Ophelia Payne

If I had a checklist of things I look for in games I love to review, Rita would check off a lot of them. Cute character, puzzles, and platforming are all part of SporkTank’s offering to us. 

When we first meet Rita, she is a newly hatched chick who loves the beach and solving crosswords and other word puzzles. Me too, Rita!! As Rita solves the word puzzles throughout the game, she transforms the world around her. As the game progresses, we follow her across multiple lands and meet her family (even her grand chicklet) and become a witness to the legacy she creates. This legacy is chronicled in newspaper articles and photos, the same newspaper you reference when solving the word puzzles. This is a delightful nod to the nostalgia I have, sitting at the table with my grandmother, solving crosswords over a cup of tea.

Rita takes place in a colourful world full of navigation challenges. The game is designed to show you what you need using a holographic image of the item needed (ramp, bridge, etc.). This makes the game more approachable to a wide variety of skills, with there also being a mode that offers spelling assistance too. To build the missing item, or navigate certain challenges, Rita must collect letters randomly spaced around the map. These letters are used to complete the crossword puzzles in the newspaper. When you solve a clue, an item will appear.

When you start, the puzzles are much simpler than they are in later levels. Along with the crossword puzzles, there are also other challenges like races to win, places to dig up letters, word searches, anagrams and rebus puzzles.

While I am talking about the platforming through the world, don’t think that the world is empty. It’s full of delightful animal characters. Speaking to them might give you a new challenge; you can even play games with some of them.

The pixel design style is a wonderful choice for this game, keeping to its cute, cozy and simplistic feel. The soundtrack is also minimalistic and not overbearing. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the gameplay.

Along with the word puzzles and platforming, there are also memory puzzles that you open with the feathers you collect as you wander the world. In the memory puzzles, you will use the same mechanics of building the items you need to move from the entrance to the exit, but you will be using a word search puzzle. You collect circles indicating the number of letter options available. You will have some clues early on, fewer as you progress through the game. Here you will also have to deal with a mechanic that took me a moment to understand, having to remove previously circled letters to be able to use the circles again. I was frustrated until I figured it out, and then thoroughly impressed by the mechanic. Upon finishing the memory levels, you get a peek into Rita’s life from the viewpoint of another character. I loved this, helping to fill out Rita’s story.

Rita can be played with keyboard only, keyboard and mouse or a controller. I played with a controller and found it easy to navigate.

This is an easy recommendation from me, and I think gamers of a wide variety of skills and ages can and will enjoy it.

Until next time…be good to yourself and be good to each other.

**Special Thanks to SporkTank and IndiEXP for the review code**