Game Name: Kathy Rain
Publisher: Raw Fury
Developer: Clifftop Games
Release Date: May 5th, 2016
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android
Introduction
I was browsing YouTube one night and there was this old looking game that appeared in my feed. It looked quite retro. When looking up Kathy Rain, I noticed that this was a relatively new game. It came out in 2016 but it had that old school point and click vibe. I had to download it. As soon as I could I went on GOG and I downloaded the game for around 20$.
Let us see if this game is any good.
Story
You play the title character Kathy Rain in 1995. You are a student in college and the basic premise is that you want to find out what really happened to your grandfather in 1981.
Kathy Rain Trailer
Gameplay
The one thing that attracted me to this game is that fact that it reminded me of the old school Sierra On-Line point and clicks games like the Police Quest series or Leisure Suit Larry series.
You have an inventory in the form of a pouch. You start off with a few items like cigarettes and a lighter. Then you click around your environment to find what exactly is needed to be done next.
What I appreciated are the cut scenes. You are on your suped-up motorcycle with a moving back drop. You choose your destination and that is it. Unlike Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel where you actually had to drive yourself to your destination.
The voice acting in this game is amazing. Every character had their personalities and that was awesome to see. The soundtrack is also very enjoyable. It is not too annoying like in some games. Even if it would be, you have the option to turn it off.
The graphics for this game is what got me. It is perfect pixel art. It was really awesome to experience. It is amazing to me that so many people still love the old school 8 or 16 bit graphics.
Kathy Rain - Sample Gameplay
Bottomline (Spolier)
In case that you could not tell, I really enjoyed this game.
Other than the positives mentioned above like the voice acting, soundtrack and graphics, I really enjoyed the story. The story is a cross between Nancy Drew meets the X-Files. Some of the characters are sweet while others make you cringe. So the development of the characters were really well done.
I really like the fact that it was set in the 1990's and the way Kathy is dressed matches the era well. Speaking of Kathy, I loved her character. She has that tough attitude but in the end has a heart of gold. I like her no bullshit approach to situations.
Can I say that the voice actress for Kathy sounds exactly like Mila Kunis. There were parts I was really wondering but after some research it was not her, it was Arielle Siegel.
I really enjoyed the puzzles. They were not overly difficult. I did not have to spend hours to figure out what was happening. Most of the puzzles, at least for me, were intuitive.
Most of the game is based on unpredictability, however there were a few things that were predictable. For example the annoying, geek roommate what your character despises but then she grows to like her. This especially comes evident when she helps you throughout the game. Feels like you would see this in a 90's teen movie.
There was a point where I thought that I was stuck and I thought that I had to start the game again. So i vented my frustration on Twitter. To my surprise, I was contacted by the developers (Clifftop Games) to provide to me a save state from a certain point. That was really cool and did not expect that. I ended up needing the save for another reason. Since my Windows machine was dead, I had to reinstall windows. Unfortunately I did not click on the cloud save and my games were saved locally only. But Clifftop Games were to the rescue and provided me a saved game from where I had left off.
*** Tip of the Hat ***
It is weird that after all these years I had not heard about this game. I am glad that I got to play it. Although critics were very favourable to the game, it was not a financial success. Raw Fury has vowed to continue supporting the series. The game does end with the possibility of a second game in the series. I would be really excited to see that.
Due to playing this, I am probably going to play Whispers of a Machine which was released in April 2019. I believe that this is Sci-Fi Detective point and click game. It looks really interesting.
There was one thing that annoyed me a little. The fact that when you load a save, it does not keep your volume settings. I had to always readjust the character volume and lower the music. I know it is not a big deal just slightly inconvenient.
I like Kathy Rain as it was made by an indie developer. I do not think that the big players would ever make a game like this. We need indie developers producing games that are not mainstream. Look at the last XBOX generation, Cuphead was one of the more popular titles on the system. Seems indie developers take their time and make sure things are done right, and that is refreshing to see. Kathy Rain does not reinvent the wheel, but it brought back a model that we may have forgotten but loved.
All in all, I cannot say enough good things about Kathy Rain. It is a game that takes about 6 to 8 hours to finish depending how difficult you find the puzzles. Like the games of old, when you are done, it feels satisfying. It felt like you accomplished something. Some games take 40 hours to finish and they barely achieve that goal. There was a lot of TLC that went into this game and I think it would be worth it to see what they can do with a sequel.
If you are a fan of old point and click games then you owe it to yourself to play Kathy Rain. You will not be disappointed.
Let me know what you think? Did you play it, let us know at the coordinates below.
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