Rainswept Review
Release Date: July 24th, 2020
Developer: 2Awesome Studio
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PC
Price: $9.99
Murder-mysteries have always had a sort of captivating nature about them that can cause us to get incredibly invested in cases we have no involvement in. It's fascinating to think about the psychological aspects of what can drive someone to take the life of another, but do so in a way that's also so premeditated that top experts, investigators, and detectives even have trouble deciphering just exactly what it is that happened, and, more importantly, WHO was the culprit behind it all. In Rainswept, you'll play as Detective Michael Stone as he travels to the small town of Pineview to help out the local police in what may *look* like a simple murder-suicide scene, but when the layout of the bodies and the gunshots and eye-witnesses start to not add up, it ends up becoming something much deeper and more mysterious than what it looks like on the surface. Rainswept does a good job at making you feel like a detective as you go throughout its adventure complemented by music that perfectly fit every scenario and make the world glow, but it's a slow burn as you make your way to the bottom of things.
While Rainswept insists it's an adventure game, there's less of a sense of adventure with its presentation, progression, and mechanics. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but those expecting something a little more fast-paced like an adventure would be will end up disappointed as Rainswept right away feels like half visual novel, half point-and-click. As the detective, players will go around crime scenes and interrogate people from all over the town of Pineview as he assists police - who happen to not agree with the detective's work and insist they've got it under control despite coming to conclusions before having any hard evidence - and will spend the bulk of their time examining key items from location to location and talking to any potential witnesses or bystanders in the interim. It's a simplistic approach to the gameplay but with the writing being as good as it is it doesn't necessarily hinder the overall experience, which is a good thing. Gameplay might get repetitive quick for most, but everyone has their own kind of flare and personality to them that feels authentic in the way you'd expect real people to be, with everyone having their own sort of quirk or appeal to them. These attributes mostly make for an entertaining time throughout your playthrough as you speak with townsfolk and respond in a variety of ways that gives more player freedom, despite its linearity. Most conversations will have choices, and most scenes in which you'll investigate will leave up to you what it is you think would be important to look at, as not everything is noteworthy. All of these choices, as you can imagine, will shape the way your game progresses as you unfold a mystery for an act of crime in a place that hasn't seen anything like this in years.
Because of its minimal art style, nothing every feels too overbearing on the eyes and goes with the overall straightforward direction of Rainswept's creative choice, and this also makes for an easy load on Switch's hardware. Whether playing in TV mode or handheld mode, Rainswept looks crisp taking full advantage of every screen it’s on, giving an almost scrapbook look as the mostly polygonal and shape-focused direction of its aesthetic seamlessly goes from scene to scene. Simplicity is a big theme with Rainswept, as also the controls are intuitive with only a few buttons needed to run and interact with the environment around you. The only issue I found is that Rainswept lends itself nicely to being a handheld experience, and due to the simplicity of the game I would have assumed touch-screen support would be here to navigate menus, examine things, and even play the game, but there is none here. I usually don't care much for touchscreen support in games as I'm not a mobile game enthusiast, but something about Rainswept felt appropriate for it, as most point-and-click games tend to have a simplistic approach, swapping a point-and-click for a tap-and-swipe, but effectively accomplishing the same thing.
Its geometric landscape is taken advantage of by providing a wide color palette to set the tone of each scene Detective Michael Stone finds himself in, with bright tones, neons, darker shades, and everything in between used to set the stage as you travel and make your way through Rainswept's noir narrative. It's a gripping story where the writing takes center stage to truly be the driving force of the entire game itself, as it can unfortunately feel so slow to the point it puts you to sleep. If you're a fan of the slow-burn style of storytelling, Rainswept has everything you need for a solid murder-mystery game that's simple enough that anyone can play the game no matter what age (reading comprehension required, obviously), but it does suffer from the occasional tropes and clichés you usually see in the genre when something needs to be explained or needing to occur just to move along the gameplay and story in an "okay, whatever" sort of way rather than anything meaningful, profound, or truly linked from twist to twist.
Overall, I think one of the most impressive things about Rainswept is the feeling of actually being a detective thanks to the tons of things you can inspect from crime scene to crime scene, and the most interesting part being that not everything needs to be inspected, and not every conversation needs to have a response or even be initiated, though by being more loose this way it will affect the outcome of your story and cause the player to be less efficient as a detective. The various locations you'll find yourself in throughout Pineview grasp a large view of a beautifully crafted world between cities, towns, more lush areas, followed by the gritty dark moments in alleys and more. The story overall is gripping enough with a wide range of characters that have enough personality to make them stand out, and while some moments may seem cliché, overall Rainswept does a good job at being a murder-mystery adventure worth sinking your teeth into, though it may not be for everyone as it's more on the simplistic side with a humble 2D side-scrolling navigation and basic point-and-click interactions.
PROS:
Its minimal art style doesn't detract from the overall experience, and instead adds a bit of charm to it instead
Very well written, with optional choices and responses throughout
A must play for murder-mystery fans
CONS:
It's definitely a slow burn, though some may appreciate the more steady approach
While not entirely a con, some may feel Rainswept's basic point-and-click approach and linear nature may cause it to become boring over a period of time
Thank you to 2Awesome Studio for providing us a copy of Rainswept for the purposes of this review