Soaked in style
Our connection with a protagonist is often built on what they say and how we see them interact with others. Sometimes, though, there are heroes that are designed with such craft and that exude so much character in the way that they move, that they can wheedle their way into our hearts without saying a word. Such is the case with Rain World ’s adorable slugcat.
Just because we are playing as a cute feline/slug hybrid, however, that doesn’t mean that the world we’re going to inhabit is all soft and fluffy. On the contrary, Rain World is a brutal survival platformer where you have to negotiate abandoned industrial wastelands between bursts of lethal rainfall, searching for food whilst trying to ensure you don’t become dinner for the terrifying creatures that also roam this beautifully bleak dystopic landscape.
Taking a peek at these screenshots of the game will tell you that it looks incredibly stylish, but is important to emphasise that it really comes to life in motion. That’s a result of the fact that developer Videocult has used some kind of physics-based jiggery-pokery in coding its animation to give it a real sense of life. We don’t understand the complicated tech behind it, but as we watch slugcat clamber swiftly around the world, shimmying up poles, grabbing food, or running from the nightmarish creatures hunting it down, we can see that it has imbued Rain World with a fluidity and personality that makes it really special.
Rain World ’s awesome animation is a big part of what makes its enemies so terrifying as well. Lizard-like creatures, gigantic bugs, horrible spiders, and Lovecraftian tentacled things all move in creepily distinctive ways. Perhaps more interesting, though, is the fact that each of them has unique AI that causes them to behave differently in the way that they chase you down (and we’re not just talking about the different species – we’re talking about individual creatures). That’s going to make those scavenging runs even tougher as you’re forced to learn how to deal with every threat you encounter on the fly.
Speaking of that threat, the game world is in constant evolution, becoming more dangerous as time goes on. The instinct when you come across enemies is to run from them, but the creatures that survive will breed, spawning new, more dangerous beasts that want to make you their prey. That means that while running will still often be the sensible approach, you will want to get slugcat’s spears out and try to impale your hunters. Just make sure you don’t get close, or it’s game over.
We don’t yet know much about what the singleplayer game will entail – other than surviving – but Videocult has given us the impression that there will be things to discover that will change how the game plays. Whether that means they are hinting towards a story that builds on significant events, we’re not sure, but gifs the developer have shared earlier in the game’s development that showed the main character shepherding baby slugcats to safety could be a clue that there is a tale to be told.
In any case, we’re sure single-player is going to be the main attraction, but it is cool to hear that there will be multiplayer support too. That includes co-op play and four-player competitive modes – deathmatch, a wave-based mode, and more.
With some really interesting ideas centered on enemy behaviour and evolution, stellar art design, and its impressive animation system, this is a game that’s really got our attention. We’re tempted to forecast a very bright future…