Ultimately, Rainswept has a very good story to inform. A tragic story, certainly one of grief, loss, homicide and small-town cruelty. It’s against the law procedural, however its forensic examination is of an advanced and troublesome relationship. It’s a game that touches on troublesome subjects, together with childhood abuse, home abuse, and suicide. And but, maybe fairly terribly, it’s additionally in the end a game about hope.
I say “ultimately”, as a result of it’s additionally a game that will get in its personal method. By the top, I actually appreciated having been advised the story. I’m actually glad I performed it. Along the best way, I used to be continuously annoyed by lots of its choices.
Rainswept is, I’d argue, a visible novel. The second I accepted that, reasonably than being annoyed by its not being an journey game, I started to understand it for what it’s. I’m not fully responsible for that, both – the game goes out of its method to indicate point-and-click options, with choices to have a look at objects on the planet, even acquire some stock objects (though you don’t even have a visual stock). There’s even a puzzle! Just one, involving getting a motorboat working. But overlook all that, let it’s what it’s: a game telling you its story, with a good few alternatives to affect the telling via dialogue decisions.
Detective Michael Stone is introduced into the small city of Pineview after the obvious murder-suicide of a younger couple, Chris and Diane, a pair comparatively new to the realm, who everybody will let you know, by no means slot in. Stone suspects there’s foul play, and, teamed up with native rookie cop Amy Blunt, units about defying the native authorities by making an attempt to unravel a case they need swept away.
To do that, you primarily march about city, speaking to the locals, discovering out everybody’s whereabouts, sniffing round crime scenes, and having fun with a cup of espresso on the native retailer. And march about you actually do, due to the game’s considerably unlucky similarity to a South Park Terrence & Phillip cartoon. I can not understate how a lot the rectangle limbs flapping about consistently jogged my memory of that oh-so correct depiction of Canadians, and it’s just for the sake of their heads not being sliced horizontally that there was any distinction.
Rainswept’s aesthetic decisions are… blended. The backgrounds are sometimes very pretty, and it does a surprisingly good job of making an environment with such boxy artwork. But the character motion is farcical, and actually reasonably undermines the severity of a lot of its tone. It’s extraordinarily troublesome to not shout “TERRENCE! DER’S BEEN A MURDER!” on the display. Although a lot of that is counteracted by one thing that nearly by no means will get a look-in on the planet of videogames: path. It’s a superbly directed game! The digital camera actions are intelligent and communicative, it makes use of long-shots and close-ups to monumental impact, and deeply ornaments its storytelling via a component most games simply overlook is an choice.
My essential subject is, nonetheless, the way it’s managed. It’s horrible, truthfully. It’s a 2D game, your character moved by A and D, however the mouse used to click on on interactive gadgets. To work together with any objects on the planet, it’s important to transfer your Stone to be standing instantly subsequent to it. Then the pop-up button seems. There’s no good purpose for this, this was at all times a horrible factor when adventures did it within the 90s, and it’s simply as horrible right here. Not least as a result of jiggling forwards and backwards to search out the precise proper spot to let me click on on the ‘look at’ button over an merchandise is commonly frustratingly fiddly. What’s the purpose of getting a mouse cursor if I can’t simply sweep the display for objects, after which have the character jog towards them?
Even worse, to alter areas it’s important to stroll, or run, till you’re stood in precisely the correct spot subsequent to a road signal, then work together with it, the ‘use’ it. Often instances you’ll need to laboriously jog down road after road after road to get to your location, juggling the crappy map to attempt to work out which side-streets you’ll want to use to get there, after which jog the entire return journey again. I perceive why it doesn’t need gamers to have the ability to quick-travel with the map, as a result of oftentimes it’s necessary to cease to speak to individuals in your route. But it makes issues so flipping clumsy and gradual.
There, that’s out my system. It’s necessary, as a result of the difficulty is fairly elementary. But now we are able to get on with why I ended up being actually glad I performed this. I’m cautious of there being fairly so many games simply now that use subjects like abuse and psychological well being as storylines, particularly once they’re plot units reasonably than a developer’s exploration of their very own experiences. So I used to be frightened when Rainswept made it clear it was stepping into that path, particularly concerning suicide. But ultimately, I felt it dealt with these topics sensitively, maturely, and maybe most of all, not mawkishly.
Rainswept options lots of damaged characters, individuals with traumatic pasts, some merely hinted at, others deeply explored. And that features our character, Stone, who’s haunted (maybe actually?) by the loss of life of his spouse. So a lot of this game is an exploration of his grief, in literal and metaphorical methods. But what I preferred a lot about that is it didn’t piggyback his grief on the again of the central homicide thriller – they have been distinct, two concurrent threads within the game’s story. It by no means felt low cost, at all times earned.
I additionally actually appreciated simply how a lot care went into giving the victims an id. At the beginning, just like the locals of the city, nearly nothing about these two. But by chatting with everybody, getting the snippets of data every character has, you begin to piece collectively a relationship of monumental complexity. A fractious, difficult relationship, loving but poisonous, the place there aren’t any clear “goodies” or “baddies”, however reasonably two broken individuals making an attempt and failing. Much of that is advised in prolonged flashbacks, the place you play because the couple in vignettes from their previous, and step by step piece collectively their lives. It’s delicate, and infrequently beautifully effectively written.
Also splendid are the little interactions you may have with characters concerning the city. My favorite is the person within the espresso store every morning, who, head sideways on the desk, stares at his mug of tea in a combination of marvel and disbelief. His philosophical musings are an entire pleasure. In this fashion, and some others, the game jogs my memory of Night In The Woods. It follows an identical construction of exploring the identical city over a number of days, your conversations on at some point having an influence on the subsequent. And there’s a number of it, making the city really feel vivid and lived in.
It’s a tragic story, and one which comes with a wholesome variety of content material warnings. But it’s delicate with it, with out ever being cloying or cheesy. And as I stated, it’s additionally a narrative of hope, or the potential of shifting on — or no less than, for some. I’m actually happy I performed this, and I used to be utterly absorbed by the story. I’m not fully positive the thriller’s decision tracked, nevertheless it’s telling how minor part of the entire expertise this grew to become. I dearly want it have been much less annoying to play, not requiring mouse/keyboard controls, after which benefiting from neither. But general the story made the annoyance worthwhile.
