Rivage takes an abandoned space station and fills it with puzzles. Lots of puzzles. Then it removes any meaningful hint system and watches patiently as you wander around the same corridors for the fifteenth time wondering whether you’ve forgotten how doors work. Set 400 years in the future, you play Miranda, a medic trapped aboard ARES and caught in a time loop. Good luck with that.
Gaming Heaven
Rivage is undeniably attractive. ARES is crammed with tiny details, from books and food packets to notes, drawings and assorted bits of futuristic clutter. Examining everything is often essential, making the environment feel thoughtfully constructed.
The K9 AR device is also useful, storing passwords, data and screenshots that survive each loop. The time-loop concept has some clever ideas behind it, particularly the limited power supply forcing you to consider which doors and machines are worth using.
When you finally solve something after an hour of increasingly desperate staring, it does provide a genuine sense of achievement. Mainly because you’ve suffered enough to deserve it.
Gaming Hell
Unfortunately, Rivage seems to confuse being challenging with being inconvenient. There’s no hint system, no useful progress tracker and little assistance when you inevitably miss one tiny password clue hidden somewhere in the station. Expect plenty of aimless wandering and repeated visits to rooms you’ve already searched.
The looping mechanic can become tedious too. Opening four doors can drain the available power, forcing another reset. Make one wrong decision and congratulations: you’ve basically wasted your morning.
Computer interfaces are awkward, movement can interfere with K9 controls, and using screenshots while simultaneously trying to navigate feels like operating a microwave with boxing gloves.
Final Judgement
Rivage has the ingredients of an excellent atmospheric puzzle adventure, but insists on making the player do far too much donkey work. Its beautiful environments and clever ideas are buried beneath repetition, awkward controls and puzzles seemingly designed to test your patience rather than your intelligence.
