Rain World

Rain World is a 2017 survival-platform video game developed by independent studio Videocult and published by Adult Swim Games and Akupara Games. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Windows in March 2017 and Nintendo Switch in December 2018. The player guides a "slugcat", an agile animal resembling a cat-slug hybrid, as it fights for survival in a derelict and hostile environment. The slugcat traverses the remnants of an industrialized ancient civilization in search of its lost family. It uses debris as weapons to ward off lethal predators, scavenges for food, and attempts to reach safe hibernation rooms before deadly torrential rain arrives. Rain World can be played alone or with multiple players; there is also a sandbox mode. Development began in 2011 and included a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. The two-man team intended to simulate a unique, realistic ecosystem, in which creatures act independently from the player and perpetually roam the environment. Rain World uses real-time procedural animation and conveys much of its narrative through environmental storytelling, adopting an adaptive low-fi and electronic soundtrack. The player is given little explicit guidance so that they would feel like a rat that lives on subway tracks, learning to survive in an environment without comprehending its higher-level function. Rain World received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its art design and fluid animation, but criticized its difficulty, checkpoint system, and controls; some of these concerns were addressed with later updates. The game was nominated for awards—including an honorable mention for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize—and garnered a cult following and a large modding community. A downloadable content pack titled Downpour, adapted from a popular community mod, was released for Windows in January 2023 and ported to consoles in July 2023. It added five slugcat characters with unique abilities and was positively...