Every moment of this game was masterfully crafted leading me on a journey of discovery, awe and wonder that I could not tear myself away from. This is a game I will not soon forget. The art direction, character and level design were near faultless, but there's little in the way of traditionally challenging content. I never found myself lost for more than a moment, the puzzles were generally very easy, and most climbing sections were clearly signposted (remember jumping at the wrong ledge and dying a dozen times in the original Tomb Raider?) with worn ledge edges, so you'd rarely go wrong. The penultimate chapter also felt slighly weak, although is clearly deliberately crafted to be how it is. Still, the game lasted much longer than I expected and gripped me from start to finish with only the occasional quirky control breaking immersion. Just as I felt things were drawing to a close, it hit me again with another chapter. I went into this game blind, with no spoilers so it truly felt like I was unravelling a mystery, a deep but forgotten connection between the boy and this world. But when it finally did unravel, it wasn't quite what I'd expected. If a slow paced game with cute characters, mystery and awesome set pieces does it for you then you'll love RIME. If you crave action and a challenge, you'll get bored quickly.
I don't think Samorost 3 is as much a game as a framework in which to present ideas, artwork, music an d even feelings. In some ways, I feel I'm not qualified to judge it. While it's presented as a puzzle game, it doesn't adhere strictly to this genre. Most puzzles and environments are uncomplicated, favouring audio visual appeal to a traditional logical challenge. While at the start it sets the bar high with one of the best puzzles I've ever had the joy to muddle my way though, it never exceeds, or even meets, this experience again. In fact, many puzzles are entirely optional. Although you'll usually only find this out after you've solved them. But that's okay. Samorost 3 is a beautiful, endearing, magical journey. Its relaxing, slow pace give you time to take in the luscious details of every scene. While you'll retread the same ground, you shouldn't care. And while the game is short, perhaps 5 hours at a push, you'll keep playing just to revisit those places again. Most of Samorost 3's difficulty is in its obscurity. There's no dialog or instruction to nudge you in the right direction, you must relentlessly explore your way to the finale. Why 4 stars and not 5? I just finished the Steam version on OSX Yosemite and it was buggy. I had the game simply freeze and not progress, and ran into a black screen during a transition, and other quirks that would temporarily halt progress. Fortunately it recovers well, just quit and reload to be, essentially, right where you were. Even a total system crash didn't phase the auto-save ( the game's UI is so obtuse I didn't know there was one ), it cost me only 10 seconds. YMMV! The price is worth it for the music alone. Floex's soundtrack is sublime.
