Ruffy and the Riverside

As the bear safety rhyme goes, “if it’s brown, lay down; if it’s black, fight back; and if it’s white, goodnight.” But what are you supposed to do when you run across a paper-thin bear with Sharpee-drawn fur and a cute hood? Don’t panic, because that’s just Ruffy, the star of a new 3D platformer inspired by games like Banjo-Kazooie and Crash Bandicoot. He’s just one of the many likeable characters in Riverside, an island kingdom full of puzzles to solve and treasures to track down. Is this the perfect summer getaway? Find out now when I review Ruffy and the Riverside, the debut release from Zockrates Laboratories.

You’ve heard the story a million times before: The once peaceful Riverside Kingdom is threatened by a mysterious evil entity that seeks to destroy the fantasy island. But don’t worry, because Ruffy isn’t going to let that happen. He, along with his bumble bee buddy, decide to set out and not only get to the bottom of this mystery, but also save the sacred letters that power Riverside’s core.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How does this paper-thin bear with a stylish hood expect to take on this evil menace? He’s clearly going to need more than luck and perseverance to win the day. Fear not, because Ruffy has a special trick up his very furry sleeve. You see, using magic, he’s able to swap the properties from one item and apply them to something else. On a practical level, this means that you can freeze the ocean in order to walk on it or turn hay bale into a heavier material, like wood or stone.

Early on, you’ll find that a lot of the swapping is there to help you navigate the 3D world. You’ll swap vines with a waterfall in order to climb up mountains and turn stone pillars into a wood, allowing the bear to use them as floating platforms. As we get deeper into the open-world island, we’ll start to use the swapping to solve a series of tough (but still kid-friendly) puzzles. A good example of how this works is swapping the “up” arrow on an elevator to make it go up or using your powers to manipulate the scoreboard when you’re competing in a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater-style halfpipe competition.

Speaking of which, Ruffy and the Riverside isn’t afraid to take the adventure in some unexpected directions. There are a bunch of two-dimensional mini-stages you’ll need to complete that are found on the sides of cliffs and structures. One of my favorite parts of the game is a high-speed hay bale race that requires you to use the bear’s powers to sabotage the other players. This is not just a fun diversion from the typical platforming, but it really underlines what makes this game feel unique and different.

That’s something that I really like about Ruffy. While it’s presented as a standard 3D action game, the emphasis here is on the puzzle solving. Oh sure, there are still a few enemies you need to fight and a couple of bosses to contend with, but those feel like almost an afterthought when compared to the puzzle solving. This is not one of those games where every level has a boss, because you’re often there to solve a brain-teaser. It’s common to go to a new part of the world and have to rescue a bunch of little furballs instead of fighting monsters, and I like that.

And let me tell you, there’s a lot to do here. Sure, there’s the main story, which mostly revolves around finding all six of the sacred letters of Riverside, but the game is a lot more than that. Everywhere you look, there’s a side-quest to take on or a puzzle just waiting to be solved. In true Banjo-Kazooie fashion, there are a lot of things to collect and hidden areas to uncover. Even after I had completed the game and watched the credits roll, I knew that I had barely scratched the surface of what there was to do in Riverside.

And you know what? I actually wanted to do those mini-quests and side puzzles, because I had a lot of fun bopping around in the colorful, magical world of Riverside. It would make for a great vacation destination. A lot of this comes down to the way it looks. I love the way the paper-thin characters look and interact with the world. Even when the game is at its most serious, it can’t help but be adorable. Good old Ruffy, always dancing to the tropical beats. And his friends are full of personality and charm. It’s the kind of bright and friendly open world that you’ll want to revisit, even if it’s just to solve a puzzle or two.

Of course, it helps that Ruffy is a lot of fun to play. He may be paper-thin, but he’s more than capable of overcoming his 3D world. He has the usual run and jump moves, along with a punch that sends him spinning around, not unlike Crash Bandicoot or the Tasmanian Devil. His big move involves stealing the essence of an item with one shoulder button and then casting it onto something else with the other button. This works like a dream, even giving you the option of casting onto multiple items at once. The game is really good about letting you know when you can take and when you can give, and seeing as there’s a time limit to every item, everything you need to solve a puzzle is always close by.

And that’s the thing that really sets this game apart. This is a puzzle game masquerading as a 3D platformer. Oh sure, there are some platforming sections, but so much of this game is about solving the various types of puzzles. This isn’t one of those games where you can just yadda-yadda-yadda your way through the puzzles, because they are front and center. Just opening up the path to each new area requires the player to go underground and solve a real brain-teaser. The game takes the simple swap mechanic and uses it to its full potential, forcing you to look and interact with the world in a brand-new way.

The problem that I kept running into is that it feels like we rush through each section, underutilizing the different parts of the open world. The spooky graveyard is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. A lot of time and effort went into making this part of Riverside look new and different, yet you might not even remember it, because we only spend a couple of minutes there, solving what amounts to a very simple padlock puzzle. Once you do that, you get the sacred letter and then never think about the graveyard ever again.

And this kind of thing happens over and over. The game is like an impatient tour guide who can’t wait to clock off and go home. You’ll barely have time to look around before the puzzle is over and it’s off to the next part. This is the kind of game that would have benefited if each part of the map having both a puzzle and a platforming component, if only to get more out of the different levels. Something is definitely missing, because by the time I beat the game, I was left a little unsatisfied. It felt like the whole thing was over right as the story was heating up. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but the different sections need more filler.

There are a few other problems with Ruffy, like how needlessly wordy the game tends to be or how some of the puzzle concepts are repeated a few too many times. I also found that some of the platforming was made harder because of the two-dimensional character. It’s not always easy to judge where you’ll land, especially on a small platform or ledge. I suspect that the target audience won’t be as annoyed by this as I was, but it’s still worth bringing up.

While the gameplay needs to be tightened up and the pacing is far too brisk, Ruffy and the Riverside is a great debut release from Zockrates Laboratories. It flirts with being a throwback mascot game, but ultimately goes in a slightly different direction, focusing more on the puzzles than the platforming. That’s a unique take on the genre that I ended up appreciating, but if you go in expecting a more traditional platformer, you’ll likely be left disappointed.