RiME

This game is one of these games you buy, then you try them out and never play it again. Don't get me wrong: I really love games like journey, abzu, far, and I also played many indie titles with riddle mechanics and exploration, but still, RIME somehow didn't manage to motivate me. I think it's just a little bit too monotonous.

I got this to play with my little son, and the boy loved the images, the main character, and the little fox in particular. It's also non-violent, so there was very little to scare him. Plus, with the boy in the game being roughly his age, he enjoyed it even more. Once the little one had gone to bed, I finished the last two chapters on my own and ended the night as a sobbing mess for almost two hours, on my balcony, on my knees, watching the stars, crying like a baby. Do not play the final two chapters with your kids, they are strictly for adults. But do play them, play them all. Because this is one of the best games of recent years - and one of the very few titles that come with a strong emotional story, characters you will care about, and an experience you are NOT going to forget easily.

I'm a slow, explore everything sort and this took me 20 hours to complete. Initially I thought it just looked nice and it didn't really grab me but give it an hour or so and you'll be hooked. It's similar to something like Ico but without the tiresome defence sections. If you loved Ico you'll love this. I'd advise you stay away from all spoilers about what is actually going on as I didn't see what was really going on until very near the end and it's very cleverly done. The music is perfectly matched as well, real masterpiece of scoring, one of the best I've heard in a long time. As for the hardware,,,running a rx580 and had to turn down a couple of thing and was getting less than 30fps sometimes so it's not the best when I can get the Witcher 3 to run full maxxed out. The graphics don't change massively though if you do turn some stuff off.

...between hurriedly playing a game to get out a "first" review dissing it because you HAD to play it too fast to really catch its wonder, and playing a game just to enjoy it ending up liking it so much you just have to SHOUT it out to anyone willing to listen! Well let me give a HUGE shout out for RiMe! Beautiful graphically and deep in story; jaw-dropping artistically; a tear-jerker when you finally grasp what's going on, first depicted by the little fox that helps you. They didn't record a sound byte and use the same one over and over again, in fact, the attention to detail is beyond any other game I have so far played, and by that I mean, although your character only yells and speaks softly under his breath, each yell is different, each soft vocal sound is different, every partial "revealing" hum is different. He places his hands and moves them on a ball when he's rolling it the EXACT same way ANYONE with hands would. The graphic representation of his stumbling, tripping, falling, running into ledges that immediately knock him down, are done so realistically you'd think you're watching a YouTube video ascribed to humorous moments of such! The locations are seeped in wonder abetted by the music, and the game is full of new ideas on how to progress an adventure without making it seem as if you're just going from one location to another. If you watch for clues you'll never get lost. The puzzles are reticent yet readily solvable if you just look and listen. I have not encountered RiMe's uniqueness of discovering and then solving puzzles kept in context with the game's story in such an enjoyable way in ANY other game. The "cut scenes" are integrated into game-play so well you NEVER feel like you're just an observer. When I finished I felt as though I had just taken part in a well choreographed dance video intent on evoking an emotional response! https://youtu.be/5waYfJk_82k

A beautiful platformer puzzle game that has its narrative told but not through dialogue but rather through visuals, sound and atmosphere all leading to an emotional and satisfactory conclusion. Its a very relaxing game for the most part and i played through it at a casual pace and it all took about 4-5 hours over the course of a couple days, well worth its price for its unique execution and setpieces.