The world is an unkind place, with a vast amount of dangers, injustices, and cruel twists of fate waiting to fracture and even destroy your very existence. However, we relish the struggles, and perils if it means accomplishing something greater than us and obtaining a feeling of ascending. Maybe that’s why video games have gripped so many over the years with the Souls-Borne, and Rogue-Lite genres prevailing in massive success. So, it’s with great pleasure to introduce you to yet another game of crushing defeats, and endless perils that once overcome, will make you feel like a god! Rain World with its brand new DLC is here with its cute Slugcats, and this game does not like you … not one bit!
What is Rain World: Downpour? 
Rain World is an intense survival experience with a focus on exploration gameplay, where trial and error, and expanding your knowledge are key to progression. Taking on the role of a cute Slugcat (a creature resembling a slug and a cat, and yes there are plushes of it), you find yourself in a fiercely dangerous and decaying world, where the ecosystem is rotten, and wants to consume you and anything wholesome that dares venture forth.
The goal is simple … survive, in the purest sense of the word and mechanically speaking. Players will have to venture forth through a labyrinthian world where something new, exciting and utterly dangerous is waiting for them to discover it. As you explore your surroundings, eat strange creatures, and plants, discover new sources of information, and tackle brutal foes, will you expand your knowledge and wisdom? But make sure you hibernate in safety before the freak storms come to drown all.
Rain World was originally released back in 2017 with many praises and many crying woes. The new DLC offers more of what was given before, and it’s time for me to give my thoughts and feedback (As I’m clearly very important).
Poor little Slugcat
Rain World is a place filled with mystery, as the environment has been overtaken by a mix of corrupted, urban decay, strange and violent creatures, and of course the ungodly power of nature which pours endless rain to drown all. It’s a terrifying world and one which has endless cruelty. And that’s what makes it so fascinating.
Now I did say the goal here is to survive, and that is truly the case. But there is a bit of a plot at the core of the game, along with plenty of interesting lore about the world. Our tale begins with a group of slugcats as they cross a river during a thunderstorm. Our main Slugcats, the Survivor and the Monk slip off the pipe they were travelling and fall into the river. Both Slugcats find themselves in the strange and bleak new world and set off to explore and find a way home.
As players explore the world, they will discover a massive decaying supercomputer, known as 5 Pebbles who explains that like all creatures, including the slugcat, are trapped within a strange, almost supernatural cycle of “Death and Rebirth”, and 5 Pebbles wants this cycle to end, so that all might find peace. From here, it’s up to players to venture forth and find a place which can end the "great cycle”, but the journey is one filled with unspeakable turmoil, and struggle, where endless void consumes all.
It's a simple tale that lends itself well to the core gameplay loop, or exploring, discovering, finding safety and moving forward but by bit. It’s a rich world filled with compelling notes of lore and plenty of great visual/environmental details that add so much to the journey.
One of the things Rain World really does excel in is its presentation, blending a simple pixel art style, that’s rich in detail and complexity. Yeah, that does sound like a contradiction, but when you view the screenshots included in the review, you can hopefully see what I mean. The line work is quite simple, but the gathering of various dots, and little squares, and the elegant use of shadow and layering make Rain World quite a pretty, dense and haunting-looking game.
And the water effects are outstanding! I can’t believe just how visually stimulating the water is in this game, and they’re made from pixels, and it looks just as good as AAA water. The level of reaction the water has to a Slugcat’s interaction is so fluent and organic, it adds so much to the environmental design. Not just the water, but as mentioned, the shadows, layering and other small details do add up and make the environment of Rain World so visually engaging and vastly unnerving.
Welcome to a world that truly hates you
As I may have mentioned before, Rain World does not like you and will punish you mercilessly. If you ever wondered what it was like to be an actual creature within the wilderness of nature and the harshness of a decaying urban ecosystem, then Rain World is the best means to know.
Rain World’s core gameplay loop has players venture out of the safety of their nest, to discover, and recover their energy to hibernate by eating smaller creatures and plants and making sure they don’t become something’s dinner. Your Slugcat will face a tremendous amount of peril at every turning, and each exit from the current scene to the next is always anxiety-inducing.
Upon entering Rain World, you are given very little information on what you need to do, and where to go. You get the tidbits of vital info, such as how to jump, eat, throw rocks, and avoid the downpour of heavy rain. From there, you’re on your own, and it’s a journey filled with fear, anxious excitement, and utter wonder at what you will find along the way. How you explore, interact and be part of the world is simple, yet the many layers to your survival are utterly gripping and engrossing.
With its minimalistic approach, right down to the presentation and zoning of the world, you’ll be on your guard the entire time. As you go from scene to scene, checking for enemy presence, the terrain you can climb to safety, and finding food to squash your hunger. Enemies feel entirely organic as they pop into the scenes at random, go about and hunt other animals and of course, hunt you by grasping your scent. How you go about these, and other encounters is really up to you and what you feel is the most appropriate. You can run, hide, fight or use the environment to your advantage, i.e. having a big creature be eaten by an even bigger creature!
Of course, you can be ambitious and daring with your venturing, teasing death and risking it all for an extra bit of food, or exploring an extra zone towards an unknown goal. But death is harsh and can come from out of the shadows within a blink of an eye. Slugcat doesn’t come with health potions, fast travel or the ability to zap from one ledge to another. It’s all about your wits and physical skills in traversing. And failing either of those will kill you quickly. Death is utterly gut-wrenching at times, as you will do long spouts of exploring and get into the grove of just discovering and wondering about. But that sense of bettering yourself in Rain World is present, as it is with many Souls-Borne games in the past.
There can be a few cheap deaths I won’t lie, as making certain jumps to ledges can never fully connect, or leaving one scene, could you see dropping from a great height and without knowing what to grab onto, you can end your run without feeling any fairness was granted. The controls can also be a pain at times, and again this has led to a couple of annoying deaths, which didn’t feel like my fault.
However, I do love the sense of exploration, learning and discovery, and while it is incredibly challenging, it’s so incredibly rewarding. Making it through another day, finding out something immensely useful and gaining a new sense of worth in Rain World is amazingly uplifting. The trial-and-error nature won’t be for everyone, but for those who enjoy learning and expanding their knowledge of a game world in a meaningful way, this is for you.
There are various difficulties, with the Monk campaign being the gentlest, yet still quite challenging in some parts, and two others will push you to the brink of extinction. Rain World, while still quite a challenging game on many levels is quite flexible to newcomers.
An Ecosystem like no other
For my final point to make for Rain World in this review, I must really praise what makes this game quite special, and that is its ecosystem.
Now I understand that certain terms can be used in gaming to make the game in question sound much deeper than it is. A term like “Economy” is used way too much and in games where it totally doesn’t apply (like how people use the term economy for games like Dead Space, not fully understanding the complexity of an economy really is). But Rain World truly does excel by presenting not only a highly detailed, beautiful game world to explore but one that feels alive and reactive to your presence.
I can totally buy that while I’m not in another scene, there is still stuff happening there, and even turning off my console, I would imagine this world is still active and breathing. Seeing the vast number of terrains, biomes, and creatures in the world was immensely compelling, and just left me speechless at times. Venturing from a decaying, industrial zone, to an overgrown rural area filled with tall grass, thick mud and plenty of nasty critters in hiding, to being submerged in dark green water that homes massive, squid-like monsters which now live in my nightmares rent-free.
I can’t fully express the sheer complexity and depth this world has, but it’s one that is thoroughly dense, immensely varied, filled with intelligent life, highly organic with elements such as the dynamic water, and the scale that makes it feel truly expansive. And this is all procedurally generated and randomised, so my experience and venture will be different from yours. To think this started as a simple project that became a living, breathing world is monumental, and clearly, a lot of people will be intimidated by that, but it’s totally worth diving into Rain World.
Overall?Rain World does indeed take quite a bit of patience and understanding to fully grasp the core gameplay loop. To embark on an adventure here will lead to moments of frustration, but there are so many tremendous moments of reward and wonder when going out and exploring the harsh landscapes. I was engaged by the simple tale of the Slugcats finding a way home but was more immersed in the world and dense ecosystem that stood before me.
This truly is an experience that makes you feel like a creature in the wilds, or at least an extreme form of nature, teaming with life, danger, and discovery. I would say you need to be prepared to take on Rain World, but the struggles are totally worth it to see the marvels of one of the best ecosystems in gaming and a highly rewarding sense of survival. And with all the new elements brought by the Downpour DLC, including new Slugcats and new regions to explore, making this the ultimate package for those looking for an enthralling adventure of struggle and discovery.
+++ An incredible world and highly organic ecosystem unlike any other.
++ Looks and sounds great, with amazing water effects and other details.
+ A grand challenge with an uplifting sense of reward when overcome.
- Can be incredibly tough on newcomers and takes time to grasp.
- Clunky controls and some small environmental oversights can lead to unfair deaths.
A review code for Rain World: Downpour was kindly provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
