Rain in many ways reminds me of a new-school twist on Ico. You play as a young boy who’s stumbled into a strange, twisted alternate dimension of mid-20th century Paris, after he chases after an invisible girl in the rain and must now escape this haunted reality with the girl while avoiding shadowy creatures in the torrential downpour. Much of the early to mid-game involves staying outside of the rain and tiptoeing around puddles to avoid loud splashing sounds to sneak past these invincible monsters or luring them with visible dolls and sudden noises to create paths for yourself and your companion. It’s an interesting subversion to the player’s potential discomfort, since you’re safest while invisible but also have to carefully watch and plan your movements because you won’t be able to easily tell what you’re doing (relying on slow and steady footprints) unless you choose to make yourself seen again and risk attack. Fortunately, the girl’s AI doesn’t need constant attention either, as the AI will respond accordingly to your own actions and move/create cover to shield from the rain and provide other distractions when necessary to help you along your way without much hesitation or questionable pathing.

Unfortunately, this approach gets thrown out the window as the game begins to wrap up. From chapter 7 and beyond, the introduced stealth and puzzle combinations give way to pure platforming “run right rapidly” action. While it's not the first time that you’re exposed to chase sequences, the previous chase sequences were spaced far apart enough to where they never got too tedious, and there’s not much of a break between the chases in the last third of the game. By this time, the giant monster chasing you has also somewhat outstayed its welcome, and instead of feeling like this mysterious, malevolent force, it now feels more akin to a DnD mob boss that got revived by a Dungeon Master for one too many cameos after its supposed “death.” As a result, the final moments of the game seem far too unwilling to capitalize on the earlier calculated and thoughtful stealth-puzzle sequences and resort to sluggish and overused escape segments. It’s not a great feeling that a good chunk of the game feels this exhausting to see through to the end, and this weakness is exacerbated considering that the whole game can be beat in less than four hours.

As it stands, I think Rain has some great ideas at play, and a fantastic melancholic yet nostalgic atmosphere from the weathered architecture and warm streetlights in the never-ending storm. I do feel however, that there is a lot of squandered potential, from certain ideas that just aren’t used often enough (such as utilizing more dirty puddles to negate stealth from dirt stains, and deep puddles to force players to cleanse dirt and become invisible once more while creating risk via sudden noises), to a lack of hidden areas that could have been used as a vessel for additional environmental storytelling and potential secrets for those who are willing to explore more, to a somewhat unnoteworthy soundtrack that’s mostly propped by ambient downpour noise. I also question if the white text narration was necessary to tell the story, as I feel like the developers could have fully committed to the minimalist approach and handled the narrative via character gestures and shifts in the eerie surroundings. As pointed out by ToasterNinja, there’s not much replay value to be found either, since the post-game memories added for a new playthrough either add very little backstory or just sum up plot points instead. I suppose you could do worse for PS3 exclusives, and the distinct setting and carefully scripted stealth-puzzles more than do their part to establish memorable moments; I just wish that the game was a fuller and more realized experience with a bit more meat on the bone to really live up to the shadow of the greats it was inspired by.