Rain World (2017)

I have finished rain world.

I have "finished" rain world.

I have """""""""FiNiShEd""""""""" rain world.

I have rolled credits on survivor. it took me over 40 hours.

I stand now at an intersection. like hades, the game has given an offramp. I have experienced its main campaign, sinking many hours into it, and found the experience edifying. I can stop now and be more or less satisfied. I will log it away as a good and incredibly unique experience. four stars. will keep a watchful eye on airframe ultra.

or, I can play another slugcat. and, if I play another slugcat, I know I will be playing all of them. rain world has burrowed a few epidermal layers in and I can either pull it out or let it get to the bone. and, if it gets in, the star rating doesn't matter. at that point, it's a part of me.

so: I can feel it within me, the potential to love rain world. but would I love it enough to be worth what it would do to me? to let it be an obsession that lasts... I can't even guess how long. 40+ hours for one slugcat, and, if we discount monk (no) and inv (ain't no fuckin way), that's seven more campaigns. I might be familiar enough with the base game that they wouldn't each take 40 hours, but, from the sound of it... some damn well might take longer.

I can't say, right now. my fate will be sealed when and if I get downpour. that's the timeline split, right there. that's back to the future part 2. for now, I have to think of all the other games I wanna play, all the other art I wanna consume, and if it should all wait until I've played another 200 hours of rain world.

I think...

I think I will tackle a different "big game" and see if rain world is still on my mind after. then we'll see. we'll just see.

spoiler section:

my path through the game: from outskirts I made my way to industrial complex, and from there into garbage wastes. got stumped there a while - made it briefly to drainage system but kept drowning, couldn't find my way east cuz I forgot about jamming spears in walls to climb higher - so I doubled back to industrial complex, and eventually found my way to chimney canopy. it took two karma to go west and four to go east, and I could not stay alive long enough to get four karma, so I expended a good 40ish deaths finding a shelter in sky islands. from there, it was farm arrays to subterranean to filtration system, and, look, what I'm saying is: I made it to the depths before meeting moon or pebbles. I had made it to the endgame area without encountering the actual plot. my rain-world-obsessive friends have informed me this is one of the most batshit first playthroughs they've ever heard. I'd spent most of the game avoiding the wiki, but had, that many hours in, allowed myself to glance at the page for an area I had already spent a good amount of time in, so I was at least aware karma gets expanded and was familiar with the symbol for 10, so I knew why I couldn't advance. thankfully, I'd collected a passage by then and let myself warp back to garbage wastes, which was where I gleaned I'd gone off from the overseer's plan. from there it was a pretty (I gather) typical run: wastes to shoreline, shoreline to moon, double back through shoreline to shaded citadel, citadel to memory crypts, crypts to the exterior, up the leg, under the hang, and into pebbles (through unfortunate development, which is aptly named). then I had to make my way back to where I'd been already. I will say, for all the advice to go in cold: knowing next to nothing and being mostly good about avoiding spoilers absolutely made the first 20-odd hours powerful, but there was a point where, without the wiki, I might've fucking quit. discovering I had gone off course and needed to make my way to looks to the moon, and going all the damn way across shoreline to finally find her, all that buildup, amplified by how long I had spent on the ass-opposite side of the map, only for nothing to happen... I would've thrown the game in the trash. I would've bought a physical copy of the game to throw it in the trash. but the wiki letting me know, no, no, she can't talk to you til you meet with five pebbles... if that had been another "no info, figure it out for yourself" moment? done. it's joever. (I might not have, but hoo boy, I considered it.) this made things weird cuz, after climbing down the wall back to chimney canopy, I burned another passage to get back to moon, finally see what she had to say... and she mostly wouldn't talk to me just cuz I ate some of her brain! it was only like half, sheesh! and then I had to slug it out repeating a lot of areas because I'd burned all my passages and needed to get to subterranean on foot. (never unlocked the wanderer passage because, despite it all, I never actually hibernated in drainage system. only found the garbage wastes entrance and couldn't make headway before drowning. c'est la vie boheme!) what a bonkers-ass game.

This game is a survival platformer that places you in control of a fragile slugcat navigating a hostile, post-apocalyptic ecosystem. Its standout qualities are the gorgeous pixel art, fluid animations, and the haunting atmosphere that emerges from its dynamic world, filled with predators and relentless rain. it's art is what made me want to play this game, and I stayed because of it's amazing gameplay loop.

The game’s ecosystem feels alive, with procedurally animated creatures that behave unpredictably, creating tense and immersive encounters. Exploration is at the heart of the experience, with storytelling left mostly to environmental clues rather than dialogue or cutscenes, which adds to its mysterious tone. I find that the pixel-art is something from another world since the animations and fluidity feels like it is not a pixel-art title at all, it is truly one of a kind on this regard.

However, Rain World is notoriously punishing, death often comes suddenly, and the scarcity of guidance means you must learn through trial and error. It'll make you want to quit several times over, this is truly one of the hardest games I've ever played, and it absolutely does not feel unbalanced or cheap, it is just trying to convey the idea of you playing as a fragile living being in a hostile environment. This combination of harsh difficulty and opaque mechanics can be frustrating, especially for those looking for a more forgiving experience, so I advise you skip this one if you don't like this idea.

The reception was mixed at first, with some people praising its artistry and atmosphere while others criticized its severity. Over time, though, it has gained a cult following among players who appreciate its unique approach to survival and its uncompromising design, even launching some DLCs afterwards, with more playable characters that can drastically change how you play the game. And I highly recommend playing those, even though, particularly speaking, I never came back to it after I finished it for the first time. For those willing to endure its challenges, Rain World delivers a singular, unforgettable journey.

I love this game. I think it helped that I went in expecting it to be the hardest, most infuriating thing ever- so it was a bit easier than I expected.

I love the world, the story, the iterators, the slugcats, the beautiful environment art, the quirky creatures- it all comes together to be instill a unique feeling. It's very 17776. I just find the concept to be extremely engaging in a way that is hard to describe.

Rain World has an attractive aesthetic, a foreboding atmosphere, and an interesting concept. I like almost everything about it, with the rather significant exception of the core gameplay loop.

Summary: You are a slugcat separated from your family. Everyday you must eat, avoid being eaten, and find a place to shelter from that devastating rain world rain. In between, you can explore the vast, vast landscape. Sometimes a lil yellow plant thing will point at things you might want to check out.

That’s all you have to work with at the start. 15 hours later, it’s still all I have to work with.

Rain World is a game I tried very hard to like, and I’m sincerely disappointed that I don’t. I explored dozens of rooms in eight different biomes, evaded and fended off predators, found applications for most of the items slugcat can hold, and for my troubles I found myself at the end of a loop leading back to the beginning of the game. I'm confident there was something else to learn along this route, but my most generous interpretation is that Rain World is completely indifferent to whether or not I know what it is. Well, I find I am equally indifferent.

The game is simply not very fun to play from moment to moment. Every screen is an invitation to make a costly input error or to just get punked by a lizard that falls on you jaws first. It’s tense, I’ll grant, but when I succeed I usually feel lucky instead of smart.

Yet it’s hard to find fault in Rain World because there is no single aspect of it which is bad in isolation. It’s the way it all hangs together; a game that’s less than the sum of its parts. At its core (or, I guess, somewhere on its extremely wide surface), I find a knot of contradictions and mechanics that are all in tension with each other. Some examples:

• A game about exploring further and further into hostile environments to uncover ancient mysteries of a lost civilization vs. A game where the player’s avatar is an animal whose primary motivations are to find food and a place to sleep every day

• Deaths are frequent and sometimes unavoidable vs. The player must survive several consecutive cycles to move between regions

• Procedural animation renders the sprites dynamically based on player inputs and the environment vs. Precision platforming requires the player to quickly discern small visual differences

• An intricate simulated ecosystem with procedurally generated interactions the player can study and learn to exploit vs. The player is always on a ticking clock

• A quick-swap inventory system where the player needs to pay close attention to what is held in each hand at all times vs. A control scheme that is deliberately obtuse and difficult to master vs. A minimalist colour palette where many common items are represented by small black blocks of similarly shaped pixels

Each of these elements, taken on its own, is found in some other game I’ve enjoyed. Even the concept of pulling the player between contradictory mechanics is, on its own, not a bad idea at all. But a bunch of systems that all pull against each other is not a substitute for a center of mass. Nothing holds them all together. So Rain World is tedious to play.

I’ve read accounts from players who love this game. They hint at a subtle, sprawling, environment-driven narrative. I’ve no reason to doubt this is the case, but the game doesn’t seem to care whether I see it, and I’m just tired of looking.

under the hood there are some amazing systems built to make the residents of this world interact in real and unpredictable ways. The ai is very well crafted, there is a variety of interesting creatures that prey on your slug cat and each other. the world is beautiful and tells a story of the end of a world and the pieces left behind.

the parts of this game are brilliant. but the actual experience of playing it is intolerable. it's not just that it's hard to control and hard to get through, it's that I don't feel motivated and I don't care. A little more contact, a little more agency, a little less obstacle, i might have persevered and seen all there is. but this is too much of a chore.

I know this is a good game. for the right person. I was the wrong person

I'm really excited for this mod, as I've been dying for some more Rain World content. It's called "More Slugcats Expansion" and looks like they're adding a huge amount of content to the game. I can't wait! I'd still like to beat the game on hard mode some day, but yeah, Rain World on hard mode might actually be beyond the limit of my gamer skills. I'm also eagerly awaiting Rain World 1.7 to come to steam. :( If anyone hasn't yet played Rain World, the unparalleled masterpiece, then I'm going to glare at you intensely for an extended period. I've lost count of the number of people I've gifted this game to, just on the basis that I want to shovel money at the devs. Pretty sure it's available on all platforms now, so there's no excuse.

More info can be found here: http://eggzero.serv.pink/rainworld/web/web.html, from website:

More Slugcats Expansion is a massive overhaul to Rain World that adds five new playable characters. Each has their own storyline, are unique in their abilites, and unique in their spot on the timeline. As a result, there is a lot of new content exclusive to each playthrough. There are new creatures, items, music, alternate endings, as well as 9 new regions spanning over 1500 new maps.

This expansion not only adds content, but tackles the base game as well, with quality of life gameplay and mechanical fixes, bug fixes, performance improvements, and other such tweaks and polish to address some of the frustrations that were cited by players and reviewers. It was made with love and passion by a community of Rain World fans who want to see the game equally loved and appreciated by a wider populace.

My Top 10 Games from 2017

I think there was already a forum thread about this, but I was thinking and trying to compile a list, so here it is. :)

1. Rain World
2. Hollow Knight
3. Wuppo
4. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
5. Stephen's Sausage Roll
6. The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human
7. Tormentor X Punisher
8. Chantelise
9. A Bastard’s Tale
10. Lithium: Inmate 39

Those were my favourite games that I played this year. Rain World wins a landslide victory in this case, probably the finest game I've ever played. Interesting, I've noticed they're all indie games, zero AAA games on the list. I think I like to play unique games with a bold vision and I feel like AAA publishers are unfortunately quite wary of funding risky/creative projects these days. Also I've listed a lot of 2D platformers, haha, makes me wonder why I have an expensive gaming PC.

Honourable mentions go to: (in no particular order) Gloom, Mu Cartographer, Teleglitch, Razenroth, The Shrouded Isle, Towerclimb, The Last Guardian, Nioh, Sundered, Inside, Abzu, Kathy Rain, Malus Code, Castle in the Darkness, DarkMaus, Dead Cells, Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor and the DLC content for Furi and Dark Souls 3.

Big Update for Rain World

A massive update has been released for Rain World, and it's pretty exciting. Rain World is easily the best game I've played all year, and it might even be the best game I've played period. Yesterday I realised I never reviewed it, so I'll have to do that at some point. I've recommended it to countless people but it seems like no one gives it a chance, and the review scores are often pretty low.. I think this game is an original masterpiece, unlike anything I've seen/played before. But I'll save my fanboy gushing for the review.

One big gripe people have is that the learning curve is too steep, or that the game is just brutally unfair/difficult. Possibly in response to this criticism, the new version now has an easier mode, and also a hard mode.

Playing as "The Monk" will make it easier to access some areas that are usually locked. Slugcat also doesn't need to eat as much to survive, and enemies will be less hostile towards him. Playing as "The Hunter" makes the game significantly more difficult. Slugcat can only eat meat and requires much more food, though he can now kill and eat some of the larger predatory creatures. He can also carry an extra spear on his back. However I believe the environments and enemies are more dangerous, and he begins in the game in a completely different, dangerous area, much more distant from his goals. There are a bunch of other changes (many are probably still unknown) but I've already seen a range of new enemies, creatures and the possibility of new locations and lore.

The update also delivers multiplayer which is really fun! Each player controls a slugcut and you run around an arena of obstacles, collecting food, fighting off enemies or instead choosing to try to kill each other (up to 4 players) with various options to adjust the experience. I played it locally when my friend was over, it was a blast.

If you haven't checked out Rain World yet, you're really missing out on something extraordinary, and now with this fully-polished edition and regular big price cuts there's no longer any excuse for not helping Slugcat on his mysterious, perilous journey.

I did it! IT IS DONE!

74 hours deep and I have finally "completed" Rain World, or at least I saw some sort of ending.

It was so intense, I had to remind myself to breathe. From the little hints, clues and rumours scattered around the game world I know for certain that I missed a lot. There are many unanswered questions, branching paths unexplored, rumoured figures whom I never managed to track down and meet. I estimate (from the achievements) that I probably only did around half of the possible quests, objectives and special events. I feel like I've just had a religious experience or something, the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck.. I need some time to process what I've experienced before I can write up this review. I think I also need a break from Rain World and possibly some counselling, haha. But I'm also very keen to dive back in and do/see everything and explore every corner of this game. I need to dive deeper and know EVERYTHING about it.

I think I'll also write up a little "Getting Started" guide, because 15 hours of my playthrough was my initial aborted run, after which I restarted from scratch. I'm immediately adding this to my "greatest games of all time list," though I'll just slot it in somewhere randomly. I can't really tell the ranking of it until I digest and explore a bit more. It's possible I'm blinded by some sort of manic honeymoon period and that Rain World is actually a terrible, boring, buggy, uninspired 2D platformer asset flip made by a couple of 12 year olds in MSPaint and RPGMaker.

Just out of curiosity I had a peep at the contents page of the wiki, to get a little indicator of how deep I was. I thought I was nearing the end of Rain World, but really it sounds more like I've only just completed 'chapter 1' and I'm at the very beginning of 'chapter 2.' This game is humongous. The storytelling is fantastic as well and (apart from the superb gameplay) it really keeps me putting in the hours. You're exploring this ruinous world and you're wondering how it came to be this way. Little hints are revealed through subtle environmental details, each being a piece of the puzzle. Occasionally Slugcat will have a vivid dream and that will offer more information, and on rare occasions there will be a revealing plot climax, sometimes presenting you with an array of choices which I assume will affect things further down the line.

One thing's for sure. If that was only the first chapter then I'm genuinely terrified about what this game will throw at me next. D: