Gaming Rain World

[dumbo]

There's a good chance you won't like it.

You guide a jerky slugcat around grimey, barely discernible environments, populated by creatures made out of teeth and appetites.

Is not like this:

Is like this:

It has a similar aesthetic to putting Donkey Kong and QWOP in a bin bag and dumping them on a pile of medical waste.

I've been playing it for about 6 hours now, and I'm not sure yet, but I think it might be good.

 

[dumbo]

Spoiler

Today I outwitted some seaweed, threw a glowing rat into a giant centipede den and evaded some type of mechanical-pelican monstrosity.

Then I slept.

 

[dumbo]

Spoiler

So I speared her and she just kept coming and that's how I came to be between the grin of a croc, set to snap. But there's a gap in the floor and in I go and she's lost her lunch.

And my heart is beating hard but better that than the alternative.

 

[Salt Bailly]

Cool.

 

[dumbo]

Not another stealth experience like it. I went and met a sage atop a pile of digital detritus. Did a back flip.

Spoiler

I'm now sheltered above some lizards, preparing myself for the descent into their lair. Let's go hunting.

 

[b82REZ]

Not another stealth experience like it. I went and met a sage atop a pile of digital detritus. Did a back flip. I'm now sheltered above some lizards, preparing myself for the descent into their lair. Let's go hunting.

Never heard of this. Watched a trailer, fell in love with the graphics, saw it was currently £4 on PlayStation so grabbed it.

Hopefully I'll get chance to try it tonight.

 

[dumbo]

Never heard of this. Watched a trailer, fell in love with the graphics, saw it was currently £4 on PlayStation so grabbed it.

Hopefully I'll get chance to try it tonight.

Nice. It takes a little while to settle but it's very rewarding.

A few tips before you start:

1. Go in blind and try it for yourself, at least for a couple of hours or so. Then if you're not getting on:

Spoiler: Things that I would have been happy to know beforehand

1. When you find something new, try to eat it, throw it, dunk it, feed it, spear it.

2. Pay attention to the yellow guy, he'll guide you.

3. Those rooms with the two big symbols are gates to different areas. You can activate them by just standing inside.

4. Each death lowers your karma, each successful hibernation raises it. Often this won't matter too much, however sometimes you need higher Karma to access certain areas.

5. Here is a good basic movement guide https://rainworld.gamepedia.com/Controls

6. Spears can be used for other things other than killing

7. You don't need a map and the one supplied is not that easy to follow. However if you think you are totally lost or are going round in circles then a quick glance at this one aided me a couple of times: http://eggzero.serv.pink/img/rainworldmap.png

 

[dumbo]

Spoiler

Ooh you fecking lizards.

Sniped one off the precipice though.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Never played it but I know it was once featured in Vidyoyo's Top 10 List of Mega Cool and Exciting Upcoming Indie Games You'd Be Mad to Miss:

In Videocult's upcoming Rain World you play as a ‘nomadic slug-cat, both predator and prey in this land’.

These aren’t the fluffy kittens of your mom’s Facebook feed though. No, this is a god-damn scavenger hunt; one where you’ll be trying to survive in an uninhabitable world replete with dangers!

With its gorgeous pixel-art aesthetic, Rain World is shaping up to be a gruelling trip into the post-apocalyptic world. A place where rain rules and you'll have to sneak, climb and pounce your way through the game’s open-ended, sandbox world.

Of course, there’s a story too, but this is a game mostly about choices, consequences and survival. So try not to die, yeah?

Cool Fact: 216 people were asked whether Rain World’s nomadic slug-cat protagonist had meant that science had gone too far? 168 responded, ‘Yes’.

 

[dumbo]

Get back to the top slugcat.

Spoiler

I saved a guy from the beak of a vulture and then he pushed me into the abyss.

Very addictive thing. There are the highs, the lows and always just one more cycle.

 

[dumbo]

I went to bed last night thinking about potential strategies. Had a terrible nightmare of being chased by a lizard.

 

[b82REZ]

Played this for about half hour so far.

Stunning to look at, but I'm not sold the gameplay aspects yet.

Platforming feels very sluggish and unitunitive.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Played this for about half hour so far.

Stunning to look at, but I'm not sold the gameplay aspects yet.

Platforming feels very sluggish and unitunitive.

I mean, you do play as a slug-cat

 

[dumbo]

It'll do that to you. It's a steep learning curve but when you start putting moves together it feels amazing.

Spoiler

I just took a trip atop some antlered beast and then I was pursued by a mother fly for a mile because I ate her babies.

The surprises keep coming.

 

[FrankDrebin]

You getting paid for this, dumbo ?

Does look fun though. Like my platform games.

 

[dumbo]

I'm paid in bugs and bats.

If you like platforming then you'll hate Rain World, until you love it.

Besides it's a lonely world out here for a slugcat with nothing but a spear and his wits, battling lizards, vultures, the elements, and that other lot filling the forum up flirting over hardware. More will join later I'm sure.

 

[FrankDrebin]

£4 on Ps Store. Bargain.

 

[dumbo]

This is survival without the bullshit busy work of a survival game, stealth without the obvious enemy AI patterns.

Spoiler

A snake was blocking the tunnel I needed to go through so I went back to hibernate. He was there the next cycle, and the three after that. At which point, having had enough of hibernation, I found a spear instead and went in the tunnel myself. When it reared up I stabbed it 8 times, because who knows how much punishment a snake in a tunnel can take. Not that much as it happens.

A giant moose sat on me for over five minutes, then got up and walked away.

 

[dumbo]

Over 30 hours in and I'm still getting surprised by these little magic moments.

I dreamt about it again. It feels like it's rousing some primal instincts in me.

I've gone back and spoilered even minor reveals. I don't think it matters, and I haven't mentioned anything that doesn't appear in promotional material but just in case anyone wants to play it completely cold.

 

[Maagge]

Is this your diary now?

 

[dumbo]

Seems so.

 

[dumbo]

I finished my first playthrough.

Spoiler

It has a stylish, imaginative conclusion. One that introduces a more spiritual outlook, in stark juxtaposition with the more organic mechanics of the bulk experience. Certainly Rain World has a few neat moments of lyricism but I'm not entirely sure that the transcendental elements amount to much.

I've started up a new game straight away. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[dumbo]

What's it going to take to convince you (gameplay spoiler):

 

[dumbo]

For all its moments of frustration and awkwardness, this thing is a bloody masterpiece.

I won the trust of scavengers with shiny rocks and now they've all crammed into my tiny cat-sized shelter for the night.

 

[dumbo]

Chasing down scavengers for stolen pearls, with a spear.

 

[dumbo]

I'm really starting to learn the layout of the world now and can comfortably use the environment to my advantage. I want to get more comfortable with advanced movements. I'm planning a complete pearl run.

 

[Solius]

you ok mate?

 

[Vidyoyo]

That reminds me, I made a sort of video diary about my experience not too long ago:

 

[Sweet Square]

Best thread of 2021 so far.

 

[dumbo]

Spoiler

It has a stylish, imaginative conclusion. One that introduces a more spiritual outlook, in stark juxtaposition with the more organic mechanics of the bulk experience. Certainly Rain World has a few neat moments of lyricism but I'm not entirely sure that the transcendental elements amount to much.

I've been won over by the story. It's a standard sci-fi idea, exploring broad existential themes, but it's the presentation that lifts it. Existing as fragments, scattered loosely throughout the place, Slugcat uncovers bits and pieces now and then that reveal slivers of information about the world. Then there are other bits that she may never even notice. Not dissimilar to Dark Souls in its hand's off approach to storytelling, though with Rain World the lore is even more inconsequential to the core experience. And it's from that disconnect that this sense of bleak uncanny disconnection arises. A beautiful haunting melancholy hangs over it all.

This is also the most unique and organic puzzle game I've played, with constantly evolving enigmas. Plus it's the most advanced strategy game. And wildest platformer. It's all the bests. Slugcat you are the greatest.

 

[dumbo]

The combat is heart pounding. Nothing else like it.

 

[dumbo]

120 hours into this now. Still learning, improving, still the same excitement. Slowly moving my way up the food chain. Levelling up in skill, none of your bullshit stat points to coddle you.

 

[dumbo]

Caught myself in the real world eyeing up a piece of discarded metal to jam behind the eye of the nearest threat.

I'm really starting to learn the layout of the world now and can comfortably use the environment to my advantage. I want to get more comfortable with advanced movements. I'm planning a complete pearl run.

20 hours into collecting all the pearls, I might be about halfway, though the furthest away pearls are still to be ferried. There is nothing more satisfying than moving swiftly through the world, being able to quickly assess the level of danger and reacting accordingly.

 

[b82REZ]

I had another go of this weekend.

The world is gorgeous and I've started to get used to the platforming. However I have no idea what to do or where to go. I know that is kind of the point, but everytime I play it I explore for a bit (often going through the same areas time and again), find a predator, usually avoid them for a bit before they eventually catch me.

 

[Solius]

I had another go of this weekend.

The world is gorgeous and I've started to get used to the platforming. However I have no idea what to do or where to go. I know that is kind of the point, but everytime I play it I explore for a bit (often going through the same areas time and again), find a predator, usually avoid them for a bit before they eventually catch me.

Get out of dumbo’s weird diary.

 

[Maagge]

I'm starting to get intrigued by this.

 

[Solius]

That reminds me, I made a sort of video diary about my experience not too long ago:

Why does this game seem to turn the player into a spoken word poet.

 

[Moby]

Why does this game seem to turn the player into a spoken word poet.

You do realize that poster has basically recorded all Dumbo's posts in this thread in that video?

 

[Solius]

You do realize that poster has basically recorded all Dumbo's posts in this thread in that video?

oh shit I did not

 

[Moby]