Rain World Reviews

I honestly think Rainworld is really cool and lives up to some of the hype, but I don't think I would recommend it. First, why might you like this game? Rain World's greatest virtue is the emergent gameplay created by its huge and varied ecosystem, of which you are only a small part. The many strange wild creatures you encounter in Rain World feel alive - they each have personalities you can familiarize yourself with, but they always have a degree of unpredictability and fluidity, like real animals. You never quite know how they're going to behave or interact with one another. Getting into this game rewards you with a feeling of almost constant surprise and wonder - it really feels like Rain World is a living, breathing realm that you can dip into, and that's really cool. Ok, so what's my beef with this game? While I think Rain World is very special, perhaps even brilliant, I don't think I would end up recommending it to most people because it's really, really inaccessible and has some incredibly rough edges. The basic mechanics, such as movement, karma, the nuances of hibernation, some of the level designs, etc. are extremely obscure, arbitrary, and/or generally player unfriendly. There are many points where I was stuck on something and after spending hours trying to figure it out, I eventually had to look online, where I would discover it was just an extremely simple, basic mechanic or solution that was poorly presented. To be clear, I'm not commenting on the game's difficulty - I quite enjoy difficult video games (Dark Souls is one of my favorite series). I'm talking about the frustration caused by a lack of QA playtesting, polish, and satisfactory onboarding. I want to point out one especially severe issue which I think typifies the kinds of QA problems I see in Rain World (though only people familiar with the game will understand), which is that some shelters (checkpoints) are located right BEFORE karma gates, and not after them. This means that if you die once or twice in the new region you're exploring (which, as any familiar player will tell you, is almost guaranteed to happen) then the checkpoint actually acts as kind of an anti-checkpoint, forcing you to backtrack through a level you've already done to death so you can save up enough karma to explore the new region one more time. Added to this issue, you may end up dying while gathering food, losing you even more karma. The net result is that exploration of a new, high-level region can feel so mind-numbingly grindy that it may make you want to put the game down for good. This is a perfect example of an inexplicable design decision that is unfortunately a little too common in Rain World. In short, do I like Rainworld? Yes, absolutely. Would I recommend it? To most people, I would not. I think 1% of people would absolutely fall in love with this game, but you probably already know if you're that type of person. If any of what I said is a turn-off for you, then I would probably avoid Rain World, cuz you're going to have to get past the rough edges to get to the good stuff.

one of my favorite games of all time... i will never run out of things to do in here (<--is trapped in the cycle)

I completed both Rain world and Rain world downpour on my other account. I love this game so mouch i will do it again + will unlock every easter egg in the game. Idk how long it will take but i'm completely fed up with other games so all time i spend gaming it will be in this game. Also no matter as funny as it sound, this game helped me go through my depression. It will always be in my heart for that reason alone.

Look, I really like a difficult game. I've beaten classic Contra without the extra lives code several times, I enjoy most FromSoft games, I've beaten the likes of Doom 2016 and Eternal on Nightmare. Rain World is not a difficult game. It's an inconsistent, ambiguous game that hides a lot of RNG under the guise of being "realistic". Is it an enjoyable experience for some? I don't doubt it, I got this game on the recommendation of a very close friend of mine who absolutely adores this game, and I can definitely see why. The art, music and animation of this game is S-tier, nothing like it. However, the gameplay is where it really, REALLY falls apart. You'll do a lot of waiting just hoping for enemies to clear out of your way so you can proceed. Other times, you'll die the moment you load into a new screen just because an enemy happened to be there with no way to predict or plan for it. There are spots in the game that are apparently KNOWN for being massive "difficulty" walls in that you have to hope and pray for a lot of things to line up before you can proceed. And that's, again, at the risk of immediately losing it all to something in the very next area. Checkpoints are sparse and you'll spend a lot of time getting back to places to reattempt things. At the end of the day, I really wanted to enjoy Rain World. I gave it a fair few tries hoping it would click for me, but it never did. But it does not respect my time as a player and it does not give any leeway for traditional game mechanics. It's a *beautiful* game, but it's a horrible *game*.

I like this game. Good game. It has amazing art, maps, and AI. Its very hard and made me want to smash my computer, 10/10.

This game brings me a sense of wonder whenever I play. It's large overwhelming landscapes with heaps of lore and persistent bouts of dread and loneliness is more than enough to satiate someone like me who enjoys delving into fictional worlds. You are a Slugcat, in a world that does not welcome you. You'll spend a large chunk of this game just trying to figure out what the hell you're doing here - in a cycle of constant death and rebirth, with a foreboding timer in the corner of your screen. As you can prob ably tell, most of the magic in this game comes from its world, but if you ask me, its going toe-to-toe with the environment as a tiny little slugcat and coming out as the one on top. If you are thinking about purchasing, a word of advice - Don't go into this game feeling like you're 'doing it wrong,' as the only real progression is the knowledge you gain. I cannot talk about this game without mentioning the community, who was more than willing to help me when I was struggling. (Join the RW Discord!) This game means a lot to me. Rain World found me at a very strange time in my life. That, and it's just a silly little game. I started playing just around when Downpour released. Exploring this absurd world, especially with friends (a pack of slugcats!), is one I definitely recommend. Beware, it can get very chaotic, but wandering can feel a lot less aimless if you have friends to accompany you. The only iffy part about Rain World is that, at times, it's a very grueling game to play. It can get difficult in certain regions, especially if you have no prior knowledge of what you're up against. For a new player, Rain World is very unforgiving. You're going to spend a lot of time forging a path as you go, and sometimes you're going to get stuck, or lost. And that's okay. A lot of player-base complain about the aimlessness, but I'd say, as long as you remember that no matter where you go, anywhere leads to somewhere: there is always a destination. If you manage to finish your first campaign, that sense of wonder and curiosity is more than rewarded. Rain World is very hard to recommend because of how difficult it is. I'm almost apprehensive to recommend it to close friends because I wouldn't imagine them having a good time, even though I love this game dearly; but that doesn't mean it doesn't get incredibly frustrating to play at times. It's definitely not for everyone. But if you're up for a challenge, and enjoy fictional worlds (with a little bit of mild suffering), I can't recommend this game enough.

Best game to ever grace the existence of our world. Truly a masterpiece at heart. I'm too lazy to explain how much and why I love this game, go read another review and buy the game (with the downpour dlc). It adds way too much to not be something you dont play

I have to force myself to feel satisfaction when exploring the world. Despite this, I pushed through to reach Five Pebbles and lost what little motivation I had in the first place to continue playing. The game is well-made, but it lacks what’s needed to keep me invested in the world past a vague narrative. That being said, fuck karma gates.

I never thought I would understand the Souls-esque desire to run head first into a wall over and over and over again‒ Until I played Rain World. To be absolutely clear, I hate platformers and this is a survival game built on the bones of a rogue lite platformer. Few things have tried my patience as much as traversing the regions of Rain World, and I just keep coming back. It baffles my own mind how enchanted I am with something that on paper I should hate. That in of itself tells me how special this game is. Give it a try, or really more like ten to fifty because dying is inevitable, because love it or hate it nothing else is quite like Rain World. When it clicks you will be all the more grateful to run into that wall unspoiled.

This game built a captivating world with an astounding narrative and lore behind it, yet the game play almost felt punishing: having been consumed too many times I turned to video walkthrough. To be honest I had a better experience with it, not having to master my skills for who knows how many more hours to continue to progress the game. It is a game about cycles of life and death, about loneliness in this vast and brutal world trying to survive while serving a purpose. Whether you are a lowly slugcat, a near omnipotent iterator, or an echo overseeing the world, we are all struck by the absurdity of life yet captivated by the richness of it. A journey to the west may or may not help you ascend like a Buddist, and you could find other solutions of life. Hey, since we are all stuck in this world for a little while, why not make the best out of it?