There’s Nothing Copy And Paste About Ruffy And The Riverside

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There’s nothing quite like stumbling across a new game to get excited about. I find that happens to me quite a lot when scrolling through social media. My latest discovery is a truly bizarre and brilliant looking 3D adventure game called Ruffy and the Riverside, and it could one of the first big Indies of 2025.

Luckily, I happened to be scrolling by when Zocrates Laboratories, the team behind the game, dropped a new trailer on their social media account earlier today (or watch it on Youtube via IGN’s channel).

You play as the titular Ruffy, a bear wearing some kind of poncho who is on a quest to stop the villainous Groll from destroying the World Core and possibly all of Riverside. Fortunately, Ruffy is The Chosen One, and is bestowed with the power to Swap. Immediately I was captivated by the visuals of the game; 2D hand-drawn cartoon characters move about large, vibrant 3D spaces reminiscent of 90’s 3D platformers. With this complimentary clashing of art styles, and smooth looking gameplay, Ruffy and the Riverside already appealed to me, but it’s the Swap mechanic that has my mind reeling!

Ruffy has the power to change the world around him, in some pretty crazy ways! Using his Swap ability, Ruffy can change the state of objects and the environment around him to almost anything. Stuck on an island surrounded by lava? Swap it to ice and glide to safety. Need to get to the top of a waterfall? Swap it to a wall of plants you can climb up. As long as Ruffy can see the type of surface he wants something to have, he can swap it. This honestly brilliant mechanic stems from the foundations of game design itself; the Swap power seemingly being the changing of a target object’s texture and related properties.

The new trailer does an excellent job of conveying all the different ways the Swap ability can be used (in a way still images can’t), along with the variety of things to do in the game. With seven different regions to explore, full of side quests, magic items to collect, mini-games to play, secrets to uncover, and bosses to beat. Along with a colourful cast of characters to interact with, Ruffy and the Riverside looks to be inspired by the platformers of the 90’s, but it certainly cannot be called a copycat.

2024 was such a good year for Indie games, which the nominees for the Indie Game Awards are proof of, and it looks like 2025 is continuing that trend. I am a sucker for a good 3D platformer/adventure game, and I love to see developers push new and interesting mechanics to their fullest. Ruffy and the Riverside looks to be the perfect blend of these, and I don’t think I’d swap it for anything else.