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0 Ruffy and the Riverside is an action, adventure game from Zockrates Laboratories UG with the publishing assistance from Phiphen Games. This game is a beautiful return to the classic collectathon genre. Games like Banjo-Kazooie and Paper Mario are huge inspirations to the game. I honestly wanted to add ‘puzzle’ to the list of genres for this game due to the crazy amount of puzzles in it. I didn’t but, it’s the puzzles definitely form a good part of its personality.
You’ll need a really good wheel of hay to travel these woods. Without it, it’ll be one bale of a time.
Th game may not be out until 26th June, but you can still Wishlist it on Steam today! Or if you want to give it a try before you buy, I recommend the demo, it’s really fun!
Gameplay
Ruffy and the Riverside starts you out with Ruffy the bear, Pip the bee, and Eddler the Mole falling on a chunk of earth. Basically, after what seems like no time to understand how we got here, we get a quick tutorial on our abilities. Ruffy has the power of SWAP — a easy description may be that it’s CTRL+C and CTRL+V on drugs. We copy the vines nearby and paste it on the waterfall behind us. This transforms that entire waterfall into an enormous collection of vines which we use to climb to safety.
Not only do we learn that 22 days have passed in game, but that the reason for this whole adventure is pretty wild. As we continue to learn more about how Ruffy uses his powers, we also learn that Ruffy was found somewhere when he was young and adopted by his mentor. We learn this fact from both Ruffy and his adopted father/mentor. However, the start of this game left me with more questions than it did answers.
While on your adventures, solve puzzles, help friends with their problems and do a few hay races and trick contests. You could even work your way though the trails of the Snake, if you dare.
Graphics
As I’ve stated in my preview article of Ruffy and the Riverside demo, I loved the mix of 2D and 3D approach. Basically I stated that the NPCs and characters we talk to being moving paper 2D models, had me reminiscing over Paper Mario. On top of that, having the entire world and enemies be 3D was an actual great choice. Surprisingly having this nice distinguishing difference between who is friend and who is foe is very beginner-friendly.
Zockrates Laboratories UG really loved the old classics. Not only did they work painstakingly to keep that N64 3D look, but they also made it so clean and smooth. It must have been one heck of a task. Even if they’re smarter than the average bear. Yet, the one thing I really want to touch on when it comes to the graphics is their cutscenes. Not only are the animations for everything so smooth and well polished, but also they went ‘Looney Tunes’ with how the camera works throughout everything. I felt as if I got on a rollercoaster and got tossed around while being on it.
I do want to also touch on the creative way the team choose to not overwhelm anyone’s hardware with their game. The next section of a zone is blocked off by a black void, and this will disappear when you’ve gotten close enough. However, if you’re going to one of the other zones, it’ll have a simple preview image showing you what it looks like before going through the image doorway.
Audio
Although I can say a lot more about their graphics, let’s discuss their choice for music when visiting different zones. The OST is enjoyable and helps me reminisce of the good old days of when I spend hours playing Banjo-Kazooie. Some zones have either mellow or upbeat music for their start zone and intersection zone. The OST I heard when visiting each zone felt perfectly placed. So much so that, with enough time, I could tell which area I was in even if I was blindfolded.
Longevity
I don’t know if when playing the game, I might have been given a hint on how long it would take to beat the game. Yet, it took 22 hours to finish while also trying to complete it. Although I honestly thought that it would take me an average between 13 and 15 hours. There are some puzzles that did have me take me some to solve. Consequently, I didn’t stick to just the main quest a lot of the time due to me wanting to help the NPC out.
But, I believe that regardless of how long it should take to beat the game. Everyone should just explore everything and get curious on how to either get somewhere or solve the puzzle. Just remember to think out of the box and burn that sucker while you’re out… safely. Don’t want Smokey the Bear on our rears.
Final Thoughts
Getting to explore Ruffy’s entire world through so many wacky and yet charming eyes was honestly an amazing treat. Getting to explore different methods or finding out what works with swapping one another is both fun and aggravating. There are times I wish that my swap ability either lasted longer or we had a bit more freedom on swapping anything into anything. Although I feel the developers had that first thought and realize that it’s not a great idea to do.
If you’re a big collectathon/platformer enjoyer or want to play another game that Banjo-Kazooie/Paper Mario inspired, then play Ruffy. Just know that the fights aren’t the grizzly and your biggest enemy is just yourself… but only “bear”ly .
I give Ruffy and the Riverside the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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