Tequila Works finally showed the beginning of their new amazing game, which melts ICO influences with UE4 technology.
Tequila Works first showed the original trailer for RIME back in 2013. We’ve tried to contact the developers on several occasions, but it was not very successful. In most cases, the developers just didn’t answer or said that they were not ready to talk.
RIME was inspired by Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Jason and the Argonauts and the works of Salvador Dalí.
The design of RIME started during the development of Deadlight. It was supposed to be an isometric action role-playing game, with hunting, crafting and so on. However later, during the work with Microsoft, the team had to redo the concept and start from the blank sheet. Fortunately, Sony came along and the game got a new platform – PlayStation 4. Fortunately, as the development continued, the title became a multiplatform release (Xbox One & PC).
The first trailer of the game was demonstrated in 2013 during Sony’s press conference at Gamescom. This time it was a third person, adventure game. The visuals were heavily ‘cel-shaded’, which immediately made the game pop up and draw comparisons with ICO, Journey and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The great response put a huge burden on the dev’s shoulders.
“Rime is a personal project by an indie studio. We always know it was a game that we wanted to play, but we never thought it would get such a huge reception. That means a lot of pressure, because with exposure you create expectations and you build hype… Suddenly you’re aware that many people around the world want to play this game, and it needs to be perfect. Obviously, as a developer you always want to make the best game that you can, but, again, if you are an indie your own expectations are not people’s expectations.”
Raul Rubio Munarriz, Tequila Works (source)
The game’s creative director is Raul Rubio Munarriz, who’s also CEO and co-founder of Tequila Works. He says that RIME was inspired by Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Jason and the Argonauts and the works of Salvador Dalí. Unfortunately, it did not work out with Sony and Tequila Works decided to acquire the rights to Rime from Sony Computer Entertainment. The deal was successful and now the game is published by Grey Box and Six Foot
Here’s the piece of the official description:
You can now watch about 30 minutes from the beginning of RIME on IGN. It gives a pretty good idea of how the whole thing will play out. There are a bunch of puzzles, no enemies and everything seems to be working well. You’ll be able to play the game in May.