Director(s) Raúl Rubio Mode(s) Single-player Engine Unreal Engine Genre Puzzle video game | Composer(s) David Garcia Initial release date 26 May 2017 Publisher Grey Box Games | |
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Developers Tequila Works, Tantalus Media Platforms PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows Similar Deadlight, Sea of Thieves, Gravity Rush 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect: Andromeda | ||
Rime (stylized as RiME) is an upcoming third-person view, adventure and puzzle video game developed by Tequila Works. The game is set to be released in May 26, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Summer 2017 for Nintendo Switch.
Early concept work was undertaken under the working title Echoes of Siren — the game was initially green-lit by Microsoft, but was later rejected. Funding of the game was later obtained from Sony, for a release on PlayStation 4, with the first trailer released at E3 2013. In 2016, Tequila Works re-acquired rights to the intellectual property.
Development
Conceptual design of the game began during the development of Deadlight. An early iteration was a third person isometric action role-playing game concept originally under the title Echoes of Siren; the game was to include hunting and crafting elements during a day cycle, preparing for combat including tower defence elements during a night cycle; other key game elements were to be exploration, avatar development and customisation. The game was offered to Microsoft as an exclusive Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) title and possible Windows 8 game; initially Microsoft greenlit the game, but the design was later rejected due to a mismatch with Microsoft's Xbox One XBLA publishing policies which emphasised multiplayer and other social gaming. A development budget was approved by Sony, and the game became a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
The first released trailer for the game was shown in August 2013 in the indie game section of Sony's press conference at Gamescom; showing third person, adventure video game-type gameplay with a 'cel-shaded' art style. The trailer gameplay and art drew comparisons to games by Team Ico, as well as Journey by Thatgamecompany, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The trailer resulted in an initial positive response from journalists. Creative director Raúl Rubio has also referenced the films Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Jason and the Argonauts as well as the art work of Joaquin Sorolla, Salvador Dalí and Giorgio de Chirico as influences.
The game involves a boy who needs to escape an island and a curse. The game, played through the boy, originally involved puzzle solving in an open world island setting; The game design uses the island environment itself, and audio without a spoken narrative to tell the game's story, a day-night mechanic was retained from the 'Echoes of Siren' design, with light influencing gameplay as well as visual appearance.
In March 2016, Tequila Works announced via Twitter that it had acquired the rights to Rime from Sony Computer Entertainment. In August 2016, it was announced that the game would be published by Grey Box and Six Foot and released in 2017. In October 2016, Raúl Rubio described the pressures arising from the very positive reception of the initial reveals of the game in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, stating that people had expectations of the game beyond what it was intended to be. He also stated that the 2013 reveal and 2014 Gamescon videos had been assembled from in-game video footage.
In January 2017, the game was announced to be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows in May 2017.
In the progress of development the original open world design was lost, converted to a more gated progress in 'levels' in an overworld; additionally several game elements were removed such as survival game aspects, including the need to eat and drink, as well as stamina and health stats.
Tequila Works announced that the Nintendo Switch port delayed, and would cost more than its counterparts due to higher development costs.