2013.31: rain

Completed in ~5 hours

Man oh man. This game could have been the ICO of this gen but they are so far from it because they kept it too simple.

The escorting feels nice and the girl helps you as much as you help her. There were a nice couple of sequences of co-op that felt good. There is also that slight empathy towards the enemies which adds more feelings to the game.

Unfortunately though, the puzzles are not only simple but are also hinted at by the game which is really not necessary. The paths are linear as well.

If they didn't have a small scale game, if they had more advanced puzzles, bigger areas, it would have been amazing.

The highlight of the game for me is the ambiance. I mean who doesn't find the sound of rain relaxing in some way. Add on top of that the beautiful soundtrack and it was pretty zen.
The world is drab yet somehow expressive, it goes well with the transparent design of the game and the rain drops etc.

I also loved the main concept of the game where you are invisible and can only be seen when rain is falling on you or you step on mud (which you must wash away), this adds a very cool hide and seek element with the enemies but also the fact enemies have the same property makes some bits really cool where you only know where the enemy is by their footstep.


So this game has a lot going for it but they kept it too small scale. I hope (very optimistically) that someone takes this concept at Sony and blows it up to a bigger game.

As it is, it's a good game and experience;

6/10.