Rain World expansion adding new slugcats and areas

Those adorable slugcats will return with friends in an expansion for Rain World. Named Downpour, the add-on will include ten new regions with thousands of maps, five new slugcats with their own abilities and stories, and two new modes. I’m certainly interested in the Safari mode which will let us poke around biomes and play as different creatures. Check out the trailer below.

Downpour incorporates content from More Slugcats, which was originally to be a massive mod. It expands the world a massive amount, with ten regions spread across thousands of screens, including new hazardous weather conditions. Because life as a slugcat wasn’t hard enough already.

Five new playable species of slugcat are adapted to this expanded world, including the aquatic rivulet which can breathe underwater, the mouthless spearmaster which pulls needles from its body to fight and feed, and the saint with a long prehensile tongue. Each has their own storyline, set at a different time.

The new Challenge mode will be yer usual ‘survive this horrible arena’ situation, while Safari mode will let you revisit areas to enjoy the little simulated ecosystems—and play as other critters to mess with them. Nice diorama you have here, be a shame if a horrible ball of tendrils dropped by.

“It’s been five long years since the release of Rain World, and our fans have been beyond patient,” said James Therrien, co-founder of developers Videocult. “We hope to give them something really special here, which will vastly expand the universe in new and exciting ways, tell incredible new stories, and give players more control of their experience. It’s time to kick-off a new era of Rain World, from drips and drops to a downpour.”

For now, check out Rain World: Downpour’s Steam page for more info. Yes, new publishers Akupara Games (taking over from Adult Swim) confirmed on Twitterit will cost money.

In our 2017 Rain World review, Brendy said the explore-o-survival game is “equal parts astounding and hands-tearing-out-your-hair frustrating”. Subsequent patches did tweak some of that frustration, a bit. But as a whole, Rain World is a game which really has lingered in the back of my head.