Game Analysis: Rime

In preparation for our first level design, we were tasked with playing a game of our choosing in order to analyze one of the levels. I had recently picked up Rime, and was itching to finally play it, so naturally I decided to map out one of the levels in the game. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that the scale of each level within the game were much too large to draw out and analyze in one sitting, so I cut out a specific chunk. Within the first level (Denial), there is a section in which you must explore a large area to finding the "twin keys", and I chose to analyze the process of getting Key 1.

The first area you enter is a huge amphitheater with stairs leading down to the center, which includes a pit surrounding a small pedestal with the first key on it. There are three statues surrounding the pit, which I have dubbed "yell statues." These are the core mechanic of the game. Yelling at these statues releases a spirit of sorts, which can activate mechanisms throughout the game. Beyond the keys was a sphinx-like statue with two keyholes in it, and beyond that the locked door to the largest tower on the island (getting in there is the goal of the Denial level). My first instinct was to yell and activate the statues, but soon enough I saw that they were all too far apart for me to activate them all at once. I thought I had to solve the puzzle right then and there, but the annoying yap of my fox companion led me to turn around.

I personally love companions in puzzle/exploration games, but this fox is an exception. The "tutorial" part of the game leads you to find them, and from then on, this fox guides the player along the way, yapping at you if you can't see them. It can be useful in larger areas, but in this case, I saw the fox as a poorly made gating mechanism. The reason for this being that after seeing the fox, I noticed the two LARGE staircases leading to other areas of the level, which I would have noticed without the fox's help. Said companion was sitting on the stairs to one, yapping at me until I followed it. I could have easily gone up the second set of stairs, but if I didn't follow the fox, the yapping didn't stop. So I ascended the stairs on the left and continued on the quest towards the first key.

Upon leaving the main area, I was greeted with a few platforms and a long bridge that led to a smaller tower. I enjoyed the fact that you couldn't just go into the tower; there was fallen debris blocking the entrance. It took some searching to find a back way that allowed me to climb up the tower from the outside, reaching the first puzzle in this level area. It was another yell statue puzzle, in which there was a locked door to access the interior of the tower. 

There is a lot of intuitive decision-making involved with these puzzles. There is nothing but the puzzle given to the players, with no hint system. There is the added benefit of little to no negative feedback; if the player does not correctly solve the puzzle, the only consequence is not getting through the door.

Additionally, this puzzle introduces a new object to the game: the yell amplifier. This object can be dragged around on a box and amplify your yell's reach, allowing you to activate more yell statues at once.

After solving the puzzle, I was able to enter the tower's first floor. There was not much to do here besides jump to the pillar in the middle and climb up to the second floor. I was thankful to find another puzzle here, as I found the tower's design to be rather simple. This puzzle played on the previous one, using the same mechanics with the new amplifier. Activating the statues at the end of the puzzle resulted in the pillar raising, prompting the player to climb even higher through the tower.

Climbing up to the third floor brought me to the same dilemma as the beginning of the level: there was no where else to go besides climbing the side of the tower. I quickly hopped to the ledge and pulled myself onto the roof (floor 4). On the roof, it was easy to see that I was nearing the end of the level. The pillar I had been climbing was topped with a giant yell amplifier, and all I had to do was climb some stairs (to floor 5) and use it.

Yelling into the amplifier essentially finished the chunk of this level for me. Doing so triggered the yell statues all the way in the main area that I had tried so hard to activate in the beginning. Together, they filled the pit with water, giving me access to the first key. All I had to do was jump down a few floors and take a back exit that led me back to the main area.

And with that I got the first key in the quest to unlocking the door to the main tower! Overall, I was very satisfied with this chunk, as I felt it was really easy to navigate. The puzzles were well-designed; not too hard but easy enough to figure out with no instruction. However, it was heavily railroaded and left very little for exploration (especially with the fox companion). The story isn't heavily integrated into this section specifically, but I was playing this area knowing that what I was doing would further the story by satiating my curiosity about what is in the main tower. All in all, I found Rime to be an incredibly pleasant and rewarding game to play, and am very excited to play it all the way through in the near future.