Found

How Tequila Works came back from the brink stronger, more confident and with an even bolder vision

- Ben Maxwell

When Tequila Works revealed Rime in 2013, its enigmatic adventure garnered immediate acclaim. The trailer didn’t give away too much, but the mysterious pastel-shaded island, consisting of bleached-yellow grass fields, empty beaches and foreboding architecture, was unexpected and alluring. The combination of the game’s desaturated, crumbling environment and its protagonist – an awkward, but capable, young boy dwarfed by his surroundings – immediately drew comparisons with cherished games such as Ico and Wind Waker. Rime’s reveal was a triumph. But this success nearly killed the project entirely.

“We had a crisis of faith,” CEO and creative director Raúl Rubio tells us. “We were so overwhelmed by the hype, and what people felt Rime was, based on the trailers. We were being compared to masterpieces, and we were scared that people were going to be disappointed. We were terrified after Gamescom because people were saying, ‘Oh! You’re the next Wind Waker! You’re the next Shadow Of The Colossus,’ and we’re basically a team of 20 people working in Madrid. The game was just six months into development, and now we had to deliver. We were so eager to tell the world, ‘Oh, hey, here we are!’ But we announced Rime too soon.”

The crushing weight of expectation that followed led to hand-wringing introspection within Tequila Works as the small band of developers compared their vision for the game with the public’s. Despite its hugely positive reception, the trailer hadn’t turned out quite as the team had hoped and had failed to clearly communicate what the game was. Development continued, and the team began planning a new trailer for Gamescom the following year.