His voice also helps the protagonist to solve puzzles and interact with the world around him. The boy's screams and his singing resonate with some objects and mechanisms, activating them. For example, to illuminate a dark room, you can shout at a dim lamp that will glow brightly, as if powered by the voice of the protagonist. A huge jug blocking the path will scatter into hundreds of fragments, if you shout at it well - this is such a merciless resonance. But the main thing is not to forget to shout at various statues that will meet on your way. These figures, as if carved from malachite, activate doors, elevators and other useful devices that help you move further along the location. Sometimes the strength of the boy's voice is not enough to activate several statues at once, and in this case, special resonator spheres come to the rescue, increasing the volume of the sound.

The world of Rime is densely populated with various animals and insects. Wild pigs frolic in the grass with their piglets, seagulls scream in the sky, and nimble geckos run on the rocks. At some point, the main character meets a small red fox, who helps him overcome obstacles on his way and, like a GPS navigator, leads the boy through the maze of ruins, caves and thickets. Companion characters in recent times are becoming more and more popular in video games and I personally find this to be a great trend. By attaching to a virtual creature, the player feels an even closer connection with the events unfolding on the screen. Do not think that the game is a pleasure walk, because in addition to adorable animals, you will also meet dangerous creatures, for example, shadows that draw vitality from a boy, or a giant predatory bird with a skull instead of a head.

The music in Rime is amazing. It miraculously harmonizes with what is happening with the main character of the game, enhancing the atmosphere and making you even more in love with this fantastic world. At some moments, gorgeous vocal parts are performed by Mirella Moran and Sylvia Cofrekes. The soundtrack belongs to composer David Garcia. Rime's pervading music instantly envelops the player and carries him away. The sound in the game, however, is in no way inferior to the musical accompaniment and perfectly emphasizes what is happening on the screen. I recommend playing good headphones, so as not to miss a single "stroke" of the richest sound picture.

A mysterious island full of mysteries, incomprehensible mechanisms and strange creatures - all this painfully resembles the work of the Japanese game designer Fumito Ueda, who gave us ICO games, Shadow of Colossus and The Last Guardian. The developers from Tequila Works do not hide that they were inspired by other people's games. However, Rime does not yet reach the level of Ueda's work. The game is good, and somewhere even very good, but the developers from the Spanish studio still have room to grow. Sometimes the rhythm of the game slows down a lot and the player has to perform routine tasks to find, for example, several items scattered across a spacious location. This smears a little on the generally wonderful atmosphere. Fortunately, there are not very many similar moments in Rime.

I would attribute poor optimization to serious disadvantages. Sometimes it seemed to me that in open spaces the game seemed to slow down quite well, which is expressed in twitchy animation of the main character. I got the PlayStation 4 version of Rime, so I can't say anything about other platforms. However, owners of the PC version of Rime reported that the built-in system of protection against illegal copying of Denuvo, which was quite voracious in terms of computer system resources, negatively affects the performance of the game. The developers have promised to remove the protection from the game as soon as pirates break into it. Well, the hack happened five days after the release. To the developers' credit, I must say that they kept their word and now the game is distributed "in its pure form" without any anti-piracy add-ons.

Pros:

• A deeply emotional story told without a single word.
• The game's delightful visual style is impossible not to love.
• Incredibly picturesque and carefully designed locations.
• Puzzles using visual and auditory mechanics.
• Great music and very atmospheric sound.

Minuses:

• Lame optimization leads to framerate drops.
• Most of the puzzles are too easy.
• To some, the game may seem too short.

Before us is, of course, one of the most beautiful games of 2017. Rime does not hide the fact that he wants to be like other famous works. But she does this not blindly copying other people's ideas, but trying to bring something from herself to the gaming industry. The touching story of a boy exploring a fairy-tale world full of mysteries and dangers will surely sink into your soul. I don’t know about the others, but I was just relaxing, admiring the incredible landscapes of Rime, such a great job was done by the artists of the Tequila Works studio. The picture is complemented by a wonderful musical accompaniment, which turns the game into a real work of art. Starting with this review, I would like to abandon the scoring system. From now on, I will just tell you about the pros and cons of the game, as well as give a recommendation to purchase it, or advise you to stay away from it. As for Rime, this is the very case when the game is worth trying, even if you are infinitely far from such entertainment.

Game tested on PlayStation 4

From the outside, it might seem that RiME was created in a production hell. News about the project stopped coming immediately after the trailer was published in 2013, then Spanish industrial insiders wrote that the game did not really exist, Sony stopped funding, and the money it had already invested went nowhere. Some time later, Tequila Games announced the acquisition of the rights to RiME from Sony, which many attributed to problematic development and distrust from a large corporation.

Which of this was true is anyone's guess. And if the claims of insiders are difficult to confirm or deny (there were even rumors that RiME was not a cute adventure at all, but a MOBA or something like that), then Sony's actions are quite understandable. In recent years, the company is less and less involved in publishing indie games, making an exception only for the creations of its own studios. Therefore, they remain only on PS4, and the once exclusive and - no. So RiME is available on all current platforms at once, and in the end it turned out to be exactly the game we were waiting for.

⇡ Again the guy, again the island

An unnamed boy wakes up on the shore of a mysterious island. Seagulls scream and crabs scurry around, and the guy only has to run forward and try to figure out where he got to. The player is not told which buttons are responsible for what, since everything becomes clear without words: the hero jumps low, clings to the ledges with his hands (interactive objects are painted, as in Uncharted) and in some cases can grab onto objects and move them in different directions ...

Almost immediately, the character meets a fox, who will become his guide to this island. Due to the presence of an animal in most locations, it becomes quite difficult to get lost - barking allows you to quickly determine the further direction. In addition, RiME offers a study of more or less linear locations, and the path from one point to another in open areas is usually obvious. So, despite the similarity in visual style with, you should not expect an open world. At the same time, there are about fifty collectible items that will never catch your eye, if you do not try to look for loopholes hidden behind bushes and hidden interactive platforms.

The boy does not have to fight with opponents - puzzles become the only obstacle in his path. And in the first hour they seem really unusual and original - sometimes the solution is obvious, but once you find the answer, the conditions change immediately, and you have to think differently. Often, tasks are associated with the movement of objects: from placement in the desired positions to the play of light and shadow falling from different things. The guy copes with most of the problems using his voice - as soon as you shout loudly, the statues standing next to him are activated and something happens. Sometimes you have to use several statues at the same time, choosing the right angle.

Unfortunately, after about an hour and a half, the riddles become too simple. You hardly have to think about them, because when you get into this or that room, you immediately more or less imagine what needs to be done. However, RiME successfully smoothes this oversight with interesting narrative tricks. Some of them have already been in similar projects, but the submission is still original enough not to talk about direct copying, ICO, or The Witness.

If you see drips of white paint somewhere, then you can climb there.

The beauty of RiME and its main advantage is in the ending, which completely changes the attitude to everything seen before the final. Everything takes on a completely different meaning and begins to look completely different. Even the menu with a choice of chapters surprises with an unexpected solution. The game is full of mystery - as you progress you meet unusual sculptures and mechanisms, study paintings on the walls, follow a strange figure in a red cloak. And although not everything becomes clear immediately after the final episode, over time, the meaning of most of the details still appears.

⇡ Vivid impressions

But do not think that the rest of RiME has to endure for the sake of the finale alone - the game always maintains interest, there are simply no boring or prolonged episodes in it. The sunlit shore gives way to a colorful meadow, gloomy caves and a network of underground passages. Sometimes you have to swim underwater, replenishing the air in your lungs with the help of large bubbles. That time of day changes, then the weather, then new dangers will arise on the way - something is always happening in this world, and because of this it is not the most long duration(if you're not distracted by secrets, get ready to spend six or seven hours) doesn't seem like a major drawback.

The attention to detail is appropriate here: lizards crawl along the rocks and overgrown walls, you can always see and hear birds on the island, schools of fish frolic under the water, and the seabed is dotted with corals and algae. Sometimes, like in The Witness, you just want to look at the environment and take nice screenshots - all the more the "cartoonish" visual style looks great and will hardly ever seem outdated in the future. At the same time, RiME is devoid of the sloppiness inherent in many indie platformers, which is usually expressed in crooked animations, a sluggish camera or objects that are somehow placed somehow.

Therefore, the rumors mentioned at the beginning are hard to believe. RiME was the second Tequila Works project that the studio created independently (before that there was a platformer) - and it turned out to be something truly magical. Everything in RiME works as it should: a mysterious story that reveals all the cards to the end, and an unobtrusive platform component, and pleasant, albeit simple, riddles.

So launching RiME hoping to see "The Witness with a Story" isn't worth it - the puzzles are much less inventive. Rather, the game will appeal to those who have fond memories of the ICO, who have sunk into the soul of Journey and who were able to cope with management in The Last Guardian in order to see the finale. Here you won't have to suffer with anything: the main character deftly and relatively quickly climbs onto ledges and platforms, jumps where the player wants, and reacts to commands, never causing irritation. And puzzles are just a nice bonus that does not interfere in any way during the passage and does not seem inappropriate.

RiME is one of those games that one would like to recommend to friends and acquaintances, but it is very difficult to explain the reason for the delight. At first, it seems like a bright and, perhaps, even banal fairy tale - there have already been a lot of games about a hero who solves problems on the island. But almost immediately, the work of Tequila Works gives the impression of something much more: it surprises after the first steps, pleases the ear with an amazing soundtrack and delights with the final chapter.

RiME towers over many other story-driven platformers recent years... This is an unforgettable adventure that can easily be put on a par with the work of the Team ICO.

Dignity:

• an intriguing story with a great ending;
• colorful locations and great attention to detail;
• delightful musical accompaniment;
• a large number of secrets, including new costumes.

In which the main character has to escape from a mysterious island.

Rime - platformer released simultaneously on various gaming platforms. It was originally intended to be exclusive to Play station 4 however the developer Tequila Works decided to make the game cross-platform. The game has repeatedly hit the lists of the most anticipated games of the year, intriguing gamers all over the world with its mesmerizing videos and press releases.

Plot

This mesmerizing beauty adventure tells about a boy Raoul who found himself on a mysterious island. He must show all his ingenuity and ingenuity to break out of it. He got there trying to impress the girl, but, alas, he swam too far into the sea. We will not reveal all the cards, but the game has a very deep philosophical overtones and is worth taking your time.

Gameplay

Rime-. Most of the time you will have to collect game items accompanied by pleasant music. The threshold of entry is low - you won't be able to get lost with all your desire. The game will constantly leave you hints if difficulties arise. You can also interact with local animals.

Climb the rocks, swim across mountain rivers, interact with the world around you, explore the ruins of a long-lost civilization and unravel interesting ones - all this awaits you in Rime!

What platforms will Rime be available on?

• Xbox one
• Play station 4
• Nintendo Switch

These games are very similar visually, and their intonation is the same: lingering music behind the scenes, emptiness, loneliness and a mysterious setting - uninhabited island, clearly having gone through some kind of catastrophe in the past. The main character- a little boy in a red cloak, thrown by a storm on a deserted shore. Around - not a soul, here and there there are some ruins, and in the distance a huge tower rises, to which we will strive for the whole game.

The weakest part of Rime is its first quarter. Until the game picks up pace, I want to turn it off altogether - why do we need this not very skillfully made clone of a more successful and integral adventure? The puzzles are very simple, and the main tool with which they must be solved is at least strange - this is the voice of the protagonist. Shouting at various ancient mechanisms, the boy activates them, opening the way forward.

But, even if you don't really like what is happening on the screen, you should be patient a little, because a dramatic turning point occurs pretty soon. The developers make it very clear that their plan is much more ambitious than just copying Journey or Ico, and Rime turns from a boring adventure game into an amazing journey through beautiful and unexpected worlds.

The situation is changing, the pace of the game is changing, there is finally a threat that should be feared, and most importantly, something completely indescribable is happening to the puzzles. On the same mechanics, the authors of Rime begin to create such that at times the hair just stands on end. Moreover, the power of the local puzzles is not in the complexity - they will be very obvious throughout the game - but in the way everything is arranged. The most striking example is a puzzle in which you need to open a door by rolling a large metal ball on a giant dial, which plays the role of a kind of arrow. The main character approaches this projectile, rests on it with his hands, moves it from its place ... and suddenly the sun begins to run across the sky a hundred times faster. In the opposite direction. As the ball moves, evening turns into morning, then into night, and finally into evening. There will be many more such unexpected and insanely beautiful moments in Rime, and it is because of them that one does not want to break away from her.

At the same time, you begin to truly immerse yourself in the atmosphere and history. The plot in Rime is presented very unobtrusively, the details of what is happening are deliberately not spoken, and only at the very end it will become clear what exactly is happening around. By this moment, you are already completely immersed in the game, and the ending - very sad and powerful - shocks, forcing you to remember Rime for a long time.

The game evolves even purely visually. It is very beautiful from the very beginning, but towards the end it turns into a real work of art. The final location is almost the best example of graphic design in video games. Visually, it is extremely simple, but at the same time completely unforgettable. Gloomy colors, competent use of special effects, endless rain pouring from the sky - all this incomparably sets the tone for the final level and, as it were, prepares the player for what is about to happen.

Rime is not just awesome Nice picture, although the design alone of its developers would be worth respecting. It is also an unforgettable, very vivid adventure, the authors of which have invented and implemented many unexpected things, and they catch you by surprise every time. Despite the rather expressionless opening act, on the whole this is one of best games that you can play this year.