RUBATO

Gameplay is a king and Rubato absolutely nails that aspect. While I can respect desire to subvert players perception of what is actually happening I don't really like how it was approached here. Amnesia plot lines, a lot of red herrings that have poor throw away explanations and more than not 4th wall break jokes that don't land in my opinion. And I would usually suggest to ignore story and enjoy it as silly unusual platformer but mate you would not be able to ignore this story let me tell that, it will take major chunk of play time at some point which makes it absolutely impossible to ignore. This game like none other wants you to be drift compatible with what it is, otherwise you will be annoyed rather than entertained. I still enjoyed it a lot, because when it came to actually playing the game I was never bored.

Okay this game is awesome! This really IS an experimental 2D platformer-collectathon and it is all capital EXPERIMENTAL.

I will preface this game that, if you do not care for any of the surface qualities RUBATO has to offer, this game isn't for you. Like many other reviews state, it is a highly experimental take on the 2D platformer & Collectathon genres. It takes a specific taste in games to enjoy how the two mesh; and if you don't have a taste for them, RUBATO isn't for you, and that's okay. However, if you have an interest in (or are indifferent to) either of this game's defining genres, I highly suggest you give RUBATO a shot. RUBATO, as a game, has several glaring flaws. Despite these flaws, I've chosen to give the game a positive review, for three particular reasons. For starters, I think that the game has one of the best art directions of 2026, and possibly of the 2020s. The developers of this game somehow made a way for it to mix not just the pixel art the game introduces you to, but also (Spoilers for post-forest) PS1-style polygons and Claymations is incredible. I felt very little whiplash when the styles changed, which I think deserves praise. The humor of this game is something I also enjoyed, though I will say it is definitely not for everybody. It's hard to fully review it, but you'll either like it or won't. The good characters play a part of this, but also the random sublevels you play through have their moments. I predominantly fell in love with this game because of its latter half. After you beat the fourth major level, a major plot development happens which causes a big exposition dump. Some may dislike this scene, but I enjoyed it, as it helped demonstrate this game's amazing artistic direction. Several of the scenes truly spoke to me, but there's one specific scene that made me love this game. (Spoilers for post-forest. If you care about spoilers, this is the end of the review.) After RUBATO and co. are ambushed by Higher Management, a major plot twist is revealed that leaves RUBATO questioning their identity. After multiple exposition dumps about the major characters of the game, Tony, one of the first characters you meet (and whom you just played as for over 30 minutes shortly before the scene occurs), speaks to RUBATO. “There’s a ‘you’ there. You have to find it. I can’t define it for you. Neither can High Management. Don’t let him take ‘you’ away, okay? [...] You're not alone. ... And.. have some hope. It might just be strong enough to withstand this cruel world." Of course, this speech is nothing groundbreaking. However, it spoke to me; I nearly cried when I read it. There's no particular reason this speech about 'identity' made me feel what it did, when many other pieces of media have made very similar speeches. This is the beauty of RUBATO to me. While it does bring some things to the table, most of what it does isn't particularly groundbreaking. However, for whatever reason, it engages the player better. In the 'visual novel' section of the game, the artistic expression helps you truly engage with what the characters go through, despite being a VN-like with very little gameplay. TL;DR: If you don't like games that experiment a lot gameplay-wise or artistic-wise, RUBATO probably isn't for you. Many of the already existing reviews cover RUBATO's pros and cons well; I would recommend reading those if you're looking for a more "informational" review.