If there is one great thing amongst the many flaws of the modern gaming scene, it’s the abundance of options. Whereas past decades were obsessed with one or two genres, making companies reluctant to throw money at something besides those, nowadays there’s something for everyone. Case in point, traditional 2D point-and-click adventures. Once thought dead, the genre has been reborn by those developers who kept the flame burning. Clifftop Games, one of the most promising, and quite the expert in sleuth-style gameplay, has released two gems, one in the form of a thought-provoking sci-fi tale called Whispers of a Machine, and the more grounded, but at the same time weirder, occult-themed crime thriller Kathy Rain; the team’s firstborn and its biggest success, which led to the creation of a pretty darn good sequel, with a pretty darn good name.
Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer offers a bunch of noir clichés right in the first scene. PI’s office in the big city, bottle of booze next to the snoring protagonist, and a pile of unpaid bills on the doormat. She just needs a good case. The stereotype of the middle-aged sleuth is out instead of in and is the one that awakes the young gumshoe sleeping on the couch, giving it its case: a serial killer who has been doing his…err, serial killing for some time now, ritualistically murdered a local celebrity, reigniting interest on the whole thing. Ms. Rain rides her ‘Katmobile,’ her most dangerous adventure begins, and once again, it’s all about acting as a detective. Kathy gathers physical clues like notes, fingerprints, and so on, plus information as in names, places and phone numbers, which are stored in a journal for later use.
There’s none of that age-old “tactic” of trying random item combinations here, as it’s mostly about using one’s brain to find a logical course of action. There are a couple of tedious puzzles that kind of overstay their welcome by having one stare at boring numbers for too long while trying to work on a solution, or some immersion-breaking trial-and-error segments, where making a mistake has the player trying again from the beginning – but these aren’t the norm. In any case, the heroine frequently drops hints in the form of comments, something that helps a lot with the pacing, which is absolutely fantastic. There’s a bit of boring back and forth between locations, but this uses a neat technique to decrease their number, by dividing the various days (essentially the chapters) between morning and evening, with each part of the day “locking” certain areas. Oh, and the area select scene where large-sprite Kathy is shown riding her bike is very, very cool.
All in all, gameplay-wise Kathy Rain 2 is like Kathy Rain. If you enjoyed the previous one, you’ll do the same with this one too, since apart from a slightly harder challenge here and there, the differences are minor. In terms of sound and music, this remains at the same high level of quality as before. In terms of visuals, though, this is much, much better – one of the absolute best of its kind, in fact. The urban setting of the fictional Kassidy City doesn’t offer the picturesque, rural magic of Conwell Springs, but that’s not enough to ruin such top-notch pixel art. The use of colour, dynamic lighting and the attention to detail are all excellent, with reflective surfaces and animated parts bringing life to each background, especially those that are outdoors. There are a couple of awesome animated pixel art cutscenes, and a handful of creepy moments that add a nice flavour of horror, somewhat remindful of the exceptional The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow.
Now, while a very good adventure title, the most important part is the story it wants to tell, and how well it tells it. Fortunately, both the plot and the overall presentation are great. Kathy Rain 2 offers a gripping tale of mystery that becomes better and better with each passing minute. Better than what came before? The answer is twofold. Firstly, while it can certainly be enjoyed as a standalone product, it kind of expects one to have played the original, as there’s a deep connection between the two. Secondly, remember how Kathy Rain began as a crime thriller, occasionally threw some bits of spooky metaphysical stuff, and then went full paranormal? The same goes on here, and at times it’s probably a bit too similar. Without spoiling much, the final chapter once again throws Kathy to a weird place, but because you, the player, as well as Kathy, have been through something almost identical before, it kind of mars the uneasy feeling of cosmic horror this realm is supposed to create.
Bloody murders, dark conspiracies and unfathomable entities put aside, the most crucial element of the first instalment was the human element. How’s this in that department? The cast is very interesting, almost every line of dialogue is well-written and delivered, and the main star remains a superb, multi-layered character; one that players will deeply care for after her tough exterior starts cracking, and they start seeing the softness hidden behind her edgy, bad girl act. That said, how characters are handled is probably the one part where Kathy Rain is better, if only slightly. While Kathy Rain 2 manages to make you want to learn more about many of its characters as well as Kathy’s past, it kind of never delivers, leaving you hungry for more. Small issue put aside, this is such a fine experience that this critic already wants Kathy Rain 3!
