The story in Ruffy and the Riverside is that the mischievous villain known as Groll is attempting to destroy the World Core and throw the world of Riverside into chaos. Now it’s up to Ruffy, Pip, and the rest of the inhabitants of Riverside to put a stop to Groll and restore peace to the world of Riverside.
The story is told through character dialogue and some neat cut-scenes sprinkled throughout. Though the dialogue is not voice acted, it’s written in a somewhat humorous way that is easy enough to follow without having it read to you through the use of voice acting.
To be as much as I really enjoy the stories in games more when there is voice acting, for a game like this, I think that would have really detracted from the overall experience. I am happy with the direction they chose with the story and the way it’s told.
Ruffy and the Riverside is a 3D platformer collectathon game. You take control of Ruffy with the help of Pip the bee which are both 2D paperlike characters and run around in a fully 3D world. As you run around you will collect coins which can be used to purchase capes for Ruffy, upgrade stats, and to bypass puzzles.
I know I mentioned this is a collectathon, so what else do you collect besides coins? Well here is where the game gets interesting. So not only do you collect coins to purchase things but you also collect materials, yes you ready that correctly. The core mechanic of the game is swapping textures. Ruffy has the ability to absorb a texture and then to throw it on an object or surface.
For instance, one of the very first puzzles you come to is a puzzle involving the restoration or power to a generator at the top of a waterfall. Well, how you get up to the generator is that you have to swap the water texture of the waterfall for that of a vine plant. This then allows you to climb up the waterfall and reach the top.
Though this is a core mechanic in the game, you do also have other items to collect and the ability to jump on enemies to dispatch them like other traditional platformers that this game is paying tribute to.
As much of a gimmick as this mechanic is, I felt like it was done in a fun and challenging way. You find yourself running around tossing textures just to see what happens. It’s a really fun and unique way to take on puzzles that I found to be very enjoyable.
When you look at Ruffy and the Riverside, you might instantly think of Paper Mario, which I honestly thought immediately when I first sat down with it. All of the characters are flat and paper-like, so Paper Mario is an obvious game to compare this game to. Then you have the 3D game world to run around in, again I thought of Paper Mario but also a bit of Banjo Kazooie. The colors in the game are all very bright and vibrant, almost like a children’s book come to life as a video game.
Character expressions and overall animation is very smooth and very much conveys their paper-like qualities in the world of Riverside. Graphically, Ruffy and the Riverside is very impressive and honestly very pretty to look at. I often found myself just stopping and looking around at just how gorgeous the world I was running around in was.
When it comes to performance, Ruffy and the Riverside is what you would expect. The graphics are meant to look like that of a Nintendo 64 game up-scaled to HD. It does this very well and because of this, it’s optimized well which results in the Xbox Series X I was playing on to have no issues performance wise at all.
While performance on a platform like this isn’t surprising when it comes to Ruffy and the Riverside, I can’t help but think that the graphical choices made isn’t just taking a stab at nostalgia, but also a means to ensure that the game runs well on the less powerful Switch. The same can be said when it comes to the requirements for the game on PC.
I went into Ruffy and the Riverside thinking that the sound was going to be an issue. The reason I came to this idea was because the game is a collectathon game. Most of the time, these games will have repetitive sounds when it comes to collecting items, jumping, in game music, and the most annoying sound choice when it comes to character dialogue appearing in text boxes.
Well thankfully, Ruffy and the Riverside was a breath of fresh air in this respect. You have all the sounds of collecting items, and jumping which all actually sound okay and not half bad. They fit the game nicely and aren’t an assault on one’s ears. Even the in game music is fun, upbeat and easy to listen to.
The character dialogue is a kind of generic sound that comes about when text they are speaking comes up on the screen. Yes, it is very much an annoyance but it is actually really easy to overlook. The game does this by animating the characters in such an over exaggeration, that you don’t really care about the sound characters make when talking and it just works.
Earlier I had mentioned that Ruffy and the Riverside took heavy inspiration from Paper Mario and Banjo Kazooie. Banjo Kazooie with the 3D game world to run around in, and it being a collectathon. Paper Mario with the 2D paper like characters in a vibrant and 3D world.
Both of those games are really good games, but Ruffy and the Riverside is more than just a tribute game. It has a very unique mechanic that hasn’t been seen in a video game until now with the swapping of textures as a means to solve puzzles. When you bring all of this together with the wacky nature of the characters you play and interact with, it’s a very unique and beautiful game.
I also made mention of the low PC specs and the graphical choices of the game playing a part in an attempt to have the game run smoothly on the original Switch. This appears to be an attempt to make the game as accessible to as many players as possible.
The developers could have easily cut out the original Switch entirely and made the system requirements on PC be that of mid range to high end requirements. But they made the choice to be as inclusive as possible. Not only does this maximize the player base, but it gives a bit of a nostalgic feel playing a tribute game like this on Switch, and other modern platforms.
If you’re a fan of old school 3D platforming games, you really owe it to yourself to pick up Ruffy and the Riverside. It’s a fun and entertaining trip down nostalgia lane with a modern spin.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.