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0 If you too are mourning the loss of the NY Times mini crossword to the deplorable paywall, then maybe this will tickle your fancy. Rita by Sporktank is an upcoming, crossword solving adventure where you play as a small chick Rita and learn about your world. The demo launched earlier this month and I was lucky enough to snatch it away from everyone else at Thumb Culture!
Okay so one down is… something you play?
Does this cosy little adventure have a lot of promise? Or is it a failed wordsearch looking for a dictionary? Well, let me tell you everything I know about little Rita. You can try out the demo for yourself here!
Gameplay
The focus of Rita is the word games. You waddle around the map, collect letters and then solve puzzles that affect the world around you. Starting as a hatchling, you play as Rita, a little chick about to embark from her egg to the real world. You are immediately introduced to the game mechanics. To start the game you roll around to collect the letters of your name which you then fill in on the grid. After hatching, you are free to wander around and meet the inhabitants of the island.
There are secondary quests as well as separate worlds where the game shifts gears. Instead of focusing on crosswords, you have to do word searches to build paths for Rita to travel across. It keeps Rita well within the realm of a word game but allows some diversity in the types of games you’re playing. This was honestly a nice break from finding letters to fill in the crossword despite it not really being that different.
Graphics & Audio
The background music for Rita is perfect for a game with such cosy vibes. There is no need to rush or feel like you can’t just wander around. It makes the game content in itself and in turn makes the player content as well. The graphics are old school and cubic but in a cutesy way. Nothing feels overcomplicated or too much and everything works really well. If Rita had more high definition graphics it wouldn’t work. Sporktank has definitely managed to find the perfect combination of gameplay, audio and graphics.
Final Thoughts
Whilst the demo is short, it gives you enough playtime to show you exactly what to expect. I really liked everything that was on offer and now Rita has a place on my wishlist as I wait for it to officially release. If you’re a fan of puzzles and cosy games this is definitely a good game to add to your library.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this preview.
We previously reviewed another Sportank game, called Batography, check it out here!
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