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Rainworld is what would technically be a "2D Platformer" but with a survival twist.
Created by Videocult and released in 2017, initially published by Adult Swim Games before switching to Akupara Games in the later years, the game takes the player into the eyes of a young slugcat who must traverse the expansive and alien excosystems that they were flushed into. But be warned: although you must worry about the predators that also lurk in these metallic structures, the rain will come.
Your goal is to find food, shelter and survive.
The game uses pixel art, procedural animation and coded ai to create an immersive ecosystem thats unique to each region. With it's "play-to-learn" process, it forces you to adapt to each harsh envrioemnt and encourages you to take action in various of ways dependant on the enviroment itself and even the slugcat that you play as. It takes respawns into account and intergrates it as it's own unique mechanic (yes the repawn has lore too), creating a truely unique but also harsh experience.
I will be straight-forward: This game is HARD.
It is meant to be. You're at the bottom of the foodchain. The main thing to embrace is the fact that you WILL die. Alot. As aforementioned, the mechanics of the game creates a learning curve. It's often why alot of people turn down from it. Thankfully, us fools of the rainworld community understand these woes and have made countless guides from movement techniques to progression guides to help newcomers find their footing. Alongside, the recent DLC "Rainworld: Downpour" also added some assecability "cheats" to help make gameplay easier.
If you're like me-- someone who love alien envrioments and speculative sciences, this game is for you!
ETCHED PEARLS
I've originally heard about the game through Toonami's game segments where they would advertise games under the "Adult Swim Games" publisher back in 2017. I was enamoured by the graphics, the music, the designs-- everything. I wanted to play it so bad.... So when I did get my hands on it roughly in the begining of 2018, I was quick to find out just how hard and jarring the gameplay was. After what was probably 2-3 hours of trying to play, I gave up. Although I didn't play it, I did watch people's gameplays of it and even the random lore video that comes my way. Albiet I couldn't play it at the time, it still had a special place in my heart.
It wasn't untill roughly 2022 that I finally met a long time mutual-now-friend who absolutely ADORES the game. From there we used a localization mod to co-op our way to the leg and leave me to continue forth on my own. To watch the gameplay is one thing but to experience it is such a whole new level. With the GOERGOUS landscape and intericate structures to the industrial/lo-fi/jungle almagamation of music gave me chills and thrills throughout my journey. It truely felt as though I was just an insignificant speck traversing through something much, much larger.
To me, this game is speculative bio heaven. Becuase of it's already established ecosystem of flat colored sprites, it leaves for so much interpretations. I remember participating in their downpour art-week back when it was initially announced and being enthralled by the different takes that everyone did of the downpour slugcats. I still get enthralled by anyone's interpretations of the iterators, lizards and even the scavengers that skuttles among the the ancient wreckage.
I want to pay tribute to the game by making 3D content. Although I love to do my own takes of the slugcat design, I ended up studying the style and created a slugcat almost true to the game and recreated the chambers of Looks to the Moon for you to explore in VRCHat in the early days of 2023. If your computer can handle the game (you can be on desktop too, not just in VR), I hope you can take the time and take a gander at my attempt. In a way, this is just a homage to a game that I have cherish and will continue to do so in the coming years.
WORLD LINK
