Rain Project
- June 3, 2018
- Kirisame Jump
Get on Steam"Rain Project" is a free-to-play precision platformer game featuring Touhou characters. Players take on the role of Kirisame Marisa, navigating through challenging levels with unique mechanics and abilities while battling enemies and bosses. The game boasts beautiful hand-drawn art and animation, delivering a captivating aesthetic experience in this fan-made Touhou title.
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Reviews
- The game features beautiful pixel art and a captivating soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
- Boss fights are challenging and well-designed, providing a sense of accomplishment when defeated.
- The story is engaging, especially for fans of the Touhou series, and offers a unique backstory for the character Sanae.
- The game suffers from frustrating controls, lack of controller support, and unchangeable key bindings, making gameplay cumbersome.
- There are numerous bugs and glitches that can lead to unfair deaths, particularly during boss fights.
- Level design can be complex and confusing, with few save points and no map, making navigation difficult.
- music23 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to create a calming atmosphere, with many noting its emotional impact during gameplay. While it features a mix of original compositions and remixes from the Touhou series, some tracks are considered forgettable, though the dynamic changes during boss fights are appreciated. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as one of the game's standout elements, enhancing the experience despite some gameplay shortcomings.
“The music was incredible and the boss fights were fun and well designed.”
“Music of this game is just so beautiful, made me cry a bit the first time I played.”
“A small touch that I really appreciate is how during boss fights the music gradually changes to fit the fight, something you don't see games do often.”
“The music is one of the saving graces of this game, and I feel like I should mention that, but even so, there's a lot of forgettable tracks.”
“While mostly remixes of songs from the series, there's enough unique feeling to the music that I can enjoy grooving to it.”
“One song may be pretty quiet while the next will blare in your ear, and sometimes that can happen within the same song.”
- gameplay16 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The gameplay is marred by numerous small issues that accumulate to create a frustrating experience, despite some solid elements like challenging boss fights and appealing visuals. While the controls are generally good, inconsistencies in hitboxes and problematic mechanics detract from the overall enjoyment, making it feel incomplete. Although the game has potential with its unique ideas and references, it ultimately struggles to deliver a polished and cohesive gameplay experience.
“While by any means that's not a major game, it's solid enough in gameplay and has just the right feeling of balancing multiple elements, like storytelling and visual/audio presentation.”
“Gameplay (outside of boss fights) is pretty good for the most part.”
“The gameplay ends up being mostly a platformer until you get to boss battles, where you have mostly just your jump and move, but get a few more abilities as you progress through fighting the main bosses.”
“The gameplay has a lot of little problems which eventually compound on each other to make the game incredibly frustrating.”
“There's inconsistent hitboxes, attacks that you literally have no way of dodging, and game mechanics that shouldn't even be there.”
“If I was going to reduce Rain Project to its gameplay, I could not give it a thumbs-up by any means.”
- story15 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The story is generally well-received, praised for its calm and melancholic atmosphere, and effectively utilizes elements from the Touhou canon, particularly focusing on the backstory of Sanae Kochiya. While the narrative is simple and offers good references for fans, some players found the plot confusing and the side quests unfulfilling. Overall, it is considered an endearing fan-game that enriches the lore of the Touhou universe, despite some gameplay shortcomings.
“The pixel art and soundtrack are both good and set a calm and melancholy sort of atmosphere for a story that uses one of the many vague areas of Touhou's canon to good effect.”
“Also love how the game is a backstory for Sanae; if you love the lore of Touhou and/or just Touhou in general, this isn't too bad of a buy.”
“It is an endearing fan-game delving into the origin story of my favorite Touhou character.”
“While by any means that's not a major game, it's solid enough in gameplay and has just the right feeling of balancing multiple elements, like storytelling and visual/audio presentation.”
“Doing unimaginative fetch quests for no-name NPCs that amount to nothing but an achievement wasn't much fun, either, so I gave up on that really quick.”
“Confusing plot and side quests.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and distinct art style, reminiscent of other popular titles like Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight. Players appreciate the charming pixel graphics and excellent artwork, particularly for spell cards, although some feel the overall design could be more engaging. The visuals, combined with a pleasant soundtrack, contribute positively to the game's appeal, despite some critiques regarding gameplay.
“The visuals are beautiful, the music is perpetually wonderful, and the controls are tighter than vinyl pants on a hot day.”
“The game is beautiful, with nice visuals and audio, and seems well made.”
“The music is nice and not overwhelming, and the pixel graphics are easy on the eyes while still being pretty.”
“The graphics are bland in design and aesthetic.”
“The art style of the game and boss art was very distinct, but I really wanted to see the areas and characters of 'Mountain of Faith' recreated, seeing as it's my favorite Touhou game.”
“The animation and art style remind me of 'Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight', which was the reason I bought this game in the first place, but it still feels lacking.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's pixel art and soundtrack effectively create a calm and melancholic atmosphere, enhancing the storytelling within the often vague realms of Touhou's canon. Reviewers note that this level of atmospheric depth is rare among Touhou games, making it a standout experience.
“Very few Touhou games are this atmospheric and melancholic in the mood of the world that's painted for you.”
“The pixel art and soundtrack are both good and set a calm and melancholy atmosphere for a story that uses one of the many vague areas of Touhou's canon to good effect.”
“The game fails to create a compelling atmosphere, leaving players feeling disconnected from the world.”
“Despite the interesting premise, the atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to engage players.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players highlight the game's beautiful music as a significant emotional element, with some expressing that it moved them to tears during their first playthrough. The emotional impact is further enhanced by the gameplay mechanics, which create a sense of tension and vulnerability.
“The music of this game is just so beautiful; it made me cry a bit the first time I played.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with players reporting numerous bugs and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay, making it feel nearly impossible despite the game's manageable difficulty.
“This game is really a pain in the ass. I mean, it's not too hard if you remember every spell card, but the bugs and glitches make the game very hard, almost impossible!”
“The stability issues in this game are frustrating. Frequent crashes and glitches ruin the experience.”
“I can't enjoy the game because it keeps freezing and crashing. The lack of stability is a major problem.”
