Update Two Hundred and Five: 5 August 2018
RiME
8.8 hours, 31 of 31 achievements
8/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I did end up with a different opinion than BLAEO user Shax - I ended up liking this game! Did it find its way into my heart? No, but I still enjoyed my time with it and, at the very least, really ended up being charmed by the environment’s aesthetic and architecture.
I love me some melancholy, sunbleached ruins, and these Mediterranean-inspired white marble buildings are no exception. The island, the tower, and the strange places you go to all are very different, both in theme and color palette (blue hills and shoals, red village rock ruins, green and white city ruins, black onyx in the pouring rain) but the sensibility and shared design elements all form a very cohesive whole. Gold accents also make the fancier buildings fresh as fuck. The game used a similar stylized color and shading style to Firewatch, one I simply adore. The world is really lovely to play and roam around in.
It moves great, too. Puzzle platformers live and die on the movement of the characters, and the Boy in this game handled just fine - maybe a touch slow when running, but the controls were balanced well. I liked all his different running animations - different whether he was running down steep slopes or through knee-deep water, it felt responsive and natural in the world. If you had him up to a full jog and didn’t watch where you’re going, he’d run face first into objects and literally bounce off them and sprawl on his back, a cute (if painful-looking!) touch.
If there’s one true enemy in RiME, it’s the camera. Not that it’s out of control - oh, no, you control it. It just clips through EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING! All that beautiful work they put in, working hard as hell at immersion and all the shaders and particle effects and foliage… and it’s destroyed because the camera clips through every wall and shows the skybox, or other objects flicker and pop, faces blinking in and out of existence. That makes it REALLY HARD to navigate tight, narrow corners and spaces, and it really dampened my experience of the first two levels, until I got more deft at controlling the camera and not letting it brush the walls. If there’s any big detractor of the game, in my mind, it’s that.
The story’s nothing to write home about - in fact, having played another Tequila Works game so recently, it just made me kind of chuckle about how they both end with a surprise reveal of it’s a sad regrettable old man responsible for everything.
I’m very glad I won this game, and I enjoyed the time I spent with it.
Next up: This game has mixed reviews on the steam store. Let’s see if I end up agreeing!
See you soon!
Edit:
Oh, and, I’m doing a switchback - I was able to get SeaBed fixed! Turns out a save file got corrupted. Since I had just barely started Muv-Luv, I’m going to finish SeaBed out before I progress. Yay!
Rime is in Origin Access so I think it’s gonna be next game I will play :D
Did you play Rime with keyboard or controller?
I played Rime with a controller - I play all 3D games with one. I grew up on one and while I CAN translate it to WASD, it’s a difficulty spike for me.
The controls were really nice - not a problem. The only big issue on that front is the camera clipping problem I had above.
Glad to hear that you end up enjoying it ^^ Makes me really wanna pick it up too :)
I already approved it for you in the PA group tool a few hours ago. How long did it take you approximately to finish just the story and no extras if you don’t mind me asking? Does 5,5 hours sound reasonable? Asking so I can adjust the time to fit better for any future players.
I definitely think it’s worth it!
I think 5.5 is reasonable - it’s hard for me to judge, though, bc I played through the whole game going slowly, getting each collectible as I got near it, left it idle as I ate dinner, etc. Maybe 5, even? Adding the extra half hour for people trying to figure out the puzzles makes sense.
Thank you for approving it! I noticed it got approved when I checked it after I finished - the tool didn’t detect all my achievements at the time.
Its on my wishlist now so hopefully I get the chance to get cheap somewhere soon :)
Ok thanks for the info! I will leave it as it is then :)
The achievements only sync about twice a day, playtime does more often. You had way more than enough playtime/achievements when I saw and approved it earlier so there was no need to wait any longer for it to sync everything.