Rive (video game)
A 2D side-scrolling shooter with hacking mechanics and a long development cycle.
Rive is a platforming shoot-em-up game developed by the Dutch video game company Two Tribes for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux and Nintendo Switch. It is notable as the first major release by the company after its downsizing and closure of its primary development team in late 2013, and for its long development history that originated as a 3D shooter for the Nintendo DS in 2005.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Rive
- Developer
- Two Tribes
- Publisher
- Two Tribes Publishing B.V.
- Engine
- [https: · github.com/TwoTribesGames/ttengine Open-source internal engine]
- Platforms
- PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, OS X, Linux
- Genre
- Platform, shoot 'em up
- Modes
- Single-player
- Release
- Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, PlayStation 4 · September 13, 2016 · Nintendo Switch · November 17, 2017
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Rive originated as a 3D shooter for the Nintendo DS in 2005, but was unveiled only in July 2014 after a long period of quiet development. It uses the same engine as Toki Tori 2+ and was developed by a three-man core team. The game was originally confirmed for Wii U in September 2014, with a demo appearing in the Wii U eShop's Nindies@Home campaign in June 2015. However, Two Tribes co-founder Collin van Ginkel expressed skepticism about the Wii U version due to technical difficulties maintaining optimal performance, stating that if the build failed to meet expectations, the title would move to the upcoming Nintendo Switch (then known as 'NX'). The Wii U version was eventually dropped, and the Switch version was developed in collaboration with Engine Software. It includes an exclusive Copilot Mode for two players using each Joy-Con, improved performance running at 60 frames per second at 1080p, 48 additional achievements, and HD Rumble support, released worldwide on November 17, 2017 under the title Rive: Ultimate Edition.
Reader's Guide
Rive is a classic 2D side-scrolling platformer mixed with shooting elements, allowing the player to shoot in full 360 degrees around the character and to alter the behavior of robotic enemies by collecting and uploading hacks. The game features a mission system and high scores for replayability after the story. Reception was generally favourable: GameSpot rated it 8/10, praising its game design, challenging encounters, environments, and graphics, and highlighting the Switch version's added score-based modes and co-op gameplay. IGN was less favourable, giving it a 6.5/10, critiquing the margin for error, level design leading to repetitive sections, dialogue, limited enemy diversity, poor repeatability, and lack of progression, though it enjoyed the puzzle-like sections. The Switch port earned an 82/100 on Metacritic and 85% on GameRankings. A physical version was released via IndieBox in September 2016, including a DRM-free disc, soundtrack CD, manual, Steam key, and collectibles. Another physical version for Switch, Rive: Ultimate Edition, was sold by Super Rare Games in August 2019, including interior artwork, game cart, manual, and trading cards.
Structural Framework of the 2016 Catalog
The index in which this title is catalogued follows a strictly chronological architecture, organizing every entry by its exact release date and then grouping those entries into four natural quarterly blocks: January through March, April through June, July through September, and October through December. This quarterly segmentation mirrors the way the industry itself tends to cluster its output around holiday seasons, summer breaks, and the traditional fall launch window. Rather than sorting alphabetically or by genre, the editors prioritized temporal sequence, meaning a reader scanning the list encounters titles in the precise order they reached consumers worldwide. The result is a document that functions less as a reference tool and more as a narrative timeline of a single calendar year, allowing one to trace how the landscape of available software shifted month by month. Each quarterly heading acts as a checkpoint, and within those checkpoints the individual entries proceed in unbroken date order, giving the whole compilation a sense of forward momentum from the first January release through the final December title.
Data Fields and Classification
Every entry in the index carries a set of standardized metadata fields designed to help readers quickly identify the essential characteristics of each title without needing to consult external sources. The fields include the developer responsible for creating the software, the publisher that distributed it to the public, the operating system or platform on which the title runs, the genre that best describes its gameplay or interactive content, and the type of release, which distinguishes between new launches, re-releases, ports, and other distribution formats. Importantly, the documentation notes that these details are provided only where available, acknowledging that some entries may lack one or more of these fields. This partial-coverage approach reflects the reality that not every title—particularly smaller or regionally limited releases—carries a complete set of publicly documented credits. The combination of these five fields creates a compact but informative snapshot, enabling a reader to filter the year's output by platform, genre, or publisher at a glance rather than having to open each individual article for basic identification.
Contextual Placement Within the Broader Year
The index explicitly directs readers seeking a wider perspective to a companion overview article covering the entire year in video games as a whole. This cross-reference acknowledges that a simple chronological list, however comprehensive, cannot capture the thematic currents, industry shifts, cultural moments, or technological milestones that define a given year. The list serves as a factual inventory—what was released, when, by whom, and on what platform—while the broader overview handles interpretation, significance, and narrative. Together, the two documents form a complementary pair: one quantitative and one qualitative. For any single title appearing in the quarterly listings, this contextual link is particularly important because it situates the release within the competitive and creative environment of its peers. A game released in, say, the July-through-September window did not appear in a vacuum; it entered a market already shaped by the titles that preceded it in the same quarter, and the overview article provides the connective tissue that a bare list of dates and names simply cannot supply on its own.
Reference Architecture and Documentation
Beyond the main chronological listings, the index incorporates several auxiliary sections that lend the document scholarly rigor and transparency. A dedicated legend section explains the symbols, abbreviations, or formatting conventions used throughout the quarterly tables, ensuring that readers do not misinterpret shorthand notations or special markers. A notes section addresses edge cases, clarifies ambiguous release dates, and provides supplementary commentary where a simple entry might be misleading without additional context. Finally, a references section documents the sources from which the information was drawn, allowing any reader to verify claims or trace the provenance of a particular data point. This layered documentation structure—legend, notes, references—transforms what could be a bare list into a citable reference work. It signals that the compilers treated the compilation as a living document subject to revision, where corrections can be tracked, disputed entries can be footnoted, and the underlying evidence for each claim remains accessible to anyone who wishes to examine it.
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