fantastic end segments.

 

The sound track was absolutely phenomenal and moving throughout, even the opening scenes when the theme swells up I felt tears in my eyes. The soundtrack really manages to punctuate more of the emotional and impactful moments throughout and make them feel even more memorable.

 

The puzzle design - often one of my bug bears - was perfect for my limited puzzling abilities. I never once had to look up a solution to a puzzle, with time and patience I managed to solve every one I came across - only two stumped me which was the ship shadow puzzle and the other one was the huge energy ball puzzle towards the end of the game. But yeah, I solved every one eventually and felt satisfied that I managed it on my own without feeling annoyed or frustrated, just the right side of challenging for me.

 

The ending was 

Spoiler

incredibly heartbreaking. I had a feeling the story was about loss near the beginning but to see the Father suffering like that and finally having the courage to accept his sons death and finally open the door to his room after going through all the stages of bereavement. I didn't cry though, which is surprising for me, but it definitely hit me quite hard and I'll definitely remember it.

 

It's just such a beautiful, poignant, moving little game and I highly recommend it. 

 

Some pics:

 

Spoiler

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  • 1 month later...

I'm currently playing and loving this. The jump can be a bit shitty at times and there's a bit of jank here and there but i've had a good time solving all the puzzles so far. The music is stunning, headphones are recommended. I think i've finished the 3rd chapter, then i turned it off as I thought i was done for a bit. Just turned it back on again...

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