Ruffy and the Riverside Review – A Critique

Alright, here goes—bear with me. See what I did there?

So, imagine diving into this wild, colorful world called Ruffy and the Riverside. And trust me, it’s not your everyday action-adventure scene. We’re talking open world, puzzles galore, and this bear—Ruffy, who kinda looks like an Ewok from Star Wars. Cute, right? This little guy? He’s got some cool mojo with the ability to tweak stuff around him. Sure, the journey’s got charm and all, but a few bumps along the way can make you go, “What just happened?”

You kick things off with this ominous cube looming over Ruffy’s home, Riverside. I mean, cubes—who knew they could be so threatening? Anyway, Ruffy’s the champ-in-waiting, tasked with gathering letters to power up the world core. Imagine Super Mario 64 vibes, with its hub and levels, except it’s all bear-themed and there’s this cube. Along the way, you bump into quirky characters and mind-boggling challenges. Ladders—yeah, you better climb those smack dab down the middle, or you’re toast.

The game’s heart is Ruffy’s material-swapping party trick. Swap this, flip that—kinda like color-by-numbers but with actual moving bits. Sometimes it’s straightforward; other times, you’re pressing buttons like a DJ gone rogue. A puzzle that clicks? Golden. But other times, you’re just like, “What now?” Some brain teasers take so long, you could probably start growing a beard. Seriously, not every puzzle clicks with every player—individual mileage definitely varies here.

Now, about those controls. Ruffy’s fast, but precision? Another story. Imagine platforming like a dance with two left feet. It doesn’t help when checkpoints kick you back miles behind. You find yourself re-solving puzzles as old as yesterday’s sandwich. Oh, but there’s retail therapy! Spend coins on heart containers—or costumes, if you’re feeling snazzy. Buying puzzle solutions was my guilty pleasure when the puzzles just didn’t puzzle right.

Take, for example, swapping a waterfall’s water with, say, some leaves nearby. Or turning stone pillars into floaty wooden ones. It’s a thinker’s paradise until you hit repetition city—doing symbol matches feels a bit like buffering, if you catch my drift.

The whole world? It kinda sings. Lighthearted tunes, a bit of comedic flair, with Ruffy doing his happy dance. The hand-drawn world? Bright, vibrant but with a simplicity that screams cozy. But the chatter? Could’ve clipped that tutorial into something less… verbose.

In short, Ruffy and the Riverside is this charming ride—the charm wins over the hitches and repeats. My console of choice was the Switch 2, and boy, did it perform. Completionists, eat your hearts out. Even if the puzzles make you scratch your head like a million times over, the nifty swap mechanic is what keeps it fresh. Sure, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but I found myself more than willing to wade through Riverside’s quirky waters.