Whoever wrote the description of Rainswept that’s attached to the trailer on YouTube manages not to mention a certain TV show even once, so I’m going to avoid mentioning it by name as well.

Rainswept is an adventure game in which a detective comes to a small town to investigate an apparent murder-suicide. As he digs deeper into the rumours and mysteries surrounding the crime, he discovers that nothing is as it seems and “his own sanity will be pushed to the edge”. Along the way he’ll work with local law enforcement and learn about the locals and their secrets. There’s a demo, about an hour long, that you can try right now.



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Fine trees, small town, crimes and mysteries aside, it doesn’t actually look all that much like the TV show that shall not be named. The trailer suggests dreams might play an important part as well, but there’s nothing to indicate that Rainswept’s Detective Anderson is a a Cooper clone. Lord knows, we don’t need another.

Thimbleweed Park would be the other obvious comparison to make but from the little I’ve played of the demo, Rainswept is a far more modern game. I loved Thimbleweed partly because it was playing with the past but if I end up loving Rainswept it’ll be for entirely different reasons. The art style for one, which has backgrounds to die for only slightly marred by some stiff-armed animations. Those animations are already on a list of things that the devs plan to change or improve before release.

It’s hard to judge the story without playing more, but the demo should give you a good idea of what to expect when the full game comes out later this year. You can find the demo and future development blogs at the itch page. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it.