RiME - Nintendo Switch Standard Edition

This is a really beautiful game, and I am happy to have played it.I waited till the update was available before trying this game. I'm still at the beginning, but so far, so good; I haven't had any performance issues. Update, 3/15: I finished the game, with no performance issues, though a few glitches.It's a beautiful game.Me: Adventure/puzzle gamer, e.g.,: BOTW/Zelda, Dragon Quest Builders, Oxenfree. I don't love the battle parts of the first two, and am more of a fan of the wandering around and puzzling. So Rime is totally in the right spot for me. (And of the three, yes, this most resembles Oxenfree in terms of wandering around and puzzling.)Sort of "open world", but not really. The game is very linear in terms of completing the tasks.Hmmm. This is rated 10+, but it might not be appropriate for your kid. A lot of the game has a "scary" theme, including black ghost figures that are reminiscent of those in Spirited Away, except that in places, they're trying to grab you. Also a big birdlike thing that grabs you. You don't "fight" in this game, you just evade (or get taken and released). The music is dark and feeds the scary mood during these times.Frustrations:1. Figuring out the controls, and some of the paradigms for what you can and can't do (e.g., the cliff jumping, which is inconsistent in terms of when it will work and when you will fall to your death).2. The camera/perspective swings wildly in many situations, which takes some getting used to3. Sometimes, the camera angle is fixed, leaving you to move awkwardly (e.g., you can't see where you're going, or the perspective is at an angle, but you're trying to run straight ahead.)4. The game "autosaves" for you, but it turns out that this is at specific points. I lost a bit of progress. (You can't explicitly save yourself.)5. Overly dark scenes that are too hard to play during the day (silly me, without blackout curtains in my living room). On computer games like this, I adjust my monitor, but it seems more of a pain to mess with my TV settings. (Oh, look at that. You can adjust brightness to some extent in the game controls... but I still ended up adjusting my TV. Urgh.)6. I got lost at the end of Chapter 2, and couldn't find my way to the finale. I think this happened because I took a break for a few days in the middle of it, and could no longer remember how things were connected. The fox is supposed to help you out of a bind like this, but he didn't kick in, and I ended up having to resort to an internet walkthrough. (And then of course, once I was where I knew I needed to be, the fox showed up. Thanks, pal.)7. In Chapter 3, I hit a spot where my companion got stuck in a wall. This sort of thing can happen with any game, of course... it hadn't been long since a checkpoint, so I just reloaded back to that point.In general, I feel like the controls don't always work the way they should. I sometimes would try, try, again to do something and decide that wasn't what I was supposed to be doing right there only to come back later and have that move work. (E.g., there was a jump at the end that was "too high"... until finally it worked.) So I would say in some places the game is overly finicky about the controls. Jumping is just pressing the B button and I was just doing a vertical leap. No skill involved, so it should have worked.The hardcopy comes with a little glossy stapled booklet that explains the controls (I hadn't noticed the booklet at first), and a free download of the soundtrack (via greybox) by David García Díaz (also on Amazon, for $8.99) -- 40 tracks, but of course, some are quite short.Anyway, I waited to get this until they addressed the performance issues on the Switch, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this game.

THIS GAME IMMERSES YOU IN A COASTLINE OF ADVENTURE, STRATEGY AND DAZZLING SCENES. IT'S ABOUT A LOST BOY TRYING TO FIND HIS FAMILY. WORTH A PLAYTHROUGH IF YOU'RE THE CHILL TYPE.

I got this game during Amazon Prime Day after watching trailers for it and thinking it would be a cool experience, and I am so glad that I did.The artstyle is breathtaking and charming, and encourages you to enjoy the world it offers within, making exploration to find hidden items and clues easy and something you will likely want to do all on your ownI know that some people describe the puzzles as tedious or frustrating, but I heavily disagree; if anything, I find them refreshingly different from the average puzzle game, and they blend seamlessly into the game’s overworld as much as they do into its overall aesthetic.This game is indeed very linear, but I personally find that to be one of many things that drew me to it and solidified the experience, in a world where most developers are, annoyingly, trying to cash in on the often shallow and dull open world experience.Perhaps the most impressive of all of the wonderful qualities of Rime, though, is how it manages to tell its story completely without words, relying solely on its visuals, collectibles, murals and mysteries to effectively draw you in and feed you clues to your adventure, your past, and the deep meaning your actions hold. And even then, its ending remains completely unpredictable.If you love exploration, enjoyable and clever puzzles, breathtaking views, linear adventures and a meaningful story, then Rime is absolutely the game for you.In my opinion, it is far more enjoyable, meaningful and replayable than Breath of the Wild, in spite of its short length.My first play through lasted 7 hours with no guide or walkthrough used, and I felt unable to stop until I had finished. I will continue to enjoy this game for many more years to come, and I hope that you will take a chance on giving it a try, because I wholly believe you will be able to say the same.

My expectations were too high. The art style is beautiful, and the idea is there... but it fell short of what I thought it was going to be.It was difficult to play. The controls felt backwards from every other game I've ever played where A means Go and B means No - so there was a bit of a learning curve.I think the switch had some difficulty running the game - the image was blurry and the camera would stall and stutter, especially during cut scenes.It's sort of open world, but you really have to have an adventurer's spirit to get a fuller experience of the game and find all of the little hidden artifacts. I made it all the way to the end in less than a day and managed to miss almost all of the extras and helpful items.The autosave feature was confusing. Like, can I turn it off and come back later? A manual save would have given me peace of mind.I bought this game at a $30 price point, but $20 seems more appropriate.I did like the lack of a life meter and endless retries, however awkward and frustrating.The music was excellent but that shouldn't be the only high point for a game like this.