It's very easy to look at a platformer and say, "Oh, I've seen that before." At first blush, Ruffy and the Riverside felt like that to me. The 2D cutout style of the game instantly made me think of Nintendo's Paper Mario franchise, and even seeing it in motion didn't change that. A similarity isn't necessarily bad, though. We had the chance to play some of the earlier parts of Ruffy and the Riverside, and skin-deep similarities aside, Ruffy has the potential to be a platformer as distinct and awesome as anything Nintendo has put out.

While Ruffy's visuals might bring to mind Paper Mario, the game is far more akin to Mario 64 or Mario Odyssey. It's a 3D platformer where you can run, hop and hover through various areas to collect magical stars and items that you need to save the land. In fact, the basic structure is very similar to the worlds of Mario Odyssey. You're thrown into a large hub world that you can explore freely, interacting with various people and exploring the environment. By solving puzzles and completing challenges, you can collect stars that allow you access to more areas of the world.

Ruffy's unique gimmick is his power to swap. By holding the right bumper on the controller, you can aim at objects in the environment. Select an object, and Ruffy's magic paintbrush absorbs that item's properties. In most cases, this will be the material that it is made out of. For example, target a tree, and you'll absorb wood. Target a metal box, and you'll absorb metal. Once you've absorbed the material, you're able to target other objects in the environment and swap the properties of the absorbed material with the object you targeted.

This is a shockingly potent power that offers a ton of options. For example, if you encounter a waterfall, you can target some nearby vines and swap the property of water to vines. This turns the waterfall into a static wall of vines that can then be climbed. If you see a bunch of metal boxes in the middle of the ocean that you need to break, you can first select a wooden object so you can transform the metal into wood, and then a nearby volcano to transform the ocean into a sea of lava, which burns the wooden boxes but leaves the metal ones intact. While almost every object can be targeted, not every object can be swapped, but there are enough potential swaps that I rarely felt limited.

However, don't mistake this as the only gameplay. Ruffy is a gifted platforming mascot, and even within the preview build, it's clear there will be plenty of classic platforming challenges where you'll have to dodge enemies and avoid traps. While the preview build only contains a few of the more platforming-focused segments, they felt quite good. It took me a little to adjust to the fact that my 2D paper hero was moving like a 3D character, but as soon as I did, it became surprisingly easy to maneuver him around the environment. There are even times the game becomes 2D, another homage to Mario Odyssey, allowing you to take on some more classic platforming quests.

There are also minigames and puzzles aplenty. Some puzzles ask you to use the swap mechanic, such as having you figure out the secret code to a locked chest that requires you to swap to create the code to unlock it. Others are fun, like participating in a skateboarding-style half-pipe where you must land tricks in the air and safely hit the ground to engage in a long combo chain. There are also simple challenges, like figuring out a way to transform a green forest into a red one despite there being nothing red nearby. In true Mario fashion, these minigames and puzzles reward you with stars, so you have plenty of ways to advance if you're willing to poke around.

The visual style instantly calls to mind Paper Mario, but it's incredibly well executed. Ruffy's 2D paper cutout body is a delight to watch in motion, and the environments are distinct, colorful, and an absolute pleasure to explore. While the demo only contains a few areas, it's clear that there are plenty of possibilities, especially due to the way the swap mechanic can transform entire zones in a heartbeat. I'm really looking forward to seeing how deep the swap mechanic can go in transforming the world around Ruffy.

While our preview build only contained a taste of what the full game will offer, Ruffy and the Riverside has put its best foot forward. It's the kind of platformer that is instantly fun to pick up and play. The comparisons to Mario seem to work in its favor, and at no point did I feel like I was playing a knockoff. It helps that the preview build was a lot of fun to play, even without the distinct swap mechanic, which allays fears of the game being a one-trick pony. This experience has quickly pushed up Ruffy on my most anticipated list, and I'm eager to see more when the game comes closer to announcing a release date.