Kathy Rain is a point & click adventure game made by the Swedish company Clifftop Games, and it’s one of the coziest titles I have ever played – at least the first half of it. It’s set in the 1990s (a time I personally miss very much), and you get to play as the somewhat abrasive, but likable Kathy Rain – coming home to her town of birth to take farewell to a relative. Stuff is not so easy, though. There is some kind of mystery surrounding your grandfather’s death, which you will have to solve to put this part of your life to rest.
The first half of the game is as mentioned above one of the coziest gaming experiences I have ever had. It has this delightful 90s vibe to it – with its X-files-like mystery hanging over the narrative and charming dialogue. It’s just one hell of an introduction to the game that actually lasts for a long while during play. The most welcome, and inviting environments are also part of the early section of the game, which means it’s stacked in its favor versus the second half of Kathy Rain. While I don’t find the second half bad, boring, or anything like that, it does lose some of its lusters, and unfortunately starts to meander on for a bit. This part also got the most head-scratching puzzles, some of which had me completely stumped. Had to look one up on the internet after trying to wrap my head around it for a good while unsuccessfully.
The mystery doesn’t let up though, it’s going to remain a mystery throughout the game, but even this part kinda petered out for me. I guess it mostly had to do with my expectations, I didn’t think it would go down the route it did. I was hoping for something else than we got, but overall, the story was fine. It kept me interested still, and the ending, at least in the director’s cut comes out a lot clearer than compared to the original.
The characters, both Kathy and the ones you meet are high quality, and the dialogue flows without any problems. All the major characters are interesting, even if I wish it could have a little more interaction, aka choice in some dialogue. I guess Kathy is set in her ways, meaning – she’s an already established figure, so picking and choosing what she would say would probably go against the nature of her character.
The visuals are well-made, and it got that classic pixel art style to it, oozing charm all over, especially the indoor locations. I did find that some of the outdoor locations were a bit hit or miss, but nothing that drags down the overall impression. The music is also fine, unfortunately, it didn’t have any tracks that stuck with me. It worked, though, and sets the mood for the different locations, and situations you get into.
While not the best point & click adventure game I have ever played thanks to the second half, but merits where it is due, to the incredibly charming beginning. I will, of course, recommend this game to all adventure lovers, even if the second half is a bit lacking. It’s still worth a play-through since at the end of the day it scratch that point & click itch.
Thanks for reading.
/Thomas
Tom's Gaming Blog 