Rainswept is a game that tests your ability to deal with tragic backstories on the regular. Main character, tragic backstory. Secondary character, tragic backstory. Random pedestrian on the street, tragic backstory. It’s like a teenage CW drama met up with a Lifetime movie of the week and had an ugly baby they put up for adoption promptly.
The Steam reviews involved with this game are utterly glowing so we must have played something different. I wanted to like Rainswept a lot, but it failed to deliver on many levels. If you don’t know me well,
1. how dare you and
2. mysteries are my bread and butter.
I’ve always loved a good detective game since I was a tiny human so when I saw Rainswept’s premise and art style I was beyond excited.
Rainswept is a detective point and click where you play as Detective Stone. Stone is investigating the deaths of Chris and Diane, a troubled couple that just recently moved into a new town. It appears as if it was a murder/suicide but Stone believes there is something else that happened. Stone is a troubled detective, he’s seeing visions and can’t sleep very well. He has that wonderful mixture of five o’clock shadow, cigarette smoke, trenchcoat, and angst we all love from private eyes.
The majority of the game is played as Stone, but you’ll occasionally participate in flashbacks of the deceased’s lives (always with some flimsy explanation as to how you know this information) where you’ll play as them. My favorite excuse for a flashback is when Stone finds a photo and it thankfully has extensive details of what happened the night the photo was taken written on the back. You know, like we all did in the 90’s.
I loved the game at the outset. The variety of the tertiary characters in the town was interesting, the art style was minimalist but engaging, and I adored the beginning of the mystery. It’s unfortunate that it had to take such a turn, but as the story progresses the plot holes became the size of potholes in Indiana. The characters begin to break down becoming two dimensional platforms for tragic backstories that feel like you’re being emotionally manipulated into caring for a story that is losing momentum. The writing feels like they tried to tie everything up too fast even though the game itself feels like its pacing is dragging past the quarter mark.
The gameplay is so minimal it borders on visual novel territory which creates an issue since the game relies heavily on a story that is not very well crafted. When your story is in prime focus, the minute errors will become more evident. There are not really any puzzles and the interactions are pretty standard fare from section to section. Go to an area listed in your journal, interview the people there, gather any clues, and then go to next area. Rinse and repeat.
Dialogue between characters over time weakens. Interactions were lively and engaging with lots of quirky townsfolk ala Twin Peaks, but you can only have so many interactions with the same people saying essentially the same thing before it becomes dry. Gameplay really doesn’t engage you because the amount of things you have to do are so few. It becomes a boring trek towards a climax that feels like you have to suspend all your disbelief.
It felt that they used dark subject matter to garner more positive reviews. Dark subject matters need to be brought to light but these subjects should be done so in a graceful way with purpose. Rainswept feels like it slaps them on characters in order to serve as plot motivators and nothing more.
That being said there are some characters that walk away from this not looking like two dimensional trains on their way to the end game. Officer Blunt, detective Stone’s partner, is a well rounded and likeable individual. There is a coffee shop owner that frequently discusses aspects of the case with you that I enjoyed. Its moments like these that again show the potential of the game lying just beneath the surface.
The audio and art are what really drive this game. They fit the game well. As previously mentioned the art style is just beautiful to look at, so full of color and life in stark contrast to its subject matter. They serve the story well not drawing away attention from the writing but rather breaking the character’s down to their basics. Breaking the very atmosphere down to its basics. It felt like the art and audio understood that this was going to be a game about deconstructing these people’s lives and mimicked that in its approach.
The overall dislike that I feel for the game and the criticisms may feel unwarranted but when you’re playing up a story you have to really solidify the details…particularly when it’s a mystery. True crimes may not have neat reasoning and clear guidelines but fictional crimes typically do in the genre. You have to be prepared as a mystery writer for the audience to call you out if they see inconsistencies. Rainswept feels like a beautiful but rushed mess that I can only recommend on sale.
If you want to check it out for yourself the Steam link is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/772290/Rainswept/
Pros:
-Great audio
-Great visuals
Cons:
-Terrible story
-no replay value
-poor mechanics
3/10
Jess Playin' 