A lo-fi psycho-thriller romance adventure set in '90s Tokyo.
My next appointment during PAX East was at the Ukiyo Games booth. They had quite a few games from other companies like Mina The Hollower. I have put Mina The Hollower through its paces so I was at the Ukiyo booth to check out a different game. This game was called Rain98 and I didn’t know what to expect going into it.
At the start of the demo, we jump right into things with an unknown girl. It appears that she is debated over killing herself via hanging, and then something crazy happens. We get send back in time, to 1998 with the same woman, only younger, named Reina. She doesn’t believe that we came from the future at first. She lets us stay in her apartment, if she can put us to work. Work involves cleaning her apartment and doing odd jobs. Rain98 really feels like a graphic novel to me with the interactions between the main character and Reina as well as the different curveballs the game throws at you.
There are quite a few mini games in Rain98 and I was wasn’t expecting them at all. One game has you filling gotchapon capsules for money. You need to work to pay Reina as well as keep her fed. Keeping her happy and full will keep her from getting upset and you don’t want to piss her off. You’ll have to make her feel at ease at least 100 times and it won’t be as easy as just working for her. We did her laundry in the demo and then we walked home with her in the rain. I believe the way we made her feel at ease was grabbing an umbrella and keeping her dry. It made her feel like someone cared. It’s going to be interesting to see just how many different ways we have to help Reina and will we be able to get back to our time?
You'll have to play the game when it comes out as I don't want to spoil too much of the story for you!