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Kathy Rain - Director's Cut

taxalot

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https://www.kathyraingame.com




https://af.gog.com/game/kathy_rain?as=1649904300
https://af.gog.com/game/kathy_rain_directors_cut?as=1649904300

Never heard of it. Screenshots look okay-ish, and so does the premise.

Description
About: Kathy Rain tells the compelling story of a strong-willed college girl with a knack for detective work and a Harley who returns to her hometown after being gone since childhood. Set in the 90’s, Kathy starts investigating a local mystery and the legacy of her recently deceased grandfather. As she follows a trail of clues he left behind, questions emerge… What was Joseph Rain really looking for that night all those years ago? What turned him into a mere shell of a man, confined to a wheelchair? What secret did a suicidal young artist take with her to the grave, and why are so many people in Conwell Springs going mad? The truth is dark and sinister…
  • 320x240 (4:3) resolution with crisp pixel art graphics
  • 4,000+ lines of dialogue
  • Full English voice acting directed by Wadjet Eye Games' Dave Gilbert
  • Original soundtrack
  • 40+ hand-drawn environments
  • Compelling narrative with an eerie plot set in the 90's

9e8a15a0e59f165c6477e1a0389dc7523505db97b556f19796cf799adace00dd_product_card_screenshot_600_2x.jpg

585cac35e3cd61c0508ecd0872136806ffe6850ccecba05c56ba3e59c4bdacb4_product_card_screenshot_600_2x.jpg

b12647bf72ce646e507fd92fa2a4fc10d705a3db0c4c942e6e02294764d10648.jpg


Any one knows anything about it ?
 
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bertram_tung

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looks heavily influenced by blackwell minus the paranormal stuff....even down to hiring dave gilbert for voice acting!

that said, it looks awesome, so I'll give it a shot! just purchased it from gog. thanks for the heads up

Got that high feeling every time a new decent looking adventure game releases. No other genre does this for me
 
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Jaesun

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This is............................................................................. mildly interesting. I like the whole 90's setting and the girl seems cool. Art looks great too.

I'm too poor right now. Maybe have to wait for a sale.
 

bertram_tung

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This is............................................................................. mildly interesting. I like the whole 90's setting and the girl seems cool. Art looks great too.

I'm too poor right now. Maybe have to wait for a sale.

Aw man I'll send you the game. Just tell me how. Make Adventure Games Great Again!
 

Jaesun

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This is............................................................................. mildly interesting. I like the whole 90's setting and the girl seems cool. Art looks great too.

I'm too poor right now. Maybe have to wait for a sale.

Aw man I'll send you the game. Just tell me how. Make Adventure Games Great Again!

:D Keep up the impressions as you play this. Curious what you think of it.
 

Crooked Bee

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Played it last night. It's good and I'm enjoying it. The voice acting is mostly decent, too, though over the top at times.

But it's also very easy - more akin to something like Fran Bow in terms of difficulty than even to Wadjet Eye's games like Technobabylon. Maybe similar to Blackwell too, dunno, it's been a while. Essentially, it's a casual adventure game with good aesthetics and, ahem, "production values" (for a game with this kind of retro style). Also yeah, it's clearly Blackwell- and Jane Jensen-influenced. The supernatural stuff feels just as silly as in Gray Matter, too! It definitely doesn't reach the same level of quality as GK, though.

Basically, so far I'd say that if you're looking for an enjoyable way to kill a few hours, this is a good game. If you're looking for good puzzles or just any sort of challenge, you won't find that here. It's nu-adventure game school of design through and through.
 

MRY

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But it's also very easy - more akin to something like Fran Bow in terms of difficulty than even to Wadjet Eye's games like Technobabylon.
Incredibly, the only* negative reviews I've seen have complained that it's too easy to get stuck. :decline:

(* There is also one negative one from a reviewer concerned with the game's depiction of women, which seems odd to me since this looks like a You Go Girl! game, but apparently there is some edgy stuff.)
 

Crooked Bee

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I actually just beat the game and encountered 1 (one) actual puzzle! Maybe they got stuck on that one. (Which I believe can also be brute-forced if you have no idea what you're doing.)

That puzzle aside though, I firmly believe it's impossible to get stuck in this game if you have at least some rudimentary experience with the genre. All possible actions are laid out crystal clear and never involve anything non-obvious, and even if you happen to do something wrong, the game explicitly hints at the right solution.
 

MRY

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I actually just beat the game and encountered 1 (one) actual puzzle! Maybe they got stuck on that one. (Which I believe can also be brute-forced if you have no idea what you're doing.)
High Def Digest: "Later in the game a puzzle of epic proportions presents itself, as genius as it is frustrating."
RPG Fan: "Unfortunately, there are also a couple of puzzles that I never would have solved if the developers had not provided me with a walkthrough."
Nerdy But Flirty: "The puzzles in Kathy Rain are completely logical, for the most part. I only had to check hints in the provided walkthrough a few times. . ."
Steam Review: "The actual gameplay consists of solving puzzles. I found them to be quite challenging. . ."

EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!
 

Crooked Bee

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I refuse to believe those aren't made-up quotes. "Epic proportions" to describe a puzzle any proper adventure game would sneer at, and one you can brute-force in a few minutes even if you're dumb as bricks, haha.

(Seriously, though, I know I can be elitist when it comes to difficulty sometimes, but while I can understand people complaining about the puzzles in the Deponia games - even though I disagree with them - I can't help but wonder if stuff like what you quoted is for real. Fran Bow and Kathy Rain are the two most straightforward adventure games I've played recently. I'd put them maybe one small notch above Telltale.)
 

MRY

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So, rather oddly the game has pretty weak reviews on GOG.com, including one that says "[t]he gameplay style is nearly identical to any of the previous titles using AGS, such as the Blackwell Series or the Chzo Mythos." I like the random shout-out to the Chzo Mythos, but . . . WTF? The Chzo games had deaths and walking-dead scenarios, one of them was a parser game. I don't really understand the comparison, nor do I understand the divide that would cause this game to have such initially weak reviews on GOG in comparison to other WEG titles.
 

Aeschylus

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(Seriously, though, I know I can be elitist when it comes to difficulty sometimes...
I would hope you wouldn't need such a caveat around here. Wanting actual puzzles that make you stop for more than 5 seconds in an adventure game hardly makes you elitist.
 

Crooked Bee

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Eh, that was just rhetorical on my part, for the purpose of comparison with much harder adventure games like Deponia. Should've used a different word, I guess.
 

JudasIscariot

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Set in the 90’s, Kathy starts investigating a local mystery and the legacy of her recently deceased grandfather. As she follows a trail of clues he left behind, questions emerge… The truth is dark and sinister…

To be honest, I think the scene where the estranged protagonist talks to a family member is a trope that's used in a lot of movies and books. I swear I've seen this kind of scene hundreds of times...
 

Sizzle

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Played this for a few hours, but quickly got bored and uninstalled it.

The story and characters are really dull - the protagonist has very little motive to do what she does (and even comes out and says it herself a couple of times), and the "I'm, like, so bored at college, so why the fuck shouldn't I explore the dark secrets of this little town?" gets old fast.

Even from what little of the game I've seen, it's obviously trying to pay homage to Gabriel Knight, but does so in a very watered down way - Kathy will comment on what we're supposed to do next all the time, so all the "puzzles" can be solved without any hassle - or thought - whatsoever.
 

DeepOcean

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Kathy will comment on what we're supposed to do next all the time, so all the "puzzles" can be solved without any hassle - or thought - whatsoever.
Yeah, typical Nu-adventure game garbage.
 

JarlFrank

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So I started playing this and... it's far too early for any proper first impressions, but one thing that left a positive impression on me is:

PROPER SCALING OF CHARACTER SPRITES

You know how in games running on the AGS engine, which is most (all?) of Wadjet Eye's games, your character kinda clashes with the background because when you move into the distance, the sprite's resolution changes?

This game doesn't do that. The distant sprites are way more pixellated than the close up sprites, it actually scales properly and looks like an actual real 1990s game.

This is great.

EDIT:
First impression number two:
So this is totally inspired by Gabriel Knight. Investigative main character who goes out to check on some mystery relating to his/her ancestors? Check.
A mystery surrounding your grandpa, and you start out by visiting your grandma? Check.
A graveyard seems to be one of the major locations in the game, and there's a definitive mystical/religious bent to the game's atmosphere? Check.

The beginning seems almost like a straight clone of GK. You even drive a motorcycle! Let's see what the game's going to do with that premise.
 
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MRY

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You can fix that issue in other WEG titles by switching from D3D mode to DDraw mode (run winsetup.exe). I believe newer versions of AGS allow for proper scaling even in D3D mode.
 

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