A patch for RiME on Nintendo Switch has been released that improves frame rates, lighting effects, and handheld mode resolution, among a slew of other issues. The patch comes more than three months after the game’s overwhelming disappointing release for the Nintendo Switch in November of 2017, but now many are saying that it has single-handedly redeemed what was previously called one of the worst ports ever.
Back in December, I wrote about how I thought the port should never have come to the platform, given its many issues. I based this conclusion on the sheer dismissal of the game’s problems by Tequila Works, the company who published it. “With Rime being very open in many locations, it’s incredibly difficult to get these level segments small enough to not cause a hiccup in performance,” they said, “When looking at the handheld mode, we had to make a choice between lowering the resolution, removing/replacing major parts of the level geometry, or having a bigger hit in performance. We decided to go for the former, because it allows us to maintain the integrity of the gameplay experience. All the important details are still very visible, and we’ve had no issues playing the game in handheld mode ourselves.”
Now, it seems, Tequila Works is turning those words into a foot and placing in their mouth, as they’ve somehow miraculously managed to disprove their own assessment.
But is it too late?
RiME’s 1.0.2 patch comes at the tail-end of a month when PlayStation Plus offered the game for free to its subscribers. So, will the newest version of the game (that should arguably have been ready for launch) be able to reel in players that haven’t either already gotten the game for free, turned their backs on the Switch version, or who’ve soured from ever playing the game at all?
For me, getting RiME through PlayStation Plus was the perfect way to remind me why I was so interested in the game in the first place. After playing through the first section, though, I ended up setting the controller down in melancholy, because I realized that I’d rather be playing the game on the Switch, if not only because the Nintendo Switch is preferred gaming method nowadays. Still, I refused to purchase the game without some kind of fix for the many problems the game was having. And then, as if they heard my distressful laments, RiME’s 1.0.2 patch landed, and I found myself cautious but inevitably reaching for the purchase button.
There are still little hiccups in the game, but now that RiME’s resolution in handheld mode has been corrected, and its ugly, muddy lighting system has been upgraded, its problems no longer feel any different than those in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (which still has similar moments of slowdowns and stuttering). For this reason, RiME feels redeemed. I can’t stand by my original assertions that the game should never have come to Nintendo Switch, because the reasons given to us for the game’s poor performance are no longer true.
Now, all that’s left to be seen is if the game is actually all that good.
Fingers crossed.
Joy+Sticks Gaming 