Zockrates Laboratories Releases Ruffy and the Riverside

German indie studio Zockrates Laboratories from Nuremberg and US publisher Phiphen Games have released Ruffy and the Riverside. This hand-drawn 3D platformer took over seven years to develop. The project has also received multiple grants.

The hand-drawn 3D platformer Ruffy and the Riverside is launched on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Developed by Zockrates Laboratories, ported by Meteorbyte and published by US company Phiphen Games, the game is priced at €19.99. Development was financially supported by FFF Bayern (€65,100) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (€65,100, €71,210 and €51,933). A sequel, Ruffy and the Riverside 2, is already in the concept phase and received €20,000 in funding from FFF Bayern at the beginning of 2025.

In Ruffy and the Riverside, players can use the "SWAP mechanic" to copy and paste textures in the world, helping the friendly inhabitants of Riverside solve puzzles. "Turn ice into lava or waterfalls into vines as you ride hay bales, explore, fight, and solve puzzles throughout Riverside. Unleash your imagination in this quirky open-world action game that literally lets you change the world," the developers said. "Ruffy just won't stop! When the 3D world ends, he leaps into new 2D levels to collect even more treasures, but watch out - many obstacles must be swapped before you can safely pass through walls."

Zockrates Laboratories: "We used to make video game art, but since Ruffy smiled at us for the first time from a piece of paper in 2017 and started swapping things right before our eyes in a prototype, we had to move on and founded Zockrates Laboratories. However, our aim has remained the same. We want to bring extraordinary gameplay, aesthetic enjoyment in visuals and music and most importantly a lot of fun." US publisher Phiphen Games was founded by producer Molly Conners with the aim of bringing creative indie games to major platforms. Ruffy and the Riverside is the company's first release.

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