57.1 hours played
Written 10 days ago
I had high expectations for Rain World. I heard a lot of praise around it and, after watching the trailers, it looked like a unique and promising game that I thought I would enjoy, so I picked it up on sale.
I like open-world games. Some of my favorites are games where I just explore and find interesting things in the world. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Minecraft are some examples, both are amazing games that I loved exploring in. I also like challenging platformers. Celeste is one of my favorite games of all time, and it's so challenging. I beat all of the B and C-sides in that game, and they're very hard. I obviously love pixelated art styles in games like Animal Well, Undertale, and Balatro, and I love the sparse, dynamic soundtrack with the kick and the bass. On top of all that, the game's thriving ecosystem is so unique and cool, so how could I not absolutely adore Rain World?
I don't think open-world and challenging platformer mix well as a genre. If I'm putting in tons of effort, the beautiful open world isn't enough to justify the difficulty. In Red Dead, if I want to explore a new area, I can get there within a few minutes of horse-riding. Rain World is very punishing, and it almost feels as if it doesn't want me to see what it has to offer. It makes exploration feel like a chore.
I also don't appreciate how the game handles information. There are certain mechanics that I am nearly required to be aware of for a specific area that the game just doesn't teach me if I haven't visited a different area first. For example, Rain World teaches the player to [spoiler]offer pearls to Scavengers[/spoiler] in region A, but it's extremely useful in region B, since you can [spoiler]offer Scavs pearls[/spoiler] in exchange for [spoiler]lanterns[/spoiler], which make the region a LOT less frustrating. I visited region B before region A (with no knowledge of [spoiler]Scavengers or the trading mechanic[/spoiler]) and got through the whole place without touching a single [spoiler]lantern[/spoiler], dying a lot in the process. When I closed the game that night, I was frustrated and confused, asking myself, "why would the game spike in difficulty this much in the third region, when the first two were so much easier?"
I used the wiki a lot after this, only after making it to my fourth region and just getting too frustrated to be able to justify continuing completely blind. If it's not fun, why bother, right? And for the record, I LOVE games that hide core mechanics from you, they can be amazing if done right. My favorite examples are TUNIC and Animal Well (again). I love these games, I love their hidden mechanics, and I love how they cleverly reveal them to the player over the course of the game. Rain World does not fit this criteria.
A third of my hours running this game on Steam were in the modded free-roam mode called Meadow. I loved just exploring the areas and unlocking new skins and emotes, interacting with other people and stuff. It's hard to compare it to the base-game, since it's a lot less complex in structure, but it's just a nice break from the hell Rain World puts me through, and it lets me explore the game's gorgeous map without feeling punished for it.
Overall, I love Rain World, but I don't recommend a completely blind playthrough. If you do decide to play it, don't be afraid to consult a wiki for tips if you feel stuck in a certain area, or a map/guide if you feel lost and directionless. I think there's a LOT this game does well, but also a lot it could do better (especially in terms of communicating its mechanics to the player). Maybe I'll play Rain World more over the next few months and grow to truly love it, that seems to be the consensus among these reviews anyway. Either way, I can't bring myself to recommend this game to the uninitiated after my miserable experience playing it blind.
[b]EDIT:[/b] Okay nevermind it's pretty good but like I said PLEASE don't be afraid to take a quick look at the wiki or the online region map if you're stuck or very frustrated. There are some things the game just doesn't tell you but the overall experience makes up for its shortcomings after beating it. Amazing, imperfect game that I have mixed feelings on, but ultimately I would recommend this game (only if you're a patient person).