It takes no less than 45 minutes of playing Tequila Works’ upcoming game for their creative director to tell a story from his childhood. It is no aimless reminiscence — Rime, as Raúl Rubio says, “is about childhood memories. So we put a little bit of ourselves in the game.”
The Serrano-based studio’s upcoming release is a “single-player puzzle adventure game” and has already drawn comparisons to classics like LucasArts adventure games, The Legend of Zelda and projects from Team Ico. With its dreamy art style, puzzle platforming and sense of a small-protagonist-in-a-big-world, Rime has all the trappings of a game from my early childhood; it prompts memories of sitting squarely in front of a CRT TV.
Rubio finds these comparisons to industry staples equal parts flattering and terrifying. “They are giants to us,” he admits. “We’re an indie game.”
Rime has faced larger giants than these in its development cycle. The game made its first steps in 2013 as Echoes of Siren, pitched to Microsoft, but then greenlit for Sony. It showed at Gamescom 2013 as Rime, “a cel-shaded adventure game that has players exploring the ruins of an ancient civilisation”. After some radio silence from the development team, the game was noticeably absent at the same festival in 2014, leading some to wonder if Rime would be released at all. In 2016, Tequila Works announced that it had re-acquired the rights for the game, and that it would be publishing with Grey Box and Six Foot, two fairly new companies. After more than four years in adevelopment, Rime will be released on 26 May.
“We’re creating things with gusto,” says Rubio, with confidence. “That’s our model.”
Rime follows the adventures of a small child and their fox companion, navigating the mysterious deserted island where they have been shipwrecked. The kid, wrapped in scarves and white robes, is designed purposefully to be genderless. “And this is very important,” Rubio says. “It’s supposed to be about childhood, and childhood has no gender.” Though promotional material and the game’s website gender the child as male, Rubio stresses the universality and importance of a genderless protagonist. “For us,” Rubio says, “[RiME] is about emotions. Emotions are universal. Human emotions are universal. For us it’s not about what makes us different. It’s what makes us the same.”
Through solving environment puzzles (which include everything from pushing blocks to moving the moon), the player is able to learn more about the island where they find themselves stranded, as well as more about themselves. Using the child’s voice as a primary mode of interaction with puzzles, Rime seems to push the boundaries of traditional adventure platformers with charm. It is a joyful process of playful discovery, though this is not without its dangers.
“That’s the thing,” says Rubio. “At first you have no real purpose. I mean, yeah, you are lost. But you are a child. You want to play. And the island is designed to play. The more you explore, the more you find … and as soon as the island discovers that you are there, you will find out that you are trespassing. And that you were not invited.”
Rubio cites these charms of childhood as huge inspirations for Rime, and feelings of exploration and discovery in the face of unknown dangers come up in conversation again and again. With the controller in hand, it does not take long to feel similarly. There is a satisfying tactility in everything from clambering one’s way across ruins, to listening to its whimsical and dynamic soundtrack, to when, from a vantage point, you may pan the camera around to a vast and starry night sky. Perhaps you might, in that moment, feel suddenly alone on an empty island.
Towards the end of the first stage, the player must work through a section the team lovingly calls “the labyrinth of darkness”. One must inch their way through an impossibly dark cavern, guided by their character’s relationship to the environment through their voice. When the player character hums, cracks in the floor begin to glow, growing in vibrancy along with the volume of their hum. If one is careful this path will guide them to the exit.
This is when Rubio recalls a memory from his childhood in Spain — one that inspired this section of the game.
“When I was a child in the 80s, we made this school trip – I’m from Navarre in Northern Spain – to where there is a little town which was famous for witch meetings, or aquelarres,” he says. “All the aquelarres took place in a series of caves next to the Ebro river, where there are a series of caves, and we made a school trip there. Well, I got in the caves. And pretty soon, I lost my perception of time ... And then, night came over me. I had no flashlight. The only thing I had with me was an old roll-camera with a flash. I was not scared … I took a picture with my camera. For a brief second, I could see, with the flash, the cave. I could navigate in darkness until my flash recharged. And I finally found my exit.”
Rubio is an exceptional storyteller. He takes his time, he paces well. The length of time it takes for him to complete the story is the same amount of time it takes to complete the maze.
It is clear to see that Rime has been a labour of love for Tequila Works. With a development cycle as long as some AAA games, the team has had to navigate nebulous development and publishing intricacies in their attempts to get Rime into the hands of players. It has been a long gestation period, but it has built a loyal and devoted team. The finished product has a little bit of everyone in it, the small and personable charms of a team with gusto. Hopefully, this devotion will follow through to a successful game. While Rime is an engaging and delightful play, some still question whether it will have been worth the wait. Only time will tell.
