Rime gets a new publisher as Tequila Works promises 2017 release

Developer Tequila Works has announced that its indie adventure game Rime will be released in 2017 and published by Grey Box. The game was originally set to be published by Sony, but a troubled development led to a lengthy period of silence regarding the game's fortunes.

"We've always wanted Rime to captivate players' imaginations, capturing that feeling of being a child and experiencing the wonders of a bedtime story for the first time," said Raúl Rubio Munárriz, the game's creative director and CEO of Tequila Works.

"We're so excited to find in Grey Box and Six Foot partners just as eager as we are to make that vision for such a personal project a reality."

The news follows Tequila Works announcing in March that it had "chosen to reacquire the rights" to Rime from Sony. A spokesperson for Sony later confirmed that "[Sony Computer Entertainment] is no longer proprietary of the IP, nor publisher of the game."

New artwork accompanied the announcement, but little else. A press release states: "Additional information about Rime, including gameplay and platform availability details, will be unveiled at the beginning of 2017, as Grey Box, Six Foot and Tequila Works ready the title for release later that year."

The mention of "platform availability" could mean the game is now heading to Xbox One, either as well as or instead of PS4.

In July Tequila Works confirmed to IBTimes UK that Rime was still in development and that fans wouldn't have to wait long to find out more. A representative of the studio said: "Rime is of course still in development, and advancing at a great pace – we actually had to move to a larger office recently, since the team has grown about 40% in the last year!"

Rime was announced during Sony's Gamescom 2013 press conference with a gameplay trailer released roughly a year later.

The game has drawn comparisons to classics such as Ico, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Journey. It has also been likened visually by its creative director Raul Rubio Munarri to Studio Ghibli classics such as Spirited Away.

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