SPEARMASTER ON TOPPP
This review contains spoilers
Rain World was already in my top fifteen games of all time, but somehow Downpour managed to bump it all the way up to the number 3 spot. Not only does it pratically double the amount of content by adding new campaigns, creatures, gamemodes, music, features, and co-op, but all of it is consistently high-quality, often surpassing the base game. It's been ages since I've been so engrossed in a game that I physically can't stop playing it.
The only reason it loses half a star is because of the problems base Rain World already had, but I can barely think of any problems with this DLC. The new campaigns are extremely fun and varied, the added story and lore are fantastic, and the challenge, expedition, and jolly co-op modes add endless replayability. I've heard complaints that the new slugcats are too wacky and powerful to fit the brutal realism of the base game, but I honestly think the opposite, and instead chose to view each slugcat as their own self-contained game. Yes, Survivor and Monk were prey in a hostile ecosystem because that fit the realistic theme of their campaigns, so why can't Spearmaster be a messenger, or Artificer a warrior, or Gourmand a family man? I see no problem with these characters being different from each other, as it offers unique perspectives on this incredibly strange world.
To sum up, I love Rain World: Downpour, and I whole-heartedly think you will too. It's peak.
Here's my ranking of the five new slugcats from worst to best. I enjoyed all of them, but some are worse than others.
5. Spearmaster
Definitely my least favourite campaign, mostly due to having to transport a pearl for the majority of the game, which takes up one of your hands. This removes duel-wielding and makes you constantly have to babysit an item, which makes combat significantly less fun. However, I still very much enjoyed this campaign for its infinite spear shenanigans, interesting iterator lore, fun food mechanic, and the addition of the Looks to the Moon area.
4. Artificer
Unlike Spearmaster, there isn't anything about Artificer I outright dislike, she's just this low by default because the other slugcats are even better. Artificer's campaign is the shortest by far, but it's still a blast to play as an explosive, scavenger-hunting warrior slugcat who, unlike several other characters, isn't driven by a plot revolving around the iterators, but instead just wants revenge for her pups. Love her for the great movement and abilities, fun karma system, and very unique ending.
3. Rivulet
SPEED. This slugcat activates my monkey brain with its sheer mobility. You spend half the campaign zipping through the map at mach fuck, then you get an item that increases your speed even further. My only real problem with Rivulet is that its kinda broken. The short cycles act as a perfect drawback for the first half, but then they're removed and you gain the rarefaction cell, so now Rivulet is just fast, with no catch. It's funny though so I'll give it a pass. Also Submerged Superstructure is goated.
2. Gourmand
Fun as hell. Gourmand probably has the strangest moveset in the game, but that's why I love him so much. Crafting and summoning items, rolling to deflect spears, insanely high spear damage, WWE body slamming, and getting exhausted from doing anything (he's literally me fr). Gourmand's story is very simple, but it's cute ending and fun framing device make it worth it. The exhaustion mechanic can be a bit much sometimes, but I like how it encourages careful planning, rather than aggressively charging into combat. This is also the campaign that took by far the longest, as I was going for the food quest ending, so I got lots of mileage out of this slugcat.
1. Saint
Everybody saw this coming. Not only is Saint extremely fun to play with their tongue mechanic and echo scavenger hunt, not only do they have two of the best regions in the game (Silent Construct and Undergrowth), not only is the new snow-covered world beatiful, not only is the environmental story-telling expertly crafted, not only does it add tons of fantastic lore implications, but this campaign introduces STRAWBERRY LIZARDS. Truly the slugcat of all time.
The only reason it loses half a star is because of the problems base Rain World already had, but I can barely think of any problems with this DLC. The new campaigns are extremely fun and varied, the added story and lore are fantastic, and the challenge, expedition, and jolly co-op modes add endless replayability. I've heard complaints that the new slugcats are too wacky and powerful to fit the brutal realism of the base game, but I honestly think the opposite, and instead chose to view each slugcat as their own self-contained game. Yes, Survivor and Monk were prey in a hostile ecosystem because that fit the realistic theme of their campaigns, so why can't Spearmaster be a messenger, or Artificer a warrior, or Gourmand a family man? I see no problem with these characters being different from each other, as it offers unique perspectives on this incredibly strange world.
To sum up, I love Rain World: Downpour, and I whole-heartedly think you will too. It's peak.
Here's my ranking of the five new slugcats from worst to best. I enjoyed all of them, but some are worse than others.
5. Spearmaster
Definitely my least favourite campaign, mostly due to having to transport a pearl for the majority of the game, which takes up one of your hands. This removes duel-wielding and makes you constantly have to babysit an item, which makes combat significantly less fun. However, I still very much enjoyed this campaign for its infinite spear shenanigans, interesting iterator lore, fun food mechanic, and the addition of the Looks to the Moon area.
4. Artificer
Unlike Spearmaster, there isn't anything about Artificer I outright dislike, she's just this low by default because the other slugcats are even better. Artificer's campaign is the shortest by far, but it's still a blast to play as an explosive, scavenger-hunting warrior slugcat who, unlike several other characters, isn't driven by a plot revolving around the iterators, but instead just wants revenge for her pups. Love her for the great movement and abilities, fun karma system, and very unique ending.
3. Rivulet
SPEED. This slugcat activates my monkey brain with its sheer mobility. You spend half the campaign zipping through the map at mach fuck, then you get an item that increases your speed even further. My only real problem with Rivulet is that its kinda broken. The short cycles act as a perfect drawback for the first half, but then they're removed and you gain the rarefaction cell, so now Rivulet is just fast, with no catch. It's funny though so I'll give it a pass. Also Submerged Superstructure is goated.
2. Gourmand
Fun as hell. Gourmand probably has the strangest moveset in the game, but that's why I love him so much. Crafting and summoning items, rolling to deflect spears, insanely high spear damage, WWE body slamming, and getting exhausted from doing anything (he's literally me fr). Gourmand's story is very simple, but it's cute ending and fun framing device make it worth it. The exhaustion mechanic can be a bit much sometimes, but I like how it encourages careful planning, rather than aggressively charging into combat. This is also the campaign that took by far the longest, as I was going for the food quest ending, so I got lots of mileage out of this slugcat.
1. Saint
Everybody saw this coming. Not only is Saint extremely fun to play with their tongue mechanic and echo scavenger hunt, not only do they have two of the best regions in the game (Silent Construct and Undergrowth), not only is the new snow-covered world beatiful, not only is the environmental story-telling expertly crafted, not only does it add tons of fantastic lore implications, but this campaign introduces STRAWBERRY LIZARDS. Truly the slugcat of all time.
Adds everything I wanted and more to the base game
Rain World is one of the most beautiful, complicated, absurdly long, difficult, lonely, and incredible experiences I've had in games.
It's also nearly impossible to talk about a review for because it really is best experienced blindly. And it's also tricky because you need to actually need to persevere past that initial learning curve as it's easy to abandon if you just give up on trying to survive its cruel and vicious world. But it's an outstanding game and I can't recommend it enough; it will however test your patience and you will die a lot.
Downpour is also the single best DLC I have ever seen in any video game; it expands so much on the original content in every single way that it does things I never expected it to be able to do and fleshes out so much more of the world. Outstanding work of art. I love ruffles
Played around 160 hours on Switch with base game, then around 150 hours replaying it and for the additional campaigns on PC with Downpour.
It's also nearly impossible to talk about a review for because it really is best experienced blindly. And it's also tricky because you need to actually need to persevere past that initial learning curve as it's easy to abandon if you just give up on trying to survive its cruel and vicious world. But it's an outstanding game and I can't recommend it enough; it will however test your patience and you will die a lot.
Downpour is also the single best DLC I have ever seen in any video game; it expands so much on the original content in every single way that it does things I never expected it to be able to do and fleshes out so much more of the world. Outstanding work of art. I love ruffles
Played around 160 hours on Switch with base game, then around 150 hours replaying it and for the additional campaigns on PC with Downpour.