Riverbond | Switch Review

Sometimes it’s nice to find a game that isn’t overly difficult, and is really easy to get into. Top that off with a unique art style and Riverbond may have a recipe for success. But could there be more than just basic controls and a coat of paint we are after? 

Lots and Lots of Little Cubes

Riverbond is an action dungeon crawler both developed and published by Cococucumber; a small independent game studio from Toronto. Founded in 2014, Cococucumber has a couple other games under their belt including Planet of the Eyes and Bunny Bonker.

There really isn’t a story to accompany Riverbond, as gameplay is the primary focus. There are a few small NPC objectives, but they are fairly dry and offer nothing in terms of a story. The player controls a uniquely-skinned character through a series of beautifully crafted levels in search of new weapons and coins. Each level features a unique boss, similar to the boss select screen on something like Mega Man. Each run will net you a final score based on collected items. The player is rewarded with new weapons and skins to use in later playthroughs. It was neat to see tie-in character skins like ‘Shovel Knight’ and ‘The Kid’ from Bastion.

If All Else Fails, Just Hit It With Your Sword

Character movement feels a bit loose and swirly, but does not negatively impact the game mechanics. Gameplay is rather straightforward. You have a basic and/or ranged attack, a charge attack, a pound attack, and a dodge/roll. While these simple controls may seem appealing, I found them unrewarding and unnecessary outside of the basic attack.

 

The damage output for your charge attack is hardly worth it when you could have attacked 2-3 times in the time it takes to actually charge it. The leap is fairly slow, and was only useful when swarmed by enemies. I did, however, find the dodge/roll useful, particularly on boss fights.

They All Fall Down

The graphics are the coolest aspect of Riverbond. I appreciate the time and effort that went into creating an environment that you could demolish, and loved watching things crumble away amidst a flurry of slashes. The soundtrack seemed rather generic with little in terms of memorable composition. The game sound did feel crisp and rewarding when crushing through objects and enemies.

Quick Parting Thoughts

Overall, I wouldn’t say Riverbond is a bad game, I just wish there was more to actually do.  The levels and small objectives within feel repetitive outside the bosses. The bosses were fairly easy to take down, and enemies were easy to clear. Gaining new weapons rarely felt rewarding as there were none that greatly improved the base damage. You essentially get a different, quirky skin for them. 

It would have been nice to see an online leaderboard for scorechasers, but sadly it wasn’t implemented. After clearing the game in a little over two and a half hours, there really isn’t any reason for me to go back and play it aside from couch co-op with buddies. I appreciate what they were trying to do, but they missed many opportunities to make it better. It’s great for a night hanging out with buddies on the couch, or for a small road trip.

To hear me talk more about Riverbond, be sure to check out Ep 277 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Riverbond provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It’s also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.