Have You Played... Rime?

What an unexpected journey that was. I certainly didn’t expect the direction Rime went in. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but washing up on an island as a small boy, with a beautiful fox friend to help guide the way as you solve puzzles, sounds absolutely lovely, right? But what a turn it took in the final couple of chapters. What. A. Turn.

With a vibrant palette and beautiful art style, Rime is a game that drew me in from the off (I mean it was also free on Epic and it was recommended to me, but still). It’s right up my alley. Puzzles, cute foxes, and the first level even includes little babby boars and you can feed them... mangoes? I think. It’s cute. It seems easy and carefree, there is no need to rush, and there are no real threats. At first. The threats come a few chapters down the line, and… well, it all makes sense in the end.

A strange figure in a red cloak, not too dissimilar to your own, appears every now and then, and whenever you try to reach them, they’re always too far to grasp. I was speculating throughout the game who this cloaked figure was, and why I ended up washed up on a mountain with my guide being some fox-spirit, and, jeez. The ending really got to me. I’ll be thinking about this game for years to come, and I’ll almost definitely revisit it. There are lots of collectibles throughout the game that I missed entirely, and I want to visit the world of Rime once more. When it was nice, it was beautiful. When it wasn’t nice, it was heart-wrenching.