An adorable platformer that allows players to copy and paste the world around them, Ruffy and the Riverside wraps the magic of late-90s console adventures in a distinctly modern package. Featuring hand-drawn 2D artwork against vibrant 3D-rendered environments, Germany-based developers Zockrates Laboratories have taken the nostalgic bones of classic games of yore and elaborated, crafting a uniquely charming experience. It’s super cute, full of engaging puzzles, and tonnes of fun.

After a dramatic prologue that introduces Ruffy and his iconic SWAP ability that lets him paint textures onto the world, the game begins with a literal call-to-adventure from respected Riverside resident mole Sir Eddler, who claims that Ruffy is a chosen hero who will soon be needed to save the world from certain doom. This involves a series of heroic trials, the invasion of Riverside by a giant robotic cube named Groll the destroyer, and (of course) collecting the six magical artifacts scattered across the land’s different biomes. The story’s tone hits the mark beautifully: the setup is just self-aware enough to poke fun at the standard Hero’s Journey formula without feeling cheap. I especially love that the main collectible is just the letters in “RIVERSIDE” that power up the region’s giant Hollywood-inspired sign. Silly, joyful fun.

The game’s core gameplay loop sees you exploring Riverside and its various platforming levels, each with its own mini-narrative and bevy of secrets and collectables. Some are more involved than others, but each of the six main areas provides plenty of gameplay variety and worldbuilding to keep things interesting while never hurting the pace. You’ll be tasked with helping a ghost decorate their gravestone, sketching patterns to save a sacred tree, and winning a diabolically tricky haybale half-pipe tournament, all while scouring each platforming playground for treasures and coins to spend on health and stamina upgrades in town.

Much of the game’s traversal makes use of your ability to swap out the very ground you walk on for something else, meaning you’re always on the lookout for handy materials to use. You quickly become familiar with the physical properties of different materials as you’ll often need to transform waterlogged pillars into wood to create floating platforms, or change stone archways into metal to magnetise them.

In addition to aiding movement, SWAP is a central part of the title’s many puzzles and micro-quests that you’ll find scattered across Riverside. These range in complexity from simple colour swaps to layered multi-step challenges, and feel like a wonderful blend of modern Nintendo-style open world design and classic Rare minigame. Little creatures called “Etoi” can be unearthed through completing small environmental puzzles, hearkening back to Koroks in recent Zelda titles, while integrated 2D platformer sections add a Super Mario Odyssey twist to some of the game’s biomes.

What this culminates in is an adventure that feels at once familiar and refreshing. Ruffy’s controls feel incredibly responsive and intuitive, letting you focus on the gorgeous world around him. The wealth of environment-based puzzles and use of the surrounding landscape as their solutions make you appreciate each cleverly designed biome, while the uniqueness of the SWAP mechanic means even familiar challenges feel fresh.

Difficulty-wise, Ruffy and the Riverside is more forgiving than the average platformer in its genre, though it balances this with its relatively trickier suite of puzzles. I found the challenge to be pretty spot-on most of the time, rewarding careful observation of the environment and allowing you plenty of space to experiment when you feel a bit stuck. Some of the sequences that require precise execution can even be made easier through “cheating” using the SWAP mechanic to manipulate scoreboards or racetracks, which is a neat in-universe way for less confident gamers to bypass the game’s trickier segments. The main story can be overly quick to hold your hand, however, with Sir Eddler popping up a little too often to point you in the direction of the next story objective. Given the hands-off nature of most of the puzzles, this extra guidance can cause some minor whiplash when it comes to what the game is expecting of you – despite this, the overall challenge of Ruffy’s quest is satisfying.

It’s also worth mentioning how incredibly playful the character writing feels in Ruffy and the Riverside. Each of the anthropomorphic residents of Riverside comes to life through unique, often witty dialogue. While some of the wordplay-based riddles have been translated a little awkwardly at times, the heart and soul of each character come through in gentle flourishes and make you actually care about saving this world. I particularly love the relationship between Ruffy and his bee companion – the most supportive little guys you’ll ever meet.

At around ten hours for the main story, Ruffy and the Riverside is an utterly delightful way to spend a long weekend. There are plenty of side quests, hidden collectables, and extra achievements for those who want to spend more time in its vibrant and colourful world. With its nostalgic gameplay made fresh by a unique core mechanic, gorgeous art style, and charming writing, this is a true modern 3D platformer not to be missed by fans of the genre.