RUBATO

for what RUBATO, the experimental, 2D physics-based take on the collect-a-thon genre does, it does near perfectly. oh my god like, "the game turns into an unskippable 2 hour visual novel" sounds like a completely justified criticism but, gosh, I was invested enough in the game to go sit back and watch this platformer unfold into this beautiful story with an extremely diverse art direction.

I always thought that great indie gameplay peaks at giving a great take on an older well known game (Undertale with Earthbound, Ultrakill with Doom.

"Game developer makes a niche game called stupid farty toilet simulator 2000 where you have to collect all the poop pieces to save the world from the pee-master, but then you play it and it's actually life changing with its themes of trauma, and depression while touching your heart with its beautiful soundtrack". like, my brother in christ, when you start playing this game it tells you it's a goofy platformer about a frog who has to piece back the solar system because your co-worker blew it up playing pool, we both know that's not what game we're looking at.

All that with great music and fun graphics work together to make what starts out as a fun experience, but evolves into more than a video game.