Rain World

I came into Rain World expecting one thing, but then was shocked at how different it turned out to be. I watched the first trailer for this game and I was pretty certain that I had it all figured out and knew exactly what I was getting into. The trailer makes this look like your typical pixel art style Metroidvania game, but that is not the case at all. I will tell you right off the bat that this is a game that is hard to get into, but for those that stick with it, it is a rather interesting time.

Slugcat, Slugcat What Are They Feeding You?

When I first saw the trailer for the game, I thought that this was going to be just like the Ori games in terms of the story and the gameplay. I was quite wrong, Rain World has us playing as this little creature that is known as a Slugcat. You are not exactly high on the food chain and one day you become separated from your family and now you must traverse the ruins of this old world to try and make it back to your family and also survive.

Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

Visually, Rain World is a great looking game. It is dark, depressing, and very, very wet. The water effects in this world, especially when there is some kind of downpour are fantastic. The little Slugcat we play as has a very interesting look about them and there are tons of strange looking creatures that you will come across. There are these weird bug looking things that have very long legs that gave me major creeps!

The animation in the game is great too, each creature in the game has a realistic look to the way that it moves. I liked the ruins that the levels were set in and while pixel art has been done to death at this point, I think that this is one of the more unique pixel art games out there right now.

Just One More Cycle

I will tell you right now that many people who play Rain World will not like it at first. This is a game that plays differently from how you feel it should. I went into this thinking it would be an experience like Ori and the Blind Forest, but that is not the case at all. At first, the Slugcat is super awkward to control, and just moving around takes a while to get used to. The idea is that you need to survive and make it to the next area. There is a karma system and you have to complete cycles in an area to earn karma so that you can move onto the next area so there is a bit of grinding.

Surviving is much easier said than done as they have tried to make this a real living world. There are many other creatures that roam the land and they behave very interestingly. Some will hunt you down relentlessly, others will run from you, some will fight each other and in all, you never know what to expect.

Pros:

• I love the ruined world that the game is set it
• The way the creatures move is very well done
• This is a very challenging game
• I liked how the world felt like it was alive

Cons:

• The game sometimes can feel unfair
• Getting past the first hour or so is going to be tough for a lot of people