Rain World - Why Critics Hated It But Gamers Loved It
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- čas přidán 6. 07. 2022
- Rain World is a fantastic yet brutal title that game critics absolutely hated, and yet, it's become a cult classic amongst gamers. Let's talk why. Thanks to Prime Gaming for sponsoring today's video, learn more here: gaming.amazon.com/home?ref_=S...
Check out Htwo's video on Rain World's AI • Why Rain World Has the... - Hry
Seems like rain world’s been getting more popular recently. Something I really like about this game is that creatures will actually run if you hurt them badly enough.
Yeah, it's great that they're not suicidal enemies, so tactical retreat is always something they might do if you hurt them enough. It also gives way to situations where YOU end chasing the bastards with murder in your eyes as they try to flee lol
There's a tangible line between prey and predator, but it's a flexible one that can be subverted if you try hard enough
Hey it’s you again
It’s thanks to a specific few CZcamsrs I think… like skurry and daszombes and I assume others though I haven’t looked too hard for them.
Search for a video i believe it's around 14 mins that discusses the game's ai
Yeah, I picked up the game a few months ago after someone made a video about it's AI, and I have loved it ever since
some fun facts that were kinda missed:
-The scavenger's reputation system is EXTREMELY in-depth. they've got dedicated tribes, a trading system, a community reputation alongside individual reputations, etc.
-Lizards ALSO have a rep system, though it's not as convoluted. feed them and save them enough, and they might follow you around and help you out.
-the Downpour expansion is actually a former *modification* to the game that was so awesome that the dev team added it to the base game and made the mod devs official RW devs.
i was disappointed when none of this was mentioned in the video itself, thanks for mentioning it.
Lizards also evolve if you kill them enough, so it really contributes to the oppression of the world; "you think you're above all this, don't you?"
@@Jamesthe1 That's not evolving really, that's called lineage, it happens when specific enemies gets killed and they will be replaced with stronger ones
lizards will be your friend if you save them from as an example vulture grabbing them because without you they could not have survived
wait that's an expansion? So you're telling me I could have been playing the game _without_ the death rain, free to explore as long as I want in another world where the mod never existed. :(
The AI in this game is phenomenal, but just like everything else in Rain World, the game makes no effort to tell you any of it. Every single detail mentioned here about how cool and intricate the AI is gets 0 formal mention from the game, the game expects you to figure it out for yourself. Just like it expects you to figure basically everything out for yourself. That's part of the appeal of the game, and unfortunately a guy who works at IGN probably doesn't appreciate how exciting and liberating it is to figure it all out for yourself when they just want to get their review out on time.
Glad you liked my video, btw!
I like it cause it makes you cautious of anything you encounter, much like a real animal should.
I'm pretty sure everyone WTF'd at those noodleflies when seeing them for the first time.
its an environment. not a walkthrough.
How are you supposed to find out that this creature will let you pass if you give it a gift, when it usually is out to kill you?
@@Milkymalk Some of the scavs will always be jerks, but the scavs as a group should be neutral to you at the start of the game (in Normal mode)
@@Milkymalk it explicitly tells you that the pearls are valued by the scavengers????
I remember when i first entered the dark area of rainworld, i couldnt see a dang thing and thespiders were the bain of my existence, i remember finding this band of scavangers walking through, to avoid getting speared i layed down on the ground and let them pass, but one of them stopped looked at me, and then gave me a stone that produced light before moveing on, it saw that i didnt know where i was going and had trouble, and it gave me a gift to help me. I had never met them before i had never helped them and yet they helped me. Eventually i made it out and came back, i found the same scavangers and this time i traded them a peral and they gave me another stone, i gave them 2 perals and they gave me a stone and then one of their spears. It amazes me how i managed to do a trade with the scavangers and they eventually became my friends.
That's actually wholesome
I started playing rainworld this month and the same exact thing happened to me, a droopey blue eyed scav from the shaded citadel tribe handed me a lantern even tho i had nothing to trade back.
I am still holding onto that lantern as i travel through the overhang. I hope that scavenger is still alive by the time i meet pebbles cuz i want to go say hi to them again :D
bro you got scammed, 2 pearls for a glowing rock and spear
That rock may or may not have been a granade
I loved this game! It's brutal, but in this one it feels like you're truly learning. Not getting artificial Exp, but real tough beautiful exploration game, where you really learn
True exp is learning how to respond in your environment in that aspect rain world excels!
It is pretty amazing how you can see slugcat learning in real world time as YOU learn and figure out stuff tbh
Paired with the fact that all other creatures also have the possibility to mess up one of their moves and embarrass themselves, it just feels really immersive
While it has received much attention, I'd still feel remiss not mentioning "outer wilds" for having similar qualities. While not punishing, it's based purely on exploring and learning about the world one is placed in. Truly a magical experience, one I hope to rediscover with Rainworld.
(Not to be mistaken with "the outer wilds" by obsidian)
Critics don't want to play the game they want to play for 2 hours and btch about how hard it is players will sit there and try and try until they passed the level...never trust critics from websites...ign all that bunk I look at reviews online and allways a few of them
@@jonnywaldis8275 Obsidian's game is The Outer Worlds. But agreed, they may be easily confused.
The definition of ‘skill issue, but in a positive way’. The skill curve is what makes it fun, just learning to survive and then thrive is part of the experience, once you’re good enough to do lore stuff you’re already loving dominating the system and learning new skills, but you can’t become complacent as RNG and falling and being careless will still kill you immediately, so the stakes don’t go away completely.
The skill curve is probably a significant factor in the reviews, and not in a “reviewers can’t play hard games” way. The amount of time given to review the game was probably abysmally short, and not nearly enough to get a solid grasp on the game.
Essentially; “too many games exist”
@@harrylane4 it says a lot for the critics though. That they can’t even realize that what value do they have as a reviewer
@@beelzemobabbity and if you don't have enough time to play a game enough to properly review it then maybe your opinion isn't worth sharing
@@kevinconnors2430 exactly, or at the very least make sure people know with a disclaimer, or a “first hour review” or something
it WOULD make it fun, if not for "karma" that directly takes a steaming dump all over you for learning anything. You're right next to your goal, but die 1 time, the food doesn't regen by the time you wake up, so you can't progress, and have to backtrack like 2 whole zones for absolutely no reason, just to rebuild up "karma", while NOT learning anything new now because you already did this part... tf? Why? So ridiculous of a concept. hahaha forced tedious repetition instead of experiencing new things arbitrarily? Fun!? It directly discourages exactly the thing you (correctly) said SHOULD be fun about it: learning and experimenting. I actually had a lot of fun playing this... after I installed dev tools to force the game to stay at max karma which completely solved like 90% of it's problems. A thing which almost no players will bother to do. Baffling why that's a system.
Fun fact about the centipede at 4:58: It's actually a bunch of small spiders doing a hive-mind hunting tactic. It's arguably worse as far as how scary it is.
At least they don't make gross crawling noises!
@@pezvonpez not any sounds loud enough to hear until they crawl into your ears! Lol
Coalescepedes. Shit.
@@noahrafter-lanigan2409 why did you say this why...
It called coalescipede and this is too creepy shit
Rain World is extremely artistically inspiring to me
it's atmosphere, it's character designs,
the mystery around every corner
it really gives me that sort of, child like feeling of wonder
it's really underrated honestly
I honestly thought the world would be small, that I'd just be contained to Outskirts then a few other surrounding areas.
Well, let's just say I ended up quite far away from home.
one of the most unique world buildings i've seen, very nice, also recently really liked that world cosmic horror tone games like barotrauma, I always was interested but stayed away due to how hard it looked will look to buy it now
it is easily one of the best games of all time imo
I like the worm pond
I don't actually like the worm pond
AGREED. the amt of world-building and all the morbidly fascinating character designs in rain world blows my mind. the music is such a bop too
Imagine if Elden Ring had this sort of AI. Enemies respawn, but not necessarily in the same way all the time because they're off doing their own thing and react to things separately from the player. Hell not even just Elden Ring but any open world game. This is something definitely needs more spotlight. Once refined we can finally have a more true "living" and "breathing" world.
Imagine if Elden Ring had an actually dynamic open world, didn't have recycled bosses, didn't have copy-pasted assets across the world where you'll see the exact same shack three times in less than an hour, had a proper difficulty scaling guided by the game, and...
The whole theme with From Soft games are dead worlds repeating the same cycle over and over again, so maybe ER isn't the best venue for that. Also most massive open world games could have great AI, but the budget needed to develop that goes on pretty shiny graphics, which is why pretty much all open world games are exactly the same, only with incrementally better graphics than the last. At least we have the indie scene.
@@BarneyGoogl I agree with you, I just want to point out that plotwise Rain World literally IS about a dead world repeating the same cycle over and over and over again.
@@user-tw2jt9mg4d ...That's a very good point. In that case, nevermind lol
A great example of that is actually the STALKER series, since each npc is their own independent character besides a few plot relevant characters. They'll wander around the map on their own, get into fights with mutants or other factions on their own, and even loot on their own. You could take a mission to assassinate someone and have them die without even being in the same map as you because they were attacked by a mutant dog or caught outside in a radioactive storm.
I'm just new to the game, and is really hard at the beginning. Even to slug trough a pipe can be hard if you don't position yourself beforehand. Watching the slug cat was like watching a puppy, failing, learning how to walk or jump, how to enter a pipe head first instead of belly first. And the slug cat have the cutest animation.
Then you learn that you can press jump to orient slugcat "forward" while in pipe. :v
if you press jump twice you can turn around
Watching the slugcat move around is pretty rewarding in and of itself lol. Once you get the movement system down it feels awesome. I started a monk run recently and realized I don't struggle with wall jumps nearly as much as I did on my survivor run.
Something that makes this game even more terrifying (In a good way) is that those centipedes at 4:58 are actually a big mass of different spiders that come together to form those centipedes.
Now I can’t decide which is worse, spiders or centipedes
I've owned this game for a week and put 37hrs in it, I believe this speaks for itself.
Incredibly brutal game. Doesn't give a damn about how good you want to do.
But it bullies you in a way that makes it feel rewarding to get past the part you got stuck on by pulling a fast one on a bastardous lizard, simply because you reflected and changed tactics.
The world feels very lively and does a great job at making everything seem intelligent and conscious.
10/10 will get bullied again
Finally beat the game on normal with 60+ hours time to suffer a lot more in hard mode lol
I think this game was unfairly compared to Hollow Knight, for some weird reason.
@@jeremyjimenez7858 60 ? that's a lot
“10/10 would get bullied again”
Yea me too
Another thing about ai, there is an advanced reputation system and personality system with each individual creature. Some creatures will notice if you help them in fights, feed them, hurt them, steal food from them, and more. The choices most creatures make are based off of the past experiences.
For example if you have a slightly good reputation with a lizard and it sees 2 prey (you and another animal), it will pursue the other animal. If you had a bad reputation though, it will attack you. This can go so far that creatures can be completely tamed and will follow you around and protect you, to a creature devoting it's entire life to killing you.
Alternatively, if you beat up a lizard and it ran away, depending on various factors it may run away from you in fear when you meet it again-especially if you're visibly armed with a spear.
If you knock off a vultures mask it will hunt you endlessly as well, as if its life depends on it.
Which it does, because other vultures will attack the maskless beast
You need to submit this as a written review to some gaming magazines! Nailed it here!
Nah, fuck "gaming" magazines and their shit "journalists".
A lot of it isn't really original. He used a lot of the exact same points mentioned by an earlier review of this games ai. Pretty sure he gave credit to them so it's cool
Those reviews reminded me of how game reviewers and some AAA devs were baffled that gamers really liked Elden Ring even though it didn't hold their hands.
because its genuinely fun game.... not for everyone, but at least for people who enjoy genuine challenge
@@SorarikoMotone Elden ring and genuine challenge?
Don't make me laugh.
Elden Ring's biggest issue is that it's inherently not difficult.
Same as every other FromSoft Soulsborne title.
Sekiro was the closest they've come to making a genuinely difficult game, but it's literally only 1 boss and they really didn't even come close to pushing the mechanics far enough.
And nothing in ER comes even close to Sekiro's 1 slightly challenging boss.
@@AtomicArtumas okay, Felicia
@@AtomicArtumas Agree. If you were able to take a few more hits per life in any of the Soulsborne games they would not be as renowned for their challenge as they are.
@@AtomicArtumas it's more difficult than ds1 and ds2, ignoring really low starting health.
Actually, you can use the shelter with less food than required if you get there with a storm. I went into one left into a flooded mess and went right back in.
the doors closed, and the game accounted for it by increasing the amount of food I needed to use the shelter the next time.
Love the small details like this
Also the game goes into starvation mode which adds stamina for actions and if you run out of it, you pass out for some time. Making the game harder for you, but also having sense, at you are literally dying out of starvation.
@@reginaldcz6332 does anything happen if you try to sleep at the shelter again when starving?
@@bananafone1414 Yep. You die. And loose progress as when you hibernate while not having enough food, the game doesn't save. Save when you die during hibernation due starvation.
@@bananafone1414 Simple, you can't
The starvation mechanic is great, I'm always loading up the nearest den with as much fruit as it can handle when I have extra time left. Embrace your inner animal, become the squirrelcat, you will thrive
Fun fact: In the video it is mentioned that you can only use the shelters to hibernate in case you ate enough. That, however, it isn't true. In case the rain is coming, you can sleep without eating enough and you will starve in the next cycle. If you die, the game doesn't save the cycle you were starving in and comes back to the one before, and to make it worst, the slugcat feels too weak for not eating and will fall and fail to do some basic movement as a consequence of it. There are places where starving just means plain death, since you can't really do anything, but then again, it only happens if you, the player, fail to get enough food.
Aye! Starvation mode is a bitch and a half in safer areas, nevermind somewhere like sky islands. Knowing that though makes you really think when you get to a shelter in the nick of time and don't have enough food. What's worse, reliving the cycle and getting sent back, or trying to survive next cycle while starving? It makes for some really interesting challenges if you decide to take the gamble, and if you don't it still means you made an informed decision in your situation, that's for sure.
Right like I've recently started playing this game and I've tried to make use of this but it's never worked out well for me. Given how often I die normally, I naturally don't last very long into a starve cycle, so I always have to start over again and backtrack a bit to find enough food to hibernate without starving.
It kind of reminds me of overcharming in Hollow Knight, in the sense that it's not something that happens normally, you gotta force it to happen, and there's a rather heavy penalty for it if you do. And also in that due to said penalty you're almost certainly a pro if you're able to utilize it effectively despite it (especially in Rain World's case)
Starvation mode is a pain in the ass to deal with, especially when I collect enough food to hibernate only to die before I reach it.
The only reason to starve I've found is if you're one karma short for a gate. If you starve you can pass through, if you die you're only one karma short again so just starving again will let you through again to hopefully reach another shelter
Good thing this masterpiece survived such a rough review cycle.
heh, cycle.
My by far favorite part of this game is how everything is given to you at the start, you don’t gain a double jump, or have spears become stronger, you can’t store more food or breathe longer underwater just by upgrading. Everything is given to you, you can leap, jump, pick up items and throw them(to various benefits), all it allows you to do is learn and become more refined at dodging and mastering your knowledge of different enemies.
Yeah, I finished the game a few weeks ago, and I couldn't believe the reviews when I saw them. It's an amazing game, but it's a brutal experience sometimes. I think the problem is that some reviewers played it like a metroidvania, but it's not that at all. It's more like a survival game mixed with dark souls. It doesn't give a fuck about you, but it's super rewarding when you finally outsmart the other creatures and become the hunter instead of the prey.
tHe DaRk SoUlS oF pLaTfOrMiNg
@@frungggg lol no, it's because when you die, you start over at the last checkpoint and lose what you've collected. Which you then have to recollect to make progress. That is similar to what Dark Souls has with the souls system.
There have been similar bad reviews on the steam page for Celeste, mostly because they were trying to play the game as a metroidvania and not a 2d platformer like it actually was.
@@catrinacoons390 Who the hell thought Celeste was a metroidvania? The levels are pretty linear for the most part.
I think this game was unfairly compared to Hollow Knight, for some weird reason.
First time comment on your channel: you are so spot-on with this assessment of how reviewers scale their estimation of a game based only on their capacity to review it. So happy to hear that refreshing take after years of watching Giant Bomb rate crap short games over so much out there, simply because they missed content. Thanks for everything you do.
It’s one of those few games that you can die so many times but still not mind.
It isn’t like games where power is a tangible resource, xp, items, etc. but instead where your power in the game is your own capability almost entirely. Sure, you can have a bad run, enemies on the other side of a pipe, food respawns, or just time you have in a cycle, but in the end I don’t mind dying because it’s almost entirely on me.
I adapt, learn, and improve to survive and not relying on builds, RNG, or good item drops really removes a lot of the frustration for me in an undoubtedly brutal game.
Enemies at end of the pipes is realistic actaully,and dying from things out of your control is also realistic
@Blizzard I'm enjoying the game, but I really dislike the idea of something being realistic means it's automatically good. It doesnt feel good when you die for no reason and lose progress. It just feels like a waste of time.
It is true that you can die for reasons out of your control. I remember reaching looks to the moon as Spearmaster, and as soon as I got out of a pipe, a miros vulture appeared out of nowhere and pushed me down a cliff with it's own body. But you usually can avoid most of these "problems out of your control" when you know the behavior of these creatures. You literally can see king vulture's laser aiming at you before they fly towards you.
This is why we need more leisurely reviews, or reviews that are written outside of the hype of release. Rain World is amazing and I’m glad to see it get some love here.
The problem is people use reviews for two things, to decide whether to purchase something or to validate something they've already purchased. Waiting for an in depth review for an extremely hard game will also result in the reviews being heavily biased. The only people who will stick with a really difficult game are those who are enjoying it and already like difficult games.
@@strayiggytv I’m not sure it’s impossible for someone to write a review for a “difficult” game without it being heavily biased. I also think there are people who find reviews interesting as meaningful criticism. There are plenty of “this is awesome and here’s why” videos for one’s own validation. And of course there are plenty of “should you buy it” reviews. But analyzing and interpreting games over time is, I think, fascinating in its own right. Everyone’s experience is different, and it’s cool to learn others’ perspectives which lead to viewing games in a new light.
I’ve always felt the same about Darkwood. That game is in my top 10 games of all time. Easily one of the best horror games of the last decade and it’s way over slept on!
I know this is kind of a late reply but it's funny that you mention darkwood. My 2nd favorite indie right behind rain world, and I always think about them together. Both games are absolute masterpieces in their respective genres
I died in the beginning and felt lost. I've been meaning to come back to it.
you scored it a 6 what a fool💀
@@MigWith what? Lol
Started playing Rain World one year ago, and got basically kidnapped by a friend of mine who owned the "Jolly Co-OP mod" that allows you to play the game with up to 4 players.
And she was really deep into the fandom. And damn if she didn't drag me along at first I would've given up. I was terrible at the game and would get frustrated easily over things she was able to do, and I couldn't figure it out myself. (As she had years of experience of paying the game)
But as we kept playing, I got better and better.
Recently, after finishing our first run, we started a new run with 2 more friends of ours, who never played rain world. (a 4/4 party of players) and seeing them struggle just as I did at the beginning made me realize how much better I got at the game as things I used to struggle with now are less hard for me to do.
And I can say proudly I am part of the Rain World fandom and I can't thank my friend enough for literally dragging through the pain lmao.
Honestly, when the game first came out I liked it enough to power through about 2/3 of it, but couldn't finish it because of how frustratingly punishing it was. Once the update with the difficulty settings was released, i had a lot of fun playing it on the easier setting. The game was still hard, as it is meant to be, but it was a lot less punishing when you failed, which made all the difference to me.
Completely agree, people don't understand how busy reviewers can be that a lot of games don't get enough time given to them. On top of that, once it's released, players start discussing it and making guides. Reviewers are totally alone when playing games, and at most only have other reviewers to talk with. They can't just Google mechanics or collectibles.
That doesn't excuse a lack of basic spatial awareness like that Cuphead video though.
When u work as a guy making reviews,ur job is to be actually good at it. It means ur judgement about games is actually GOOD and u can judge the game fast and u dont need more than 48hrs to judge it well. Because u are writing *GAME REVIEWS* its ur job. If u cant work it,someone else can take ur spot. It takes just a slight look to see if a game is good or not. Giving this AMAZING game 5/10 means u cant do ur job. End of story.
@@AGTaNGrA.2 days is actually just not enough time to experience this wonderful game to its fullest though, no matter how good you might be
My second favorite thing to do as a slugcat is walk into a room that's been thrown into chaos bc the lizards started fighting or bc there's a group of scavs waging war against lizards and vultures alike, and sit down and watch the fireworks.
My first favorite thing to do is cause the problem lmao
Has anyone else noticed that the opening for Stray seems inspired by the opening of this game?
Watching Stray, even before it gets to the fall, I thought it felt like Rain World (rain + post-apocalypse vibes).
This game is one of many examples of why mainstream review outlets just suck, in this case they all blamed the game for their own incompetence.
*laughs in cuphead
Rain World is a hard and rather unfair game. People are allowed to not like it for that. It doesn't mean they are incompetent.
@@ahdog8 Rainworld is hard but that doesnt mean its a 5/10
theres a difference between not liking difficult games and not giving games the time they need, for a casual player i would understand this, but for a professional reviewer its a different story.
Rainworld *is* punishing, yes.
But eventually with enough time and effort you can learn to conquer its world.
How is this any different from games that ask for your time with long cutscenes, or endless pvp games?
If i where to play a few matches of say, apex legends, and then rate it a 5/10 because i kept dying, does that make the rating fair?
apex legends is a great game, its not for everyone, not for me even, but its definitely a good game with great systems.
a good reviewer should be able to tell the difference between "this game is too hard and punishing" and "this game simply asks for time i dont have, but it'd be good if i gave it that time".
Similar case to this would be a game like cruelty squad (which is also amazing, as shown by its reviews), same issue, just a different type of turnoff (if you know about it you know what im talking about)
The only difference is that game got lucky on launch.
@@nintySW I like the way you totally ignored the deadline aspect the person who made this video pointed out and how you don't have time as a game reviewer to play a game start to finish before giving your thoughts on it.
Instead you just jumped straight to dunking on game reviewers. For a game that requires such methodical patience I'm surprised you even made it through it since you seem so eager to jump to weird conclusions.
@@strayiggytv If a movie critique goes to a movie, leaves halfway because they need to see another movie they have to review, then gives the first movie a bad rating because they didn't understand where the plot was going, is it a bad movie or was the review flawed?
As someone who’s been quietly advocating for this game’s complexity and beauty for like two years, I’m SO GLAD it’s been getting more and more exposure as of late! I hope this game gets a huge resurgence! XOXO to the mod community keeping this game alive while they couldn’t add updates!
I had this game in my library for ages, about a week ago I played it and man, it’s such a beautiful game. Very hard in areas, feels like being something not at the top of the food chain for sure. Definitely not for people who dislike unfairness or difficulties throughout, and it feels a little like a metroidvania rather than a basic platformer
I really do hope that this game gets more popular.
Same
absolutely adore this game - sunk 131 hours into it and it was worth every one, theres something abt a game that never gives a difficulty mode the barest of tutorials and says this is the experience are you up to it or not? unapologetically learn to thrive and read your environment or give up.
(i also learned to backflip on accident my first cycle and was like oh dope what else can i do )
There's SO much you can do, and I learned most moves by randomly stumbling into them then getting better at using them with trial and error
I love how big the difference between a beginner and late game player can be in a game that doesn't have any unlockable items or abilities at all
Or, well, technically you do "unlock" abilities... just accidentally...
Or you never do, that's also a possibility...
Or you look at the 20-billion-page movement document and learn the entire movement system before you even buy the game!
These self proclaimed "professional game reviewers" hardly should be judging a game if they can't even play it properly.
I'm so glad you have done a video on this game. I've been saying for years to anyone who would listen how underrated this indie game is.
I do find it interesting how with certain game types and games that have punishing difficulties, usually don't fair well with critics. This is why I value channels like this and also fellas like ACG 👍
I think this game was unfairly compared to Hollow Knight, for some weird reason.
This game is an indy masterpiece.
Rainworld is one of the most unique and immersive games I have ever played. I only wish it was more clear as to where to go and also how to interact with the creatures. A good example is the Scavengers. After I played for a bit I realized that everything wants to kill me. So when I came across the scavengers I attacked and ruined my “reputation” with them. This could have been avoided if the game had let me known early on that not everything is hostile
Would you look at that, I already have this in my Steam library. (Along with several hundred others.) I must have picked it up in one of the humble bundles. I'll have to give it a shot.
I'm thankful that rain world happened because it's the only game i've ever played that makes me feel like an animal in a living breathing ecosystem.
It's such a unique experience and I
love the concepts like the world is not centered around the player and the fact that creatures are moving even when you're not on the same screen making the environment feel more alive. I could go on, but the lengths that this game goes to make an immersive experience is truly great.
Just wanted you to know that I purchased this game on your word. I've never seen your channel before but I like to keep my eye out for hidden indie gems, and a channel like yours is how I found Outer Wilds, which I think is one of the best games ever made. Plus, I remember playing Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee when I was a kid, and Rain World's oppresive brutality against the protagonist reminds me of poor Abe's struggles. So cheers, I look forward to enjoying the game!
Thanks, man! It's really appreciated being able to dive back into the niche of gaming without sinking in hundreds of hours. It absolutely felt like I'd experienced it for myself. Cheers
Thank you for the perspective on how reviews are prepared from an industry perspective from that of a consumer. I always like learning these things.
I've been trying to find this game again for months now. Markiplier played it years ago, and I could immediately tell it was gonna be good but then other stuff got in the way of watching it and then I kept putting it off until I had forgotten it's name and mark had done so many things since then that I wasn't about to go looking.
Edit: At least a year later or more and I just bought it today. The controls are a lil iffy but I know what people can do in this game. In time it can be figured out.
Does the game ever outright tell you that you can befriend certain creatures, how to trade with the scavengers, or how to store things in the slugcat’s stomach? I know it tells you that pearls are important to the scavengers but I’m not sure about the rest.Traversal and combat seem pretty simple to figure out through trial and error, but everything else I mentioned seems like it would be difficult for the average player to figure out with out SOME kind of tutorial. Especially since as the video mentioned, almost everything wants to kill you, so natural player instinct would tell you to either avoid or kill everything.
Not really, no. Like you said, it shows the pearls are important for scavengers right before a toll, so it's not very hard to come to the conclusion that you need to give them a pearl to pass. I also think it's fairly easy for someone to go "I wonder what happens if I give them another pearl" and boom, scavengers drop all their stuff for you. There's also like a little room in the shaded citadel called "scavenger merchant" or something, so it's pretty clear that you can buy a lamp there before heading into the darkness. The befriending stuff or storing items is never mentioned in a tutorial though. I guess people are just supposed to mess around a bit and see what happens when you leave food for a lizard or when you try to eat objects.
Just bought this game & the DLC, super curious to see what the community has come up with for controller layouts on the Steam Deck! That handheld and its trackpads have been a gaming revolution I didn't know I needed but when you pair the right layout with a game you can play games on the Deck in ways you couldn't play on any traditional set-up.
Really goes to show how much changing & testing alternative input methods alone can change the feel of a game and how movement in the game "feels" without actually changing how you move in-game.
Thanks for putting this on my radar I'm looking forward to diving in!
I’m obsessed with this game!! You will never play this game the same way twice - I am on my third play through! The first time I beat the game, I felt a combination of a massive sense of accomplishment mixed with grief lol hence why I continue to play! It’s definitely challenging, but is totally worth the frustration! Once you get into it, it’s hard to stop. Now to find some good Rain World merch!!!
Hell yes! This is my second favorite game of all time (Only behind HOLLOW KNIGHT). It's just an amazing game.
I recently got into rain world and LOVE it
Despite me not yet passing drainage.
Edit: 5:00 *oh no* those arent centipedes, they are spiders 3 feet long, the run away from the slugcat. But in groups... They make the equivalent of the human centipede
Reminiscent in ways of Abe's Oddysey back in the day. That had uniquely-programmed AI that would often fight itself in the different forms the creatures took, or even help you out. Of course there you could simply take control of a slig with a rifle and murderfest your way through some enemies.
Oddysee Exodus. Stunning examples of platform games at their best. Loved them . Follow me….. ok.
it's quite difficult but so lovely to look at all the different things. the "airlock" things between larger areas are cool as hell :)
Rain World is an absolutely beautiful, enjoyable, and genius game. It's sad that it didn't get that much attention. At least the devs are happy from what I've heard.
This is how you know critics don't know a thing about video games and have the playing ability of 90-year-old grandmas. That is to say, if those 90-year-old grandmas never picked up a game in their life.
I may not be able to finish story mode, but i got rain world for its safari mode. The way the creatures interact and hunt and the fact you can control a certain creature js facinatimg as i love games about ecosystems
1:12 When you read out the game journalists’ reviews I almost died on the spot while simultaneously having a panic attack
The thing I love about Rain World is that the devs worked really hard to make you feel like you’re at the very bottom of the food chain. You are so weak but it’s an incredible change of pace compared to every other game where you’re actually strong enough. Really fits the story that shows you that you were never meant to live there but the rain swept you away at the beginning of the game
One of the best gaming surprises in the last couple of years. This game hits all the right buttons for me.
Rain World is probably the most underrated game I’ve played so far.. and I have played tons of games. It’s also one of my favorite games due to how unique and different this game is compared to a lot of different metroidvania’s and 2d games.
The AI of enemies in this game is so incredible. Enemies are actually smart and don’t walk back and forward a fixed path continually and will actually try to survive just like you (the slugcat) as well. The creatures in this game really makes the game come to life and created an even more fitting brutally environment
I discovered Rainworld at its launch on steam. It's one of the best experiences I had, and I love the game. But it's really harsh sometimes. It can put you in really tough situations where you can't save yourself. There are also those moments when savepoints are really far from one another and you're sometimes stuck in a die and try loop trying to overcome a section.
"There's too many games out there."
"..."
"The sponsor of this video is Prime Gaming!" (proceeds to list out a bunch of games)
I appreciate the irony at work here 😂
I discovered Rain World while it was still being developed back in 2015 when the devs posted weekly updates to the tigsource forums. For YEARS before it came out I read dev updates and looked forward to playing it; there is even an extremely minor feature in the game that was implemented from a comment i made to the devs. When it did I bought it opening day and played through the entirety of the map and explored the entire thing. Suffice to say I was quite a rain world superfan.
5 years later, my opinion on the game has really soured. That's not to say its a bad game--everything Force says about the AI, the incredible animation, the sound design and immersion--it's all extremely well done. It's absolutely unique from anything else on the market. However, the problems (and there are several big ones) stand out more and more that I no longer have the rose-tinted glasses from 5 years ago.
Force doesn't go into enough depth on how difficult the movement controls are--for the first couple hours (even for me as a veteran player trying to get back into it), the CONTROLS will be your MAIN source of difficulty. Not the creatures, not the hostile weather pattern, not the risk of starvation. The controls. Rain world's control system is extremely intense; mastering it is like playing a different game. Once you master backflipping into a downwards spear throw, you can sequence break many of the areas and take routes that are otherwise completely impossible. Once you figure out consistent rolling, you can greatly increase the distance traveled each cycle.
The reason behind all of this is because the developers were more interested in the environment than the actual gameplay. Initially they didn't want to have ANY on-screen HUD or tutorials--no map, no cycle length indicator, no food pips, no start-of-game tutorial on how to do long jumps or hibernate. All of those things had to be demanded by the audience enough to get them in the game. The developers got feedback for YEARS before the release that the movement was janky and needed a thorough tutorial, which they didn't really do, saying they would rather preserve the immersion.
Ultimately, I think most of the reviews critiquing Rain world have actually aged well. Most games have flaws due to production constraints and developer oversight, but rain world's flaws are almost all intentional. I still like the game for how unique it is, but I 100% think the game could have been a much bigger success if the developers had been more willing to compromise their personal vision with the piles of audience feedback they got during development.
Agreed. As I said in my own comment the professional reviewers are reviewing for the general mass. On the opposite side user reviews are coming from a carefully crafted community that for the most part knew what they were jumping into when they came in.
Hard disagree. Controls feel wonky, like you said, "for the first couple hours". I didn't find this to apply during the whole experience, occasionally during the playthrough at worst (particularly in the more platformy and difficult areas). You naturally learn to move efficiently by yourself. I don't see how this can taint your whole experience with the game, considering this is felt only at the start of the first playthrough (or of each playthrough if you have stopped playing for a while).
Also, the player does not need to "master" the movement system to finish the game, all the advanced techniques a player has to know to progress through the game normally are the long jump, taught in the tutorial, and that you can imbed spears into walls, which any player is bound to find out by him/herself. The player can even use some creatures to move with more ease in the more difficult areas. The only place I can think of where you would need to "backflip into a downwards spear throw" is at the top of the Wall, and even then, you can acces this area more easily with one of the movement creatures (which I did on my first playthrough).
Regarding tutorialization, yeah, the devs were certainly too extreme, and even after the addition of all those features, the experience still is, but I find that the (almost) lack of information is necessary for what the game is trying to do: evoke a childlike sense of wonder and making the player feel lost, weak and minuscule in this gigantic and strange alien world.
It is likely obvious that I love this game but if we're speaking about flaws, I consider the poor level-design (either room-design or enemy placement) in certain regions to be way more frustrating.
Fun fact, knock off a vultures mask and it will hunt you endlessly, but if other vultures see the maskless beast they will attack it.
I love Rain World, I’ve only played for a short amount of time though. It’s definitely frustrating, but the frustration makes it much more pleasing when you succeed. I’m not good at taking down lizards but I’ve found that knocking them off cliffs, using plants to kill them, and using other lizards feels extremely rewarding.
because its actually good, duh
I feel like anyone who felt anything strong enough to make a review was someone who was able to overcome the learning curve, while those who didn't and left the game probably did so extremely early into the process and made it less notable. Just a theory.
I adore this game's premise and artwork and stunning technical accomplishments but I am unfortunately one of those people who can't get over the learning curve. It's just not a game for me to play, but that's okay. Not everything is, and I have videos like these to continue to enjoy the game in a way that works for me!
One of the vids here in CZcams about the AI drew me in, but the atmosphere and seeing that crushing rain sold me. Got Samurai Jack and Hyper Light Drifter vibes.
Then after playing it... everything else is 👌except the unfair enemy spawn at times, especially in Hunter mode.
Also, compared to a lot of video game characters, slugcats are badass for even surviving in Rain World's environment when the only real offensive move they can do is throw rocks or spears when anything else can pretty much one hit them.
EDIT: Just to be a bit fair to game journalists, one comment said that they were reviewing it at the time of Rain World's release, and it lacked some of the quality of life changes, like the map updating even after you've died.
Awesome game i got for a friend recently that i now also have myself. I didn’t know about the storm counter on the map but I have found out that you can hold down to force a hibernation that will not save your game.
5:01 these arent centipedes, the centipedes in this game have orange/red electric plating that is actually like 50 small harmless spiders chained together, because on their own they cant kill you but in large amounts they can
actually there are a lot of mistakes in this video but i honestly dont care enough to correct them.
if anyone wants to further learn about the ecosystem of rain world, i HIGHLY recommend Curious Archive’s video about it. he provides an in-depth explanation about the ecosystem and he talk about how the creatures interact with other creatures.
That creature activity always in the background… some impressive optimization I’d say!
One thing I want to mention among ALL the other things I just want to gush about this game, is the fact that even though the game barely teaches you much about how you play the game besides how to walk around, feed, and pounce, this leads to you FINDING new mechanics and ways to move you've never even knew before! It's a lot like real life nature, not only with this harsh environment and creatures with minds of their own, but also that you know close to nothing besides your instinct when you are young!
The story is about a young Slugcat who is taken away from their family and put in an unforgiving habitat and hence the fact that the Slugcat is YOUNG is why the game teaches you so little about it. You're put in the shoes of this young inexperienced Slugcat who only knows how to do very few things just like a REAL young creature. This forces the player to either find out themselves on how to do many of the unique movement mechanics and avoid enemies OR to go online and have people who have already learned everything to teach them how to do stuff like wall jump, backflip, and so many other mechanics that let the player move through the map A LOT faster!
One thing I've learned from other people is that most lizards don't actually kill you in one bite but instead, two! If a lizard grabs you once, you are still alive, You can tell by seeing the eyes of your slugcat. If the eyes are like this > < rather than this x x, it means they're still alive. To escape the maws of your predator, you can wait until the lizard lets you go for any reason at all such as, fighting another lizard, grabbing more prey, or in some cases, you can shimmy your way out!
the answer to why there is a disconnect between critics and gamers is that 90% of gaming critics that are not independent creators are products of nepotism and have no understanding of games or gaming and should have no business reviewing games or even be a part of the industry.
That UI though , I can't even imagine how they made it , such thing is even better than the majority of the AAA games coming out recently which is pretty impressive
Part of the problem here is that rain world basically comes with a mentality that rushing problems head on and not being strategic will *almost invariably* get you drop-kicked by something bigger and stronger than you are. Critics are much more likely to apply exactly this sort of strategy to every problem than thinking "this enemy is actually a puzzle. I'm not supposed to face tank it." Or cautiously trying to observe and learn the game's systems.
Why do you got to say “2D Pixel Art Game” like it’s some kind of insult? Games literally started out as “2D Pixel Art Games”!
Well, this is a highly detailed game filled with dozens of complex hidden mechanics that could take dozens or hundreds of hours to explore and fully understand. And the reviewer has a Tuesday deadline, and they are obviously doing the review long, long before there are youtube channels with explanation videos. This is the basic curse of doing something for a job. Fun and interesting things might not fit into your 9 to 5, and that cool mechanic might mean overtime that makes you miss your kid's baseball game. It is a basic caveat of most reviews, and why you might want to temper your expectations with quick looks.
To get past the first gate I was dying and losing karma and the area had not a lot of food left then a noodle fly came down I ate it and then the big one came I needed one more karma so I tunnel baited it into leaving it’s kids in my shelter and then ate them to get past the gate
One small thing about fighting enemies, lizards are somewhat easy to dispatch in favorable environments (flat ground). The trick is to get low to the ground when they charge, throw rock at them, wait about half a second then throw the spear at them. Spear gets stuck in them and usually stuns them so you can run up, pick it back up, and stab them again and again till they die. U can perpetually stunlock them this way.
The game is so satisfying when u master it. I purposefully take the hardest routes to where I need to go (areas with insta-death pits), climbing sections, dangerous enemies, it really is fun.
I quit it like 10 times but it was so worth it for the 11th time.
They need to make this into an 'ant farm' where you can just watch and observe all the creatures in their habitats in overview, and watch how they evolve and grow.
They did add this feature in the new downpour dlc
@@rowen5702 3 month old comment kiddo, posted weeks before downpour was out. Go away.
@@jeffbrownstainimagine being angry about someone helpfully responding to you
@@omega4679 Imagine thinking someone was in a negative emotional state just because they said something you didn't like or agree withn🤣
@@jeffbrownstain bro he was just trying to help
This reminds me of when I first started, I quit since it was too hard and I had no clue where to go. However, I watched a few lore videos a few years and replayed the game. I'm really happy I did even though I couldn't figure out the lore for myself.
Incredible video! I really enjoyed this!
Congrats on discovering this amazing game aswell :D
Personally back in 2017 i was super disappointed when Markiplier dropped this gem so i went out of my way to find someone else who managed to see it through till the end
it's their literal JOBS, it doesn't matter if they only have a few days. it takes only a few hours to get over the initial difficulty of the learning curve, after that it's about exploring and learning how the creatures of the world work which again shouldn't take that long for someone whose entire job is playing games. i got to five pebbles in under 8 hours. the game is hard, but that's not an excuse.
Well ... I can barely make it to Industrial Complex, and keep dying in there. How do you make that far in 8 hours? And I'm no where near the moon.
My point is simple: Just because you got over the difficulty quickly, does not mean others do. Even with movement instruction documents, it's hard -- I cannot do "piano keyboarding" like that. I don't have the muscle memory and training, and the timing quickness.
@@key_bounce i just mean if you play games for a living you shouldd be expected to get a reasonable level of competency in them.
and i went up through the wall to get to pebbles. underhang and shaded, really just that whole half of the map is a nightmare.
i had to hop from shelter to shelter to have any chance of making it. i had to have died a dozen times between each one. but its still possible and the repetition forced me to get better at the game. basic tips: keep a rock and a spear, hit a lizard with the rock and then the spear and run up to grab the spear and stab over and over. the only problem is getting the lizard to come at you on your level. watch out for dropwigs of course but also later on the white lizards change color to match the background. vultures i have no answer for i just run and hide. and if you're going the same way learn how to do the throw boost jumps, i fuck up the jump at that broken bridge half the time. and finally you need to backflip throw a spear into the ground to get into pebbles' can.
4:42
You are not at the very bottom of the food chain. You can literally hunt down and eat the bats. That means the bats are lower on the food chain than you so you are not at the very bottom.
As a long time rain world fan with hundreds of hours sunk into this game, thanks for explaining what makes it so good!! I love this game because of how brutal and realistic it feels. It isn’t meant to be an easy game, or a fast game, or a game that appeals to audiences in the traditional sense. It’s an experience, and in a lot of ways a work of art as well!
+1 viewer interaction
one of the most negative reviews i read was centered around a very good point: the karma system sucks.
and it do. it's painfully obtuse and can easily give the wrong impression in a bunch of ways. it's meant to steer you away from difficult areas while you're still bad, but can outright fail due to luck or can make people assume they need to just grind out karma to get through doors, taking it as a punishment rather than a suggestion. and that's if they even understand how it works (i thought it was something else till i was almost at moon). plenty of people end up in drainage as a result of that.
others i read were mostly made of good points as well. As much as this usually isn't my take, I feel a lot of it is down to them looking for and grading 'best practice design' rather than the effect of the game when experienced fully. Missing the forest for the trees, but it's hard to blame them in this case. When you have a game that just kills you like rain world does, it's easy to want to find fault.
To people who play it, it's what you see through that that's so amazing. To a reviewer, though, you have to be concerned with how easy/reasonable it is to see through it in the first place. I think if there's anything Rain World is missing, it's not correction to its flaws, it's something that makes the tactile process of getting past the pain the game inflicts on you feel better in itself. At the very least, that's what won Dark Souls its crown despite the similarities.
game might be top 1 to me, but it's entirely made of things that don't mix with reviews
honestly the karma system is brutal but it really works for the game, besides there’s the easy mode monk which makes dealing with karma gates easier. I think it’s a great system that encapsulates everything rain world is about
Funny thing about the karma gates, if you place a blank text file named nifflasmode.txt in the game folder karma gate restrictions will be removed. Nifflas' made a game called Knytt that's cited as one of the inspirations for Rain World and when he criticized the karma gates they added in that cheat for him ;)
I like them because they are like, the only thing that gives karma value for most of the game. But they also confuse karma's thematic purpose since karma gates are indicative of difficulty rather than any in universe reason. It's definitely a system that could be improved!
I remember someone in a discord chat referring to the game as "Pain World" after a few hours of play ... one peek at the gameplay, and boy he wasn't kidding
GAIN WORLD 💪💪
6:18
just an addendum, you CAN sleep a cycle without having the necessary amount of food if the storm isolates you in your den, but without saving and you will wake up hungrier and weaker (not being able to make too much effort or swim normally due to starvation) and of course you will have to eat almost twice as much to compensate, it's suffered and you won't survive a second cycle without eating well, but it's possible to recover
It feels like critics expect the status quo of modern games to be easy and "accessible for everyone". One of the first games where I saw this was with Alien Isolation, where IGN complained that its frustating and also "too long".
Personally I disagree with that idea, games DO NOT need to be for everyone! This has caused just one thing in the gaming world and thats stagnation. AAA devs dont seem to challenge the status quo anymore, but just release the next cookie cutter game we saw a million times before. Games should go for niches, explore new ideas, etc.
We need more games like Rain World; this was done by a small indie dev, imagine what a big studio could do, if they broke from the status quo; Valve was (or is) like that and they defined so many genres we take for granted these days.
That kinda mentality probably exists because people think of games as... uh, well, games. Something simple to relax with and turn your brain off for
And there's nothing wrong with those, but some games are more like artworks
Art is very subjective, and drawings and paintings aren't usually made to be appealing and relaxing to as many people as possible
They're made to explore ideas, for the creator to put down a bit of themselves on the canvas
People who like weird abstract art probably won't understand or appreciate an anime girl, ya know? Drawings are simply not accessible to everyone
Rain world is like that! Games can be art too, but the simple, toy-like, accessible ones are more mainstream. And so, critics are more used to those
I think one big reason why player reviews are more positive is that players who aren't into very difficult games will hear that it's very difficult, and not play it, thus not leaving a review. Where as reviewers will play it regardless.
I cant wait for the big update to come out and hopfully it blows up more than it did on launch, im also exited for the steam workshop support.
Now on my wishlist, thankyou :)
I swear to god, if game journalists got lost in the forrest for a week, they would all review it as a 3/10 for it’s “Lack of tutorial, lack of diverse creatures and punishing gameplay made them do nothing but get penalized by the starve mechanic”
Gaming has dumbed down over the years for the average person who does not consider themself a “gamer”.
Gamers want challenges.
Quit that hardcore gamer bullshit. The challenges in Rain World are meant to be unfair and near unpredictable, all the satisfaction comes from discovering and learning about this world. You can only feel so much satisfaction and relief after killing a predator, before another stumbles on you, or before the rain comes and washes off every hunting trophy you might have accumulated. This game wants to make you feel lost, weak and insignificant. It is not a power fantasy. This game is meant for the patient and the curious, not specifically for the most skilled and hardc0re gamers.
stop gatekeeping.
Great video man. Kudos.
I for years have been trying to figure out this game on and off. I absolutely love it and finally playing it on my steam deck I’m actually beginning to understand the world and how to play. What a masterpiece
Who judges pixel art as immediately bad? Those people aren't real gamers imo
YEAH I can't believe when the game is pixel art people gotta say "dont judge the book by its cover"
In my experience pixelated games are one of the bests
This game in particular is proof that pixel art can be legitimately beautiful.
I agree, judging art as good or bad simply because of the art form is strange. People should stop looking into what kind of art a game has, and instead only judge how good it is/nice to look at, since that is the entire point of art as a whole.
Professional games journalists fail the cup head tutorial. So their opinion is invalid