A enjoyable journey with just a few Ruff patches.
Ruffy and the Riverside is a 3D action-adventure with an open world to discover and clear up puzzles in. There’s dozens of things to gather and a pleasant sense of play as you management the titular Ruffy, a bear who appears not not like a Star Wars ewok and has the ability to change his environment. The allure and tempo of Ruffy’s journey work nicely, however there are some frustrations and jank can generally put a damper on the expertise.
Ruffy’s world of Riverside is threatened by an ominous dice that wishes to destroy all the things in sight. It is as much as Ruffy to change into the chosen hero and gather a sequence of letters to activate the world core and save his dwelling. The world is split into a significant hub and smaller areas inside it, not not like Tremendous Mario 64’s fort and particular person portray ranges. Alongside the best way, you will encounter a number of colourful characters and all method of distinctive and difficult challenges–one in all which is the annoying ladders that often must be climbed proper down the center to efficiently attain the highest.
A lot of the gameplay facilities on Ruffy’s capability to soak up one materials, object, or shade after which swap it with one other. Whereas some puzzles could have extra apparent options that make use of this mechanic, others contain some (or a lot) trial and error. It is a great feeling while you clear up a puzzle that had taken you 5 or 10 minutes to unravel, however I encountered a number of conditions the place the answer was both much less apparent or solely appeared after I had exhausted all of my choices and simply saved hitting all the things round me or retracing my steps. Like with many puzzle video games, if the design clicks with you, you will in all probability have a greater time. This wasn’t at all times the case for me, although, so your mileage could fluctuate.
The controls can take some getting used to, with Ruffy having a number of velocity however much less precision. There’s sufficient platforming that this turns into a difficulty at instances, and compounding failure is a checkpoint system that may generally ship you again an annoying distance, which forces you to redo the identical puzzles or surmount the identical obstacles time and again. Cash you gather can be utilized to buy coronary heart containers to spice up your life meter or costumes to vary Ruffy’s look, however I truly favored with the ability to spend them on the occasional puzzle answer in order that I might extra shortly progress by the sport.
Simply to offer some context for the puzzles you encounter, among the early ones require that you simply swap the water of a waterfall with climbable leaves from a close-by wall or change stone pillars within the ocean into wooden so that they’re going to float horizontally and function more practical platforms. Within the pursuit of the Riverside letters talked about earlier, you typically must traverse a number of smaller areas earlier than you’ll find the letters, and among the challenges thrown at you find yourself being easy repeats of ones you’ve got already achieved. Being tasked with finishing an emblem matching train as soon as is ok, however having to do two or three in a row can really feel like busywork.
The sound results and music are mild and humorous, pairing nicely with the humorous design of Ruffy himself, in all his dancing glory. The hand-drawn visible design of the setting evokes a way of each simplicity and vibrancy, with a lot of shiny colours juxtaposed with sharp edges and fundamental buildings and objects. There is a good quantity of comedy within the writing, however the introduction/tutorial is slightly verbose and may very well be pared down.
Ruffy and the Riverside is a pleasant journey whose allure takes priority over its jank and repetition. It performs nicely on Swap 2, which is the place I reviewed the sport, and has a number of content material for completionists to sink their tooth into. Among the puzzles might be irritating or obtuse, however the distinctive swapping mechanic makes for a enjoyable departure in comparison with different 3D action-adventure experiences. It might be a bit Ruffy across the edges, however this Riverside is one which I used to be glad to dip my toes into.