Rain on Your Parade is a game to release your inner mischief-maker

Although there are plenty of games out there that allow people to release their inner mischief-maker, few of them are as simple and enjoyable as Rain on Your Parade.

Rain on Your Parade is a slapstick comedy game that allows players to control a cardboard cloud whose main purpose is to ruin people’s days. The game provides everything players need to ruin the lives of the unsuspecting people below -- except for maniacal laughter, which will no doubt be provided by whoever controls the cloud.

At release, the game will be available on PC through Steam, the Nintendo Switch, and the Xbox One and will cost $14.99. A PlayStation or mobile release has not been announced, but the developers have said that they are both options they are willing to consider.

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According to a press release, players can “play across a wide range of levels while unlocking new abilities and mechanics that get progressively more ridiculous.”

Indeed, there are some levels where players can soak up various liquids such as oil, sludge or even unmarked chemicals in order to complete objectives. Later in the game, players also get the ability to strike lightning, which can scare unsuspecting people out of their hiding places so the cloud can make their lives far worse than if they’d just stood under cover.

Mechanics

Best played with a controller, players will roam around the levels and complete objectives, some mandatory and some optional, and others are hidden objectives. At the end of each level, players are awarded with a new hat that can be equipped in the “Cloud House.”

In addition to a wide variety of hats, the face on the cloud is also customizable. In this neat little feature, players can draw their own faces onto the cloud.

The downside to players’ ability to draw the face of the cloud is that there are few options given to allow for creativity. Players can increase or decrease the thickness of the pen, but there are no color options aside from black, and there may be some hats that obscure some of the drawing area. Luckily, whatever players draw in the square provided can also be seen on the cloud itself, which solves the hat problem as long as players have their preferred hat equipped.

One mechanic which might drive PC players crazy is that the mouse cannot be used in the menu areas. Every part of the game is controlled by the buttons on the keyboard, including menus.

On a controller, things can get tricky depending on what controller players are using. For example, on a PS4 controller, the controls that came up on screen didn’t match the controls that needed to be pressed to do that action. In photo mode, the controls say to “hit X” to move the cloud’s position, but on the PS4 controller, that button was actually the triangle.

Image credit: Unbound Creations

Artistic style

The premise, art and music is really where this game shines. There are few things more enjoyable than watching havoc unfold as your cloud rains on a wedding or people trying to relax at a beach. The chaos that occurs is overstated, which makes it even more hilarious. People will kick things around and knock things over, causing objects to fly around and knock everything else over.

The simplified 3D models of the people and environments are similar to many mobile games. The colors and shapes of the game are simple, but the nature of this style also makes it widely available to those who might not have high-end PCs or consoles.

The music is cheerful and matches the silly nature of the game. The way the developers used sound to influence the hilarity of certain situations is quite clever. Music and sound are used to enhance the humor, which greatly improves the player experience.

Rain on Your Parade is a game that will instantly attract fans of indie games such as Untitled Goose Game or Human Fall Flat. It is a game that will win the hearts of those who love to find hidden things, complete objectives and have a few laughs along the way.

Although April 15 isn’t far away, players who are eager to get their hands on the game can play a demo on Steam before the game launches.

Lead image credit: Unbound Creations