Rain World

Unlike the ever-glowing GoG reviews, Rain World's true appeal sits much closer to the more mediated critic reviews. As slick and stunning as it can be, the game's creative ideals have left the actual gameplay disjointed from what it presents. A game about survival, in which survival is meaningless; Where the subtle cues are just too subtle, and there's little logic or consistency to punishment, pleasure, and reward. In many ways, this causes design choices which might otherwise be well-founded (such as the character movement) to become indistinguishable from poor design (such as the platforming obstacles). A supposedly complex ecosystem is invisible, behind constant and unavoidable deaths that re-generate enemies and resources, but not the world. The mechanations of creatures are fun to watch, but bland to contend with. Perhaps that's the worst part. Rain World doesn't feel like an easy game to throw away, but it's disheartening to persist with. It's not punishing, it's just confusing and repellant. It could be an exquisite exploration-based art game, but it's burdened by technical mechanics and has no patience for the curious player. It could be an intriguing platformer-plus, but it's far too fillipant with its sense of challenge and pacing. I'm not sure what tweaks Rain World could've made to successfully marry its concepts together - It's perfectly possible, and what we have feels off-target by only a few degrees - But good intentions and a solid vision, in this case, are just not enough to make it happen.

Hard? Yes. Unfair? Yes. Hopeless? Yes. Will play again? Yes.

Do you want to feel like a rat in manhattan, except in an alien world? Do you like the idea of a game world that is actively designed to feel like a real place instead of a videogame level? An environment that works against you instead of for you? 2000 characters isn't enough to express my love for this game, so I'll try to keep it short. If you like games that don't hold your hand, and you want to enjoy a game with a true sense of discovery, buy it right now. (It's 60% off!) If you have any interest at all, go in blind. It's best experienced with no spoilers. If you enjoy getting lost in an alien world, if you take pleasure in a "die, learn, get better, die less" gameplay loop, this is for you. If you liked Outer Wilds, Myst, System Shock 1, Dark Souls 1, Hyper Light Drifter, Morrowind, or other such games that allow YOU to figure out where to go / what to do, this is for you. The AI is astonishing. Other creatures have great variety and interactions with one another, creating a complete ecosystem that doesn't revolve around you - the other "enemies" are all out playing the game themselves, hunting for food, hiding from floods, and avoiding predators. The environments are absolutely beautiful, some of the best pixel art I've ever seen, truly gorgeous. Soundtrack is dynamic. Moody most of the time. I hate to admit it, but it's not for everyone. This is not a Metroidvania, but it is dripping with the atmosphere of Metroid. You do not "gain a double jump power" or "energy tanks" - you just get better at the game. This is much more in the vein of Another World / Heart of Darkness / Abe's Odyssey/Exodus If you aren't patient, or if you're afraid of dying quite a bit as you learn, it might not be for you. I'll be honest - I dismissed this game because it "looked like a cheap flash game" and then bounced off it because of difficulty, before I gave it a real fair shake and fell madly, deeply in love with it. With the Downpour DLC or with mods, it even has coop. :D

one of the tensest games I've played where the tension and stress felt dynamic and unique to my experience rather than a construction by the devs. brilliant visuals, adorable and fun dynamic animation, and fun physics to play with. a truly brilliant experience to play.

Bought it because I kept hearing about it. A difficult open world exploration game where you progress using your knowledge of the surrounding ecosystem, encountering various weird species interacting in interesting ways. Great graphics too. 5 hours in and I am very unimpressed. The game is difficult but more than anything because of how terrible the controls are. These are some of the worst controls I've encountered and in a game where everything instakills you. Slug cat moves like a piece of garbage. Very little information is shared in game. You will need to read up online if you want to understand almost anything at all. Even some fundamental and very important mechanics are not described in game. The story itself seems extremely bare bones so far. Progression is extremely bare bones. Even the ecosystem part is disappointing. OH WOW SOMETIMES A VULTURE ATTACKS A LIZARD THIS WORLD IS SO ALIVE SAME AS THE REAL WORDL WOW! Come on, are you stupid or what. Many good individual parts but as the game itself is next to unplayable because of how tedious and boring it is, I can't rate it higher than 2/5. Considering a refund.