Rain (video game)

Rain (stylized as rain), known in parts of Asia as Lost in the Rain, is an adventure video game developed by Acquire and Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. The game was revealed at Gamescom and was released as a digital download on the PlayStation Network in 2013. While the digital version is available in all regions, the game's physical disc based release was limited to in Japan, with only Japanese language options, and a Hong Kong and Taiwan release containing English and Traditional Chinese language options. This last version is the only way to acquire an English language copy of the game in physical form, making it a sought after collectible. The game is centred around a novel mechanic whereby the player's character and all enemies are only visible if they are standing in the rain.

Plot
Rain takes place in a town loosely inspired by mid-twentieth century Paris, and follows a young boy. In the opening of the game, he is stuck in bed at home with a fever. During the day he stares out of his window and sees an invisible girl in the rain who is given form by the rain casting a silhouette around her. She stares at him for a brief second before being chased away by something huge and menacing that is also invisible unless the rain gives it a form.

Curious, he follows the two down an alleyway, whereupon exiting through a pair of large doors, the day suddenly turns to night and the town is now deserted, occupied only by strange invisible beasts that roam the streets. The boy also realises that he himself is invisible, and that he and the beasts are only given form by the rain.

With the way back closed, he attempts to find the girl, who is still pursued by the beasts; the one the boy saw from his window is referred to as the Unknown. Using any means to shelter from the rain, the boy evades the creatures that prowl the streets and alleyways, yet the girl proves ever elusive.

After missing his chance to meet the girl at a church that's under renovation, the boy follows her into the grounds of a disused factory and finally makes his presence known to her. They escape together, but neither is able to hear the other's voice. Regardless, they continue on through the town while being pursued by the Unknown.

As the game progresses, the children become aware that each has a visible doppelgänger asleep in their respective homes. The girl attempts to awaken her other self, and while doing so begins to become visible again. But before she can wake her doppelgänger up, she is chased away by the Unknown.

The boy follows, and upon exiting her house, discovers that the town has completely restructured itself into a castle maze-type layout that is afloat on water with no end in sight. He eventually reunites with the girl and the two flee from the ever-pursuing Unknown.

Drawn to a strange light at the edge of the Unknown’s domain, the two arrive in an alleyway with the light seeping in through the very doors they had passed through when entering the world of the night. Exposure to the light suddenly weakens the Unknown. Seeing this the children open both doors, causing the Unknown to collapse upon the ground.

However, they realise they cannot leave as without the rain, they have no physical form. Instead they resolve to drag the Unknown into the light beyond the door at the cost of trapping themselves in the world of night. After they close the doors, the Unknown pushes the door open as he dies and collapses onto the boy, pinning him. Unable to free him, the girl abandons him and heads straight to his home. There she yells at his window in hopes to awaken him. She succeeds, but as the boy becomes visible, the girl is left trapped and alone.

As with the beginning of the game, the ending is illustrated with watercolour painted stills. The boy awakens in his bed the next morning and immediately sets off across town, retracing his steps to the girl’s home. Standing outside below her bedroom window he attempts to awaken her the way she awoke him, and the girl finally appears on her bedroom porch. The game ends with the two reuniting on the street outside the girl's house underneath a rainbow.

Gameplay
Rain is an adventure game which is centred around the novel mechanic of invisibility. The player takes on the role of a young boy who is invisible and can only be seen when standing in the pouring rain. When under canopies, bridges and awnings outside, and also while sheltered indoors, the boy cannot be seen by the player themself nor the enemies that inhabit the world, and can only be tracked by his watery footprints. The invisibility mechanic applies not only to the player's character but also to all enemies within the game.

The player utilizes the visibility of the boy, and other creatures, in the rain to solve various puzzles and tasks throughout the game.

Music
The game's theme song is "A Tale Only the Rain Knows" which is set to the tune of "Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy from Suite bergamasque, and is arranged by the game's composer Yugo Kanno and sung by Connie Talbot.

Reception
The game has received positive reviews in its release. It received an aggregated score of 72/100 on Metacritic based on 77 reviews. Daniel Krupa of IGN rated the game a 7/10, praising some of the game's mechanics but said "Rain creates a distinctive heartbreaking atmosphere, but fails to develop it into a more engrossing experience." Tom Mc Shea of GameSpot gave the game a 7.0 as well, praising the gameplay, music and some of the puzzles, saying "Rain uses chilling atmosphere and a heartfelt story to draw you in to this fantastical world", but criticized some of the mechanics of the puzzles. Brittany Vincent of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 3/5, saying "There's the potential for a beautiful journey here, but Rain seems to be too content to wallow in its melancholy to create any real engaging gameplay." Philip Kollar of Polygon gave the game an 8.5, stating "Rain pulls strong emotion out of its simple mechanics." Christian Donlan from Eurogamer rated the game a 6/10, while praising its lighting and atmosphere, he criticized the poorly-paced story and the repetitive plot, as well as the game for not being challenging. He called the game "a missed opportunity".

During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Rain for "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition".