Rubato, Identity and the Ship of Frog-seus
Back in 2022 or so (man, how time flies eh) there was a funni frog game on kickstarter. I remembered the demo at fangame/indie showcase SAGE being a right laugh and a mate was working on it so figured hey, why not? I backed it enough for a switch code and like most kickstarters I kinda forgot about it for a while, as you do.
Fast forward to now and I finally had the chance to sit down, boot up and give it a punt… and frankly it blew all my expectations out of the water. It’s one of the most interesting and thought-provoking games I’ve played all year, and there’s so many parts of it I wish I could talk about but simply can’t because talking about said parts would take away from the sheer impact of going in blind. My initial plan was to put it on my Jane Awards post for 2026 as the “Go into this blind as possible of the Year” - don’t watch the trailer, don’t look through all the screenshots on Steam, just grab it and go to town.
…and yet, here I am in this post nattering away now you’re probably thinking, right? Right. So what’s up? Why the preamble?
I played through the full game on Switch (really flawless port by the way, props to the team) and vaguely remembered the bluesky account mentioning updates to the PC version that hadn’t carried over to consoles, so I hopped (pun not intended but we still take those) over to the Steam page to see what’d changed and what hadn’t, if I was missing anything big. Turns out - a whole lot!
In the 1.2 update already out on PC the team's redone a chunk of the start and middle of the game, and the upcoming (as of writing) 1.3 update is set to rewrite the ending & more, which beyond all else is fascinating to me. It’s not something I’ve ever really seen from a fully released game; early access sure, and I’ve definitely seen game mechanics adjusted and reworked post-release, but just completely overhauling whole swathes of game is brand new to me and such an interesting thing.
Now, I’m not here to make a case for dconn and the team to not do it crucially - it’s their game and I'm not their mum at the end of the day, whatever's cooking I have trust in em all to nail it. But even so, it’s something I can’t not talk about, there’s so many thoughts rattling about my brain I gotta get outta my head into writing.
Admittedly though, the first thing that came to mind when hearing about the changes was “why?”. Overall I think this thing is so immensely strong and confident in how it’s presented, to the point where a lotta segments (of which, again, really hard to go into detail about lol) are gonna stick in my mind. The gags land thick and fast! The emotions hit hard and had me tearing up at points! There’s a few gameplay bits that I reckon could’ve been ironed out a tad (the final boss and the leadup climb to it has way too many phases for example) but this is a very good game that connected in ways that took me by surprise and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend in the form I played it in.
I’m not sure what you would change from a story presentation aspect if you asked me… but at the same time, it most likely already has during development behind closed doors, more than we could ever know. The Ship of Theseus (admittedly in the title partly so I could make the frog pun, sue me lol) is interesting since it’s usually from the inside perspective of a creator seeing those changes happen in real time during development; unless you pull the curtain back, an audience is in the dark as to whether they’re seeing the ‘original’ boat. Sadly I’m not smart enough to have taken notes, but plenty of times when visiting galleries there’s been artworks where the blurb mentions paintovers or adjustments done over time, even after being on display in public; but to us right now, standing in the gallery looking in, the painting in front of us is the painting. At what point does building the ship stop and the finished ship begin? Is a ship ever really finished? Is anything or anyone?
The whole thing becomes even more interesting in Rubato’s case when you factor in the game’s own text and subtext. It’s incredibly hard to go into detail here without spoiling a whole goddamn lot that you really should experience blind without me nattering on, but in general terms Rubato’s a game about identity as a whole; more specifically about resisting against being pigeonholed into boxes by others and choosing to live as yourself, by your own rules. It's presented in a very thought-provoking but also very open-ended way that leaves a lot up to your own interpretation, which is something I'm increasingly appreciative of in the current landscape of "lore" overtaking all. There's something to value in stories remembering they're stories, embracing that everyone takes something different from them - something you just can't get from a wiki page or an ending explained article.
As with most stories about identity there’s an inherent trans reading to be had that, deliberate or not, always tends to strike close to home for obvious reasons; of forging your own path ahead no matter what. Hell, even though I'd already had the realisation I was a trans woman by the time the Kickstarter first popped up I was at a very different stage in my transition, still growing out my hair and dipping into femme fashion for the first time from the stifling security of the closet (I'd only just started coming out to a small group of mates by this point via... god, remember twitter circles? twitter circles were neat, bluesky should have those). There's even a remnant of these early days within Rubato itself as a result - in the backer credits my initials are listed instead of my full name as I simply hadn't chosen a new name by that point. A moment captured in time of a work-in-progress me between identities, a ship of Theseus by any other name.
Today, things are naturally a completely different story; I'm practically fully out of the closet living as myself, sat in a crop-top (plus a hoodie slung over it, christ the cold evenings moved in quick after what felt like Forever Heatwave™) with early breast growth slowly peeking its way through. Oh right also a quick aside while on the subject, don’t think I’ve had the chance to mention it publicly yet but I’ve also gotten started with HRT via private care the past few months, surprise!! E and prog and T-blockers, the full shebang with upped dosages every few months or so while I get my sea legs (or rather E legs, I guess? but I digress).
Point is though, even with those big leaps and strides I’ll still always be a work in progress, in the same way anyone really is; there’s always more to learn, more to explore, more ways your body and mind and everything in-between changes in relation to those experiences and as a response to them. You’ll always be that teeny tiny bit older, wiser, and slightly more you in a way you may not be able to quite put your finger on as each day and month and year goes on, and if we can do it… sure, why can’t an indie game do that too? A moment in time captured but then released into the world to grow, before being recaptured again - maybe momentarily before doing the same again, maybe forever this time, who knows? But never quite the same, just like any ship entering the water after leaving port for the first time. The waves gently brushing at the hull, the wind billowing at the sails, subtly leaving their marks over time but leaving them all the same.
To be truly alive is to be changed and to keep on changing too, be it consciously or subconsciously, by everything and everyone around us. And just like this funny emotional lil frog game in any form it takes, that's quite a bit good innit?
…I mean, I also hope I’m not done changing as a person cos I want my boobs to not be done growing too. Can’t have a ship without floatation, right? Right? Yeah okay I’ll stop talking now cheers.
-Jane