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Rime, Part Two
Me: The puzzles in Rime are annoying, and the platforming elements are awful. If this turns out to be one of those indie games where the kid is dead all along, I'm not sure it's worth it to...
Me: *checks spoilers on YouTube*
Me: GODDAMMIT.
I think Rime is supposed to be about four hours long. Not counting my first hour of wandering around aimlessly, I put about two hours into it, and I think I'm done. Rime is like Journey without the charm and like Wind Waker without the cleverness and solid gameplay. Where it succeeds visually are its brightly colored landscapes, but it forces the player to spend a lot of time in unlit interiors. I think there's supposed to be an emotional payoff at the end, but I'm not feeling it.
It turns out that the kid is in fact dead, having fallen overboard during a storm while on a boat with his (or her?) father. It's not clear whether you play as the kid's soul making the transition from life to death or whether you play as the father imaging the kid's fantasy adventures as he navigates the seven stages of grief, but the last bit of the game involves the father walking around the kid's room and picking up the kid's toys, each of which played a symbolic role in the game (a stuffed fox is the fox spirit that leads you through the early stages, etc).
I am predisposed to cry at video games, but this revelation came so totally out of left field that my reaction was basically, Wow that is an A++ Hot Dad, 11/10 would comfort in his grief, by the way that is some nice real estate, I wonder how much his house is worth.
I think I would have preferred a more straightforward story of a kid being shipwrecked on an island and discovering the remains of an ancient civilization. The game is structured so that the kid is able to visit the island in what seems to be different time periods: in one it is lush and green, in another it is filled with ghosts and sand-choked ruins, in another there are robots, and so on. Also, many of the game's puzzles involve circles, orbits, the sun and moon, light and darkness, and other elements that suggest the cyclical nature of time. It would therefore make sense, both in terms of game design and gameplay, to have the game's theme be the ultimate ephemerality of even the most monumental human achievement within the endless flow of time.
I think it would also be cool if the game involved the kid gradually realizing that they are the heir to this ancient civilization but then leaving everything behind on the island so that they can go home. Or the kid inadvertently (or deliberately) destroying everything on the island and being okay with it. Or the island being some sort of trial or pilgrimage the kid has to undertake in order to become an adult, kind of like a spirit quest.
I guess I wanted the game to be more thematically cohesive. As it stands, it's a waste of what could have been some gorgeous environmental storytelling. I'm not sure that even the most resonant of themes and the most brilliant of storytelling could have made up for the shitty puzzles and platforming, though.
Me: *checks spoilers on YouTube*
Me: GODDAMMIT.
I think Rime is supposed to be about four hours long. Not counting my first hour of wandering around aimlessly, I put about two hours into it, and I think I'm done. Rime is like Journey without the charm and like Wind Waker without the cleverness and solid gameplay. Where it succeeds visually are its brightly colored landscapes, but it forces the player to spend a lot of time in unlit interiors. I think there's supposed to be an emotional payoff at the end, but I'm not feeling it.
It turns out that the kid is in fact dead, having fallen overboard during a storm while on a boat with his (or her?) father. It's not clear whether you play as the kid's soul making the transition from life to death or whether you play as the father imaging the kid's fantasy adventures as he navigates the seven stages of grief, but the last bit of the game involves the father walking around the kid's room and picking up the kid's toys, each of which played a symbolic role in the game (a stuffed fox is the fox spirit that leads you through the early stages, etc).
I am predisposed to cry at video games, but this revelation came so totally out of left field that my reaction was basically, Wow that is an A++ Hot Dad, 11/10 would comfort in his grief, by the way that is some nice real estate, I wonder how much his house is worth.
I think I would have preferred a more straightforward story of a kid being shipwrecked on an island and discovering the remains of an ancient civilization. The game is structured so that the kid is able to visit the island in what seems to be different time periods: in one it is lush and green, in another it is filled with ghosts and sand-choked ruins, in another there are robots, and so on. Also, many of the game's puzzles involve circles, orbits, the sun and moon, light and darkness, and other elements that suggest the cyclical nature of time. It would therefore make sense, both in terms of game design and gameplay, to have the game's theme be the ultimate ephemerality of even the most monumental human achievement within the endless flow of time.
I think it would also be cool if the game involved the kid gradually realizing that they are the heir to this ancient civilization but then leaving everything behind on the island so that they can go home. Or the kid inadvertently (or deliberately) destroying everything on the island and being okay with it. Or the island being some sort of trial or pilgrimage the kid has to undertake in order to become an adult, kind of like a spirit quest.
I guess I wanted the game to be more thematically cohesive. As it stands, it's a waste of what could have been some gorgeous environmental storytelling. I'm not sure that even the most resonant of themes and the most brilliant of storytelling could have made up for the shitty puzzles and platforming, though.