I feel kind of bad releasing this review the way it is. I know full well that I didn't give Rorrim the time it deserved. For personal reasons, I didn't get the chance to start it up until about half an hour before time of writing. While the average game on this list usually warrants no more than 20 minutes of play, Rorrim is clearly leagues above its counterparts.
And thus, the gushing begins. Remember earlier when I was saying that visual quality simply can;t be measured by the amount of polygons on the screen? I said that the 3D art has to exhibit solid aesthetic sense, and Rorrim's art pulls that off beautifully. Even after the somewhat shaky expository paragraphs borrowed from the textbook on poor interactive storytelling, the level design conveys the setting perfectly, and the music is just the icing on the cake. It puts you in just the right mood to go out and win yourself some royal lovin'
Everything about the aesthetic is well done. The characters and levels are well stylized, the color variety is stunning, the sound direction is flawless...oh man and I didn't even start talking about how the game feels yet...well to be honest it feels like any good game would...BUT THAT'S THE POINT. It feels good. Every death seems like your fault and every success seems like your own personal triumph.
Alright, with that out of the way, let's dig into the mechanics a bit. You are armed with an enchantment staff and a bunch of mirrors strewn about the level. By casting magic into the mirrors at different angles, you can materialize objects, make them bigger or smaller, make yourself bigger or smaller, and pretty much anything else you need to clear the treacherous levels of Nowhere Castle. Sound confusing? Well think outside the box, Luddite! The reason it sounds so scary is because it's new and different. This is what it sounds like to be unique and original. Besides, it's not an easy mechanic to convey in words, as evidenced by the game's only-moderately-helpful text instructions; but those instructions are completely unnecessary because the mechanics convey themselves so well.
Now, I've seen poorly designed 3D levels before...in fact, I'll be blunt: most of the first-person 3D games on this list have been pretty poorly designed, but hey, designing levels is hard...like really hard. I can respect that. Rorrim takes that benefit of the doubt and hands it back to me after having stamped it thoroughly into the ground. The levels are fantastically designed, each stage making you think before testing your skills; it's never frustrating and it's never overly simplified. The difficulty curve is spot on.
Now, if this review just sounded like 4 paragraphs of incessant praise, that's because it is. Look, I've gone on record saying that praise is useless unless juxtaposed with criticism (which, by the way, is why I mentioned the sub-par introduction), but as I said, I really didn't get enough time with Rorrim to start hating it yet, so before I go, I'm just going to share my ragequit story before giving it a very, VERY well deserved seal of approval.
The short version of the story is that I fell through the floor once and entered the negative zone where I was forced to restart the level and lose my progress thus far. Come to think, that's the long version of the story, too. Then I got tired and decided to call it a night.
So yeah. That's all I got for now. Check this game out, guys. It's well worth your time. Until next time, stay lovestruck.
Links
Whoa, Whim!: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26617
