Much like The Witness and Talos Principle, RiME is another one of those puzzle island games wherein an unnamed protagonist explores an isle full of, well, puzzles. Unlike those titles, however, this is an immensely linear journey: 90% of the obstacles encountered are in a specific order, the few divergent ones indifferent from their brethren. Unfortunately, as you’ve no doubt heard, all these enigmas, regardless of their placement, are pretty easy to solve, so the question is, is it still worth an endeavor? I would say so, but only for those individuals looking to share a gaming experience with their younger kinsfolk.

See, I’ve never been against perspicuous video games because newer players are born every second and warrant better products than your usual edutainment release. Sure, if you’re older you won’t find much excitement, but, rather than criticize the developer, it’s better to view yourself as outside the target audience. The thing I appreciate about RiME is, yes these are simple puzzles involving such timeless classics as align the stars and the wolf/goat/cabbage problem, however they never feel brainless the way Observation’s did. There was clear effort put into the placement of units, meaning they don’t come across as rehashed conundrums copy/pasted for the sake of padding. And considering the lack of dialogue, it honestly wasn’t a bad idea to go the easy-breezy route; have the player figure things out on their own, even if that entails streamlining the overall enterprise.

Really, the larger gameplay problem is the pointless free roam. As I stated earlier, this is a relatively straightforward experience- you’re constantly going from A to B with little deviation, which in turn necessitates a lot of running, and I have to wonder what the point if it all was. Why bother constructing such a large setting? Why not make it level-based, with shorter compressed stages, as opposed to the current model wherein I’m spending a third of my time prancing about? I get the appeal of open worlds, believe me I do: the far horizons, large open playpens, and inherent sense of wonder. But not every game warrants having one, and I feel RiME falters in its adoption of this schematic. This is a game that would’ve been better off divvying its 5 areas into large-scale dungeons akin to the Zelda series. As it stands, your boy jogs fast enough to prevent frustration, though I can’t promise you won’t exhibit any whilst aimlessly meandering across the map again and again and again.

Speaking of Zelda, fans of the latest three entries (Skyward Sword, BOTW, and now TOTK) will probably undergo deja vu upon seeing the water colours and soft cell-shading on display, and just as it was serene in those games, so it is here. Seriously, for all its gameplay flaws, RiME has a very calming atmosphere, and a large chunk of that has to do with the soluble-looking aesthetics. Most surfaces are comprised of one or two hues, giving a sense of familiarity no matter the biome shifts or abnormal NPCs; whether you’re ambling in the rain with automatons or dodging a crazed elephantine bird, there’s never a sense of displacement- you know you’re in the same plane with the same geometry and rules.

That said, some shortcomings do exist in spite of the homely habitations, beginning with the lighting. RiME implements a baked overlay that generally works fine until you step inside an enclosed space- once inside, things become a bit too dark, making pathfinding slightly difficult. Additionally, the developers have included a lot of pools and waterways, yet abstained from coding any kind of liquid effect on your protagonist: emerging from a lake or standing under a spout matters not as there are no dampened variations inputted onto his physique, nor droplets cascading from his linen. Nothing. Lastly, I was displeased with the game’s rendition of fire and smoke: the former resemble lava lamp gloops over flames, while the latter are overly flat, bringing to mind the fume drawings from older 2D animated films like Hercules and Sinbad (gorgeous there, but out-of-place in RiME’s 3D world).

Overall, though, there’s no denying the soothing atmosphere generated from the visuals, a facet further aided by David García Díaz’s wondrous score. His orchestrations easily brought to mind the late great James Horner’s classic compositions from the 90s wherein he would indulge in sweeping overtures to match the epic situations on screen (Braveheart, Titanic, Balto, etc….). When the pace dies down, his OST dials back accordingly, switching to soft keyboard and stringed notes that never let you forget their existence. Truly majestic.

Sound effects, on the other hand, are only sufficient- great designs like the clang of orbs, cawing of birds, and growling of those aforementioned robots are counterposed by the absence of wind, inexistence of lizard pattering, and repetitive barking from your fox companion that sounds more like a corgi. Footsteps are also a bit muffled, though I suppose this makes sense given that you are wearing wood sandals.

Voice acting is reduced to ineligible noises emitted by the Boy- 9 times out of 10, he’ll simply yell to activate a puzzle statue, but during the quieter moments he’ll instead hum a melody that recalled Red’s singing from Transistor (in other words, it’s nice). There are a few instances where the VA (Mirella Diez Moran) is tasked with emitting scared and angry emotions, and he succeeds in doing so despite the cap placed on his vocabulary. As a result, I have no qualms placing the Kid among the other great muted protagonists of video game lore like Yara and Link (from SS).

The drawback to removing all communications, of course, is that the narrative is inherently hit with junctures of confusion. You can glean all you want from the environmental storytelling (numerous cave paintings do adorn the walls), but in the end it’s all metaphorical and privy to player interpretation, for better and for worse. Still, the clearer beats are depicted more directly, and the ending is a giant curveball, remaking your past excursions with a heart-wrenching glaze that genuinely moved me. While you ultimately won’t be playing the game for the story, this is one of the few times where a minimalist approach was actually executed well.

In the end, I reiterate my initial assertion that RiME is a game for parents searching for something to play with their kids, or older siblings with their younger kin. It’s a serviceable adventure with a colorful world, fair story, and puzzles that aren’t condescending. All other parties look elsewhere.


Notes
-Every puddle and gold metal surface, regardless of size, has reflective properties, allowing you to see a smeared likeness of your character. Pretty dang cool.

-Don’t know why they included a roll function -- it doesn’t move you any quicker and doesn’t serve any puzzle purpose.

-The Boy has been programmed with some pretty well-done facial animations. It’s too bad you won’t see them unless you deliberately turn the camera.

-There’s a weird chinking sound every two or so times you hop. I’m assuming it was an attempted foley for some paraphernalia on the kid, but the noise has that repulsive misophonic quality you get from scraping ice off the side of a freezer.

I've only played 3 hours so I'm not sure whether the game ever gets better but in all the time I've been playing this game is an ceaseless exercise in frustration. Every single bit of this game is frustrating except the audio. The graphics are stylised and quite beautiful but this might be one of the most unoptimised messes I've played. This game CHUGS on my 2070 SUPER and somehow maxes out my i5 6600. My machine is no monster but is definitely not underpowered and that it lags is infuriating. The puzzles are quite cute but are exceedingly simple and barely use any brain cells to solve. The world is fairly beautiful and large but there's hardly anything anywhere. It somehow compels you into exploring every nook and cranny but there's almost nothing of note beyond the linear stuff outside of some dumb collectibles. The kid is animated pretty well but the controls are horrendous and infinitely frustrating because there's something about it that makes it just a tiny wee bit unresponsive somehow and that makes moving the kid so goddamn annoying. The camera while sometimes capturing grand vistas and some superb shots is occasionally so frustrating I felt like throwing the controller.

It's bad in a lot of ways and it's a shame because it looked promising but I can't force myself through any more.

Incredible in every aspect, and it will break your heart. It not just manages but excels at actually good vague worldbuilding that directly impacts the gameplay in so many different ways, and it all feels natural. The overall concept in the background is actually a bit cliché (without spoiling it), but it does deal with this in a much, much better way than your average sad backstory indie game. It does not wail in self-misery and suddenly switch moods, it's all very natural - because you can feel it through the gameplay, a wonderful feat. Just amazing. This might be the adventure game to play.

Focused exploration-driven experience that is worth putting a few hours in for the world it showcases and the passionate narrative behind it.
+ majestic orchestrated soundtrack centered around emotive strings and influenced by certain events
+ gorgeous trimmed-down art style
+ well-thought-out level design that obfuscates linearity with optional paths and secrets
+ serviceable exploration and platforming gameplay with light puzzles
- bothersome enemy in the second act