Investigate a strange mystery in Kathy Rain, a point-and-click adventure game with a story that starts out simple but becomes quite dark.
Kathy Rain
Developer: Clifftop Games
Price: $14.99
Platform: PC (reviewed), Mac
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.
When Kathy Rain’s grandfather dies, she returns to her hometown for the funeral and learns that strange things have been happening. Years earlier, her grandfather suffered a strange accident, and no one knows the cause. Determined to find the answer, Kathy begins to investigate and uncovers a darker mystery than anything she could have imagined.
You conduct your investigation in a typical 2D point-and-click adventure style. Objects in the environment can be examined or interacted with, and you can press a key to see everything available. You’ll put some items in your inventory to combine with others or present to characters, and Kathy’s notebook is filled with topics you can ask characters about in conversation. Occasionally, you’ll have dialogue options, but they are usually just different ways to say more or less the same thing.
The majority of the puzzles are straightforward and easy. There are a few clever puzzles and riddles, particularly near the end of the game, but for the most part you’ll play Kathy Rain for the story rather than the gameplay.
Fortunately, the story is quite interesting. Kathy herself might make you pause—I was initially displeased with our sarcastic protagonist, and her apparent edginess grated on me. This isn’t wholly limited to her personality, as one scene partway through the game feels as though it’s present only to show how gritty it is, and is completely unrelated to the rest of the story.
However, everything else fits together well, and the majority of the game handles mature themes well. Kathy’s character development is also a key part of the story. The supporting characters are not as complex, and many serve only to progress the plot, but the mystery kept me intrigued despite my issues with the characters.
At first it seems like a normal crime story, but the more clues you get, the stranger it becomes. Hints of the supernatural creep in, and you’ll find yourself questioning what is going on. The search for answers takes you to several locations, all rendered in detailed pixel art.
By the end you’ll have your answers, or at least most of them. While the main plot is resolved, there are a few loose ends connected to Kathy’s past that aren’t cleared up. The start of the game also had some hints that might have been meant as red herrings, but end up feeling like abandoned foreshadowing.
Nevertheless, the story is interesting and the ending is solid, although it leaves some ambiguity. It is a fairly short game, but as I followed the clues to uncover each piece of the twisted mystery, its conclusion ultimately satisfied me.
The Final Word
Despite a few loose ends and some annoyances, Kathy Rain is an intriguing mystery well worth your time.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
