I have a general aversion to puzzles in video game form or otherwise. It extends to even narrative structure where detective fiction, mystery stories or whodunits that are framed around characters figuring things out for themselves hold little appeal to me as a selling point, and my contact with such works always comes about as residue of something else that caught my eye or interest about them. I can and will play a puzzle game and enjoy it, but primarily because something about, for example, the aesthetic hooked me; otherwise I'm unwilling to entertain my brain that I don't trust to unravel bundles of logic that hold no inherent value to my own sense of entertainment.
Conscious of those biases and preferences, I had long been tangentially aware of developer Skipmore's works, but had had no direct contact with them. It would've been difficult not to cultivate some degree of awareness, as Fairune alone appeared to my perception to be a 3DS mainstay on its digital store for most of the platform's existence. An independent, mostly one-person creative niche would never garner mass popularity to elevate its status with, but it was also clear to see that this was a lineage that few had anything bad to say about, and that in itself was intriguing. But that platform passed, and further works with Kamiko went similarly ignored by myself--always a little curious, but anxious and uncertain by the reputation of the games possessing that puzzling element, however manageable in practice it would likely be. Some preconceptions are difficult to overcome, especially when they feel as trivial as what kind of video game genre one feels unequipped to interact with, and so go unaddressed.
Transiruby, as the latest work by the developer, is more tenable to be eased into for a mindset such as mine. It's not a top-down game, which has always carried with it associations of brainteasing just because of where and how the most formative, famous and popular works in that presentational style have exerted their influence over the years. Instead, it shifts the perspective to a sidescrolling platformer of the search and action format, which just through that fundamental difference has to emphasize different aspects of navigating and exploring a world, even if the spirit remains the same. I don't have a frame of reference to accurately glean how Skipmore's earlier works truly are and were, but in the suppositions, conjectures and informed guesses made throughout Transiruby, their principles don't feel diluted or abandoned here--a point that has left me a little nonplussed about overestimating and mythologizing the barriers of entry to enjoying this family of games, as consistently on the mark as they appear to be from this sample size.
The comedy of this kind of framing is quickly made apparent by how Transiruby carries itself. As a game existing in a subgenre that on occasion makes gestures--especially today--to a "hardcore" set in how play mechanics and difficulty are emphasized and arranged, its own design instincts and tenets exist on an altogether incompatible wavelength. Cyborg protagonist Siruby's interdimensional wanderings aren't the stuff of reflex-straining, execution-demanding hardship, but rather a vaguely lackadaisical survey into unknown territory and to chart it the best she can along the way. The enemies and opposition that present themselves are never the focal point of any interaction with Siruby's toolset and abilities; they are often the very literal stepping stones to her true goals and objectives in reaching new places to explore and collect the resources she needs to press forward. Siruby's gun and sword form the core of her arsenal, but they are tool more than weapon in their use-cases, seamlessly shifting to-and-fro in their particular needs from one moment to the next, and lethality is not a given in all those exchanges. As a treasure hunter conducting a kind of geological and ecological survey for an universal governing body, Siruby's priorities are survival and navigation in the wild, and that's where the game's attentions reciprocate in the play rhythms that manifest.
That is not to say that Transiruby cannot be a deceptively challenging game in its own way. As a structural piece, it presents a complex set of ant colonies to topographically parse and fit together, and the baseline of environmental design favours the dense and the intricate, in part facilitated by Siruby's small proportional size as a sprite and relative to her environment; she can fit into any one-tile opening and as such the complexities and hidden corners of the world present themselves with ample possibilities to befuddle and obfuscate. In spite of the physical freedom inherent by this spatial relationship, Transiruby's signaling and communicating of its secrets is uniformly considered and fair to the senses: one does not need to intuit what can be through careful examination of the environment detected by sight. It's the principle with which it approaches all aspects of its design, including the puzzles that I so built up in my mind as insurmountable; the reality of them is very accommodating, generalized and frictionless, only asking that you pay attention to your surroundings and apply yourself accordingly.
Transiruby exists in certain niche within a niche where it presents what's at glance a sprawl, but within it contains a very set sequence to follow through to the end. One could argue such a description is applicable to most if not all games in the genre, but the ways in which exploration is limited, compartmentalized and indirectly guided are what usually form the distinctions between the works considered "open" or "non-linear" and those less so, on the experiental end. For that reason, Transiruby has more common ground with peers like Cave Story or Touhou Luna Nights; games that play with a superficially identical set of verbs and concepts to the ostensibly open-ended genre ideal but arrange themselves with more direct momentum than others, unafraid to emphasize their strengths as genre expectations are discarded as a misguided reputation to live up to. The game's focus lies in the thorough charting of its world in search of the tranchips that act as the currency of forward progression; it's a game that paces itself with explicit gating throughout, and many other times commits this proverbial genre "sin" in having exploratory barriers represented by blocks or doorways that bar entry instead of an innate navigational limitation of the protagonist providing the shape of play. It's a widespread criticism for a reason but can be applied too holistically, and with Transiruby it does not feel all that pertinent to what the game is about, as Siruby's sequential collectathons form an expertly natural structure to the journey even through the many artificial stopgaps, and do not render the modes of interaction rote for their presence, as a number of her opportunities for navigation end up novel by those selfsame conventions of the wider genre.
There is a lightness of being to what Transiruby is that permeates not just its easygoing mechanical nature but everything it sets out to be or say. It's honestly a difficult tone to land on, as the medium as a whole seems often preoccupied with extremes of any particular end, where you're often dealing with self-serious violencefests or uncommitted, insubstantial "parodic" send-ups. Transiruby plays its world and setting by ear, in presenting a set of concepts and iconography that's distinct and attention-grabbing but never detracts from that intrigue by wallowing in self-indulgent examinations as to how or why; it doesn't even ask the questions to tickle obsessives with. No character exists in the game to deliver expositional "as you know" spiels for an audience surrogate, and things just take their natural course in whatever interactions that occur. It leaves the interpretation of what exactly happens, for what reason, and by whose hand, open in a way that does not posit that mystery is the centerpiece of the production, but rather just a wrinkle in a tale that in the moment is as straightforward as any. No analysis or summary is necessary here, and it's that seeming ease with which the game navigates its narrative that allows it to be as funny as it is, often communicated just through Siruby's facial expressions alone and the light banter that occurs as she goes about her work. There is no angsty component, but also no commitment to render it all inconsequential through ridicule either, and that's a fine and special line to walk. It may be the very portrait of whimsy as far as the genre has managed.
To say that I went into Transiruby with no expectations would be a lie quickly proven as such by perusing the above, but the relative blank slate I approached the game with did have an effect on my read on it. I did not expect to find a game that features primarily women and does not commit any kind of exploitative faux pas in their depiction, which has retroactively made the developer's back catalogue that much more of interest as that is what I recall seeing in them too, all along. I did not expect to find an aesthetic marvel of this level as far as what it wants to evoke, from the spell-binding use of colour; extremely cohesive pixel art not in just the main game but portraits and interfaces; and a PSG/FM synth soundtrack that compositionally and instrumentally is a highlight as much as any of the visuality. You can feel Skipmore's reverence and admiration for other, older works in the games they make, but they are able to push past the narrow definition of tribute and convey that you can take your sources of inspiration and improve on them, which is ultimately the most flattering thing of all. Taking any piece of media and trying to critically assess it, you always come up with positives and negatives to contrast and shape a complete picture with, as much as one's own personal lens allows. Transiruby is the kind of work where I'm faced with the reality that I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it.
Conscious of those biases and preferences, I had long been tangentially aware of developer Skipmore's works, but had had no direct contact with them. It would've been difficult not to cultivate some degree of awareness, as Fairune alone appeared to my perception to be a 3DS mainstay on its digital store for most of the platform's existence. An independent, mostly one-person creative niche would never garner mass popularity to elevate its status with, but it was also clear to see that this was a lineage that few had anything bad to say about, and that in itself was intriguing. But that platform passed, and further works with Kamiko went similarly ignored by myself--always a little curious, but anxious and uncertain by the reputation of the games possessing that puzzling element, however manageable in practice it would likely be. Some preconceptions are difficult to overcome, especially when they feel as trivial as what kind of video game genre one feels unequipped to interact with, and so go unaddressed.
Transiruby, as the latest work by the developer, is more tenable to be eased into for a mindset such as mine. It's not a top-down game, which has always carried with it associations of brainteasing just because of where and how the most formative, famous and popular works in that presentational style have exerted their influence over the years. Instead, it shifts the perspective to a sidescrolling platformer of the search and action format, which just through that fundamental difference has to emphasize different aspects of navigating and exploring a world, even if the spirit remains the same. I don't have a frame of reference to accurately glean how Skipmore's earlier works truly are and were, but in the suppositions, conjectures and informed guesses made throughout Transiruby, their principles don't feel diluted or abandoned here--a point that has left me a little nonplussed about overestimating and mythologizing the barriers of entry to enjoying this family of games, as consistently on the mark as they appear to be from this sample size.
The comedy of this kind of framing is quickly made apparent by how Transiruby carries itself. As a game existing in a subgenre that on occasion makes gestures--especially today--to a "hardcore" set in how play mechanics and difficulty are emphasized and arranged, its own design instincts and tenets exist on an altogether incompatible wavelength. Cyborg protagonist Siruby's interdimensional wanderings aren't the stuff of reflex-straining, execution-demanding hardship, but rather a vaguely lackadaisical survey into unknown territory and to chart it the best she can along the way. The enemies and opposition that present themselves are never the focal point of any interaction with Siruby's toolset and abilities; they are often the very literal stepping stones to her true goals and objectives in reaching new places to explore and collect the resources she needs to press forward. Siruby's gun and sword form the core of her arsenal, but they are tool more than weapon in their use-cases, seamlessly shifting to-and-fro in their particular needs from one moment to the next, and lethality is not a given in all those exchanges. As a treasure hunter conducting a kind of geological and ecological survey for an universal governing body, Siruby's priorities are survival and navigation in the wild, and that's where the game's attentions reciprocate in the play rhythms that manifest.
That is not to say that Transiruby cannot be a deceptively challenging game in its own way. As a structural piece, it presents a complex set of ant colonies to topographically parse and fit together, and the baseline of environmental design favours the dense and the intricate, in part facilitated by Siruby's small proportional size as a sprite and relative to her environment; she can fit into any one-tile opening and as such the complexities and hidden corners of the world present themselves with ample possibilities to befuddle and obfuscate. In spite of the physical freedom inherent by this spatial relationship, Transiruby's signaling and communicating of its secrets is uniformly considered and fair to the senses: one does not need to intuit what can be through careful examination of the environment detected by sight. It's the principle with which it approaches all aspects of its design, including the puzzles that I so built up in my mind as insurmountable; the reality of them is very accommodating, generalized and frictionless, only asking that you pay attention to your surroundings and apply yourself accordingly.
Transiruby exists in certain niche within a niche where it presents what's at glance a sprawl, but within it contains a very set sequence to follow through to the end. One could argue such a description is applicable to most if not all games in the genre, but the ways in which exploration is limited, compartmentalized and indirectly guided are what usually form the distinctions between the works considered "open" or "non-linear" and those less so, on the experiental end. For that reason, Transiruby has more common ground with peers like Cave Story or Touhou Luna Nights; games that play with a superficially identical set of verbs and concepts to the ostensibly open-ended genre ideal but arrange themselves with more direct momentum than others, unafraid to emphasize their strengths as genre expectations are discarded as a misguided reputation to live up to. The game's focus lies in the thorough charting of its world in search of the tranchips that act as the currency of forward progression; it's a game that paces itself with explicit gating throughout, and many other times commits this proverbial genre "sin" in having exploratory barriers represented by blocks or doorways that bar entry instead of an innate navigational limitation of the protagonist providing the shape of play. It's a widespread criticism for a reason but can be applied too holistically, and with Transiruby it does not feel all that pertinent to what the game is about, as Siruby's sequential collectathons form an expertly natural structure to the journey even through the many artificial stopgaps, and do not render the modes of interaction rote for their presence, as a number of her opportunities for navigation end up novel by those selfsame conventions of the wider genre.
There is a lightness of being to what Transiruby is that permeates not just its easygoing mechanical nature but everything it sets out to be or say. It's honestly a difficult tone to land on, as the medium as a whole seems often preoccupied with extremes of any particular end, where you're often dealing with self-serious violencefests or uncommitted, insubstantial "parodic" send-ups. Transiruby plays its world and setting by ear, in presenting a set of concepts and iconography that's distinct and attention-grabbing but never detracts from that intrigue by wallowing in self-indulgent examinations as to how or why; it doesn't even ask the questions to tickle obsessives with. No character exists in the game to deliver expositional "as you know" spiels for an audience surrogate, and things just take their natural course in whatever interactions that occur. It leaves the interpretation of what exactly happens, for what reason, and by whose hand, open in a way that does not posit that mystery is the centerpiece of the production, but rather just a wrinkle in a tale that in the moment is as straightforward as any. No analysis or summary is necessary here, and it's that seeming ease with which the game navigates its narrative that allows it to be as funny as it is, often communicated just through Siruby's facial expressions alone and the light banter that occurs as she goes about her work. There is no angsty component, but also no commitment to render it all inconsequential through ridicule either, and that's a fine and special line to walk. It may be the very portrait of whimsy as far as the genre has managed.
To say that I went into Transiruby with no expectations would be a lie quickly proven as such by perusing the above, but the relative blank slate I approached the game with did have an effect on my read on it. I did not expect to find a game that features primarily women and does not commit any kind of exploitative faux pas in their depiction, which has retroactively made the developer's back catalogue that much more of interest as that is what I recall seeing in them too, all along. I did not expect to find an aesthetic marvel of this level as far as what it wants to evoke, from the spell-binding use of colour; extremely cohesive pixel art not in just the main game but portraits and interfaces; and a PSG/FM synth soundtrack that compositionally and instrumentally is a highlight as much as any of the visuality. You can feel Skipmore's reverence and admiration for other, older works in the games they make, but they are able to push past the narrow definition of tribute and convey that you can take your sources of inspiration and improve on them, which is ultimately the most flattering thing of all. Taking any piece of media and trying to critically assess it, you always come up with positives and negatives to contrast and shape a complete picture with, as much as one's own personal lens allows. Transiruby is the kind of work where I'm faced with the reality that I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it.
~~~
This slipped on Steam last month but has not made too much of a splash since, which I hope will be rectified in time. I think a Switch release is due soon-ish, which I know will help, so maybe keep an eye on it there. And wherever you may play it, do consider the FM synth soundtrack DLC--it's absolutely worth the small asking price.
