Honestly, I really like the Danganronpa franchise, so when I found out about the existence of Raincode, I couldn't help but have a smile on my face, I really like this kind of mystery games in which you solve cases, but don't be confused, because Rain Code is not a Danganronpa game, but you can see the inspiration there. In Raincode w´ll play as Yuma Kokohead, a detective in training, one day he wakes up with amnesia and doesn't remember who he is, it´s said that before losing his memories, Yuma made a contract with a goddess of death (shinigami), said goddess will be of great help to us to solve the cases in the game, yeah I know, it sounds very japanese, and you are right.
We´ll move through the streets of a city which doesn´t stop raining, the game does a good job of making us feel part of the experience, I mean, the city gives a dark feeling, we don´t know anything about it and we hardly know people in here. This city in Raincode is isolated from the world, it´s almost impossible to get to it, besides the use of telephones is forbidden, there is no signal or internet either, the city is under the yoke of a strong dictatorship, there is a lot of repression in the city by means of authority figures, don't even think about going against them or you will end up tortured or killed.
In the world of Raincode, detectives play an important role, they are not just detectives, almost as if they were superheroes so I can be understood. To give an example, there are detectives that are called Master Detectives, they have a Forte, a Forte is a special ability that only Master Detectives have, these special abilities can be things like talking to animals, time traveling, reading minds...etc.
The investigations in Raincode are nothing special, it´s basically approaching people or objects in your environment and examining them, in this way you can collect evidence, said evidence in Danganronpa was called ¨Truth Bullets¨ or something like that, they are called ¨Solution Keys¨ here, we will use said evidence later. Doing the investigations is interesting and fun, since the game puts you in situations in which the crime seems impossible to solve, so investigating, getting evidence and connecting everything is really entertaining. Well that's it? Not really, this is where the game gets its own identity and things get very interesting.
In Rain Code, there is a kind of parallel world called Mystery Labyrinth, you are only able to access this world if you have made a contract with a goddess of death (Shinigami). In a few words, a Mystery Labyrinth is a big scenario where the mysteries of the real world take shape, it´s from this world where we´ll have to solve all of the cases from the game, as I said, they seem impossible to solve, until you access the Mystery Labryinth and solve the mystery from the inside. Basically, it is something similar to what Persona 5 does, you visit the internal worlds of people and these places are called "Palaces", it is something similar, but instead of people, they are mysteries.
The Mystery Labyrinths are places where there is no logic, everything is extremely abstract, but this is the part where the game shines, since what you have to do is solve the case on your own. To give an example, in these scenarios you can find people, they are not exactly people from real life, they are people created specifically by this world and in fact they will put you to the test by debating against you.
In these cases, the protagonist has a sword and with said sword you can refute your rival's arguments, specifically with the correct proof, this is why you have to investigate in the first place, to obtain evidence and use them in the labyrinth. You can´t move in this section except laterally or jumping. This can get a bit complicated, because it's not like in Danganronpa that you have time to think, it happens in real time, you take damage if you don't dodge your opponent's arguments, so you have to think in real time while looking for inconsistencies in your opponent's arguments.
There is a section pretty similar to one of the minigames you had to solve in Danganronpa, basically it's about finding the remaining word in a sentence, figuring out which word is will give you a lot of information on the case. In Danganronpa, depending on which game, this game mechanics varied a bit, while in Rain Code, in that section, the Shinigami will be in a bathing suit, stuck in a barrel, said barrel will have several letters floating and we will have to shoot the correct letters to form a word, all of this within a time limit that varies according to the difficulty of the game, I played Raincode on maximum difficulty so my time limit used to be a minute and a half.
There is another game mechanic that is recycling from Danganronpa, whenever a case ends, you´ll have to show everything done in the case through a manga, there will be empty spaces which you´ll have to fill with panels, which means you´ll have to understand everything that happened on the case, if not, you´ll be screwed, that´s why I say it´s better to understand what´s going on instead of just playing randomly. Don´t get me wrong tho, nothing complicated to do this thing, but it´s better if you understand what you are doing.
The story is considerably good, I have my complaints about it but I will reserve them, I´ll only say that in the last chapters, the plot gets crazy, which reminds me a lot of Danganronpa, last chapters is when the plot usually shows its true colors, in this game, last chapters are a roller coaster of plot twists and revelations that don´t stop for a moment. However, the most cool thing about this game, at least for me, are its cases, which are pretty cool, especially a few that I actually liked a lot, they are not perfect but they seem like a good start to me.
Rain code is not a perfect game, but it turned out well considering that is a new IP, still, there are a few things that I´d like to highlight. This game is extremely japanese and it's quite noticeable, even though I'm used to the japanese culture, sometimes, the game gave me a certain cringe and I felt like XD._. but once you get used to all ofthat, you really enjoy the game. What I'm trying to is, maybe some people won´t enjoy Rain code, it's a pretty weird game, but hey, I love that they didn't just make a Danganronpa 4, I appreciate that they make new things, so I don't really think it's a problem within the game, it's more a matter of culture.
One more thing I can talk about is the performance, which is bad sometimes. The game looks blurry, the resolution isn't as good as it should be, let's say, I think it doesn't even reach 1080p in TV mode and let´s not talk about handheld mode because is even worse, but to be honest, I think this is more of a problem because of the Switch and the game compensates for its low resolution with its lighting effects and shadows that are quite good. The bad thing is that the game has several frame drops, it's not something that killed the experience because I'm used to it, but still I can´t deny the poor performance.
Rain Code is not only a game that takes you by the hand a lot, it is also a game that is very narrative driven, which is not bad but sometimes it can get tiring, you could move or do things but instead of that, Rain Code thinks it's a better idea for you to read a lot of text, this also happens in the Mystery Labyrinth, they are supposed to be the strong point of the game, it´s just sad you are not able to move freely in these parts, I feel that the design level is cool, but what's not cool is that the game only lets me move when it pleases. To give an example, this also happens in Persona 5 but at a lower level, I mean, the characters start talking every five seconds to tell you obvious things, thinking that you can't reason on your own, but at least you can move freely for a long time, in Rain Code... it's not like that, you only move when the game feels like it.
There are side activities in the city like getting collectibles and doing side quests, they are good actually, I mean, they are you classic go from point A to point B side mission but they are interesting because of the story and the problems the npc have to go through in the city, some of them are actually kind of depressing.
I don´t want to end this post in a negative way because I liked the game, I really liked the atmosphere of the game, I felt like inside of a noir detective novel or movie, in an unknown city full of dangers, dark and oppressive environments. The mysteries or cases are well elaborated and the story is at a good level, either way, I'm satisfied with the final product.
All of the screenshots were taken by me