I was caught off guard, but that was mostly my fault for not expecting anything from a game I knew very little about. Perhaps that was a good thing as RiME steadily took me on a journey that I was not prepared for. There was, however, a strange sense of excitement building inside of me as I sat through the opening sequence and the soft sounds of the beach filled my ears. Hell, at this stage I still had no idea what this game was even about, I just knew that it was puzzle based. To say that my experiences during this game were not enjoyable would be a lie and I think that from an artistic level it would be almost impossible not to enjoy this game for one simple reason. You can almost feel the passion of everyone who created this short journey of a young boy within every inch of gameplay and cinematic scenes that you experience.

Despite what you might think, I actually have no interest in talking about the game as a whole, but rather the intent that I felt from behind the game. RiME steadily grows darker as the game progresses. There is a sense of anxiousness that built up within me as I watched the story unfold, an ever-increasing realization that this may not be an adventure of a young boy who is forced to find his way home, but instead one of a boy who may never find his way home. As I progressed further and further, the world around me grew ever more surreal. The part of the game the had the most impact to me was the end because despite the events that transpired in the game it’s still not exactly a sad ending. Yes, it’s not exactly all sunshine and daisies, but that doesn’t mean it was morbid either. To put it simply it’s just hopeful. Hopeful that tomorrow will be better than today and understanding that just because time moves on doesn’t mean that the things that you hold close to you will be forgotten. If you haven’t played it yet then I doubt what I’m saying makes much sense, but I don’t want to give too much away.

I said earlier on that you can feel the developers passion for this project within the entirety of the game and that is true. You can feel it in the soundtrack, in the art style and just the general way the characters interact with each other despite not speaking a single word. It’s almost as if they weren’t trying to make a game for us to play, but instead lead us through a story that truly resonated within everyone on the team. I say that the ending was my favourite part because the credits give a little insight into what it meant to release this game for everyone involved. It almost saddens me that RiME probably won’t be played by as many as it should be, but I am almost certain that for those who will and have played it that there will always be a part of it that they carry with them.

I say that RiME is an experience rather than a game because whether you can relate to the themes that it focuses on or not the journey that it takes you on is truly special. If you haven’t played it yet, or just haven’t gotten around to finishing it yet, or simply just have it sitting in your games library after it was free with PS Plus or XBOX Games Pass, I urge you to take 4 hours out of a calm Sunday afternoon just to experience what RiME has to offer.