REVIEW: Rain on Your Parade Blends Simplicity, Creativity and Schadenfreude - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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Over the years, a subgenre of games focused solely on causing mischief as otherwise mundane creatures, objects or naturally occurring phenomena has grown in popularity. Titles like Untitled Goose Game, Donut County and Katamari Damacy have stood out for their innovative gameplay concepts that appeal to people's often suppressed urge to simply be chaotic. Unbound Creations' Rain on Your Parade is joining that lineage.

In Rain on Your Parade, players control a cloud named Cloudy who, as the title suggests, enjoys ruining weddings, days at the beach and other outdoor activities by showing up at inconvenient times and causing impromptu rainstorms that soak as many people and cause as much damage as possible. In addition to those, however, Cloudy's adventures take him to some less obvious (or physically possible) places where he unlock new ways to wreak havoc.

Rain on Your Parade's levels are tied loosely together by a light plotline. The entire game is framed as a story a grandfather is telling his grandchild about a cloud he claims he once met. Between levels, this evolves into something of a hero's journey for Cloudy -- though Cloudy is far from a traditional hero. In each level, Cloudy is given at least one primary objective, as well as some optional ones. Not every level is tied to these characters, or even the other NPCs players will meet along the way, but it is nice to be given some reason for why Cloudy is doing what he's doing.

As players progress through Rain on Your Parade and its wildly unpredictable and creative level concepts, they'll unlock new abilities. In addition to raining, Cloudy can unleash thunder and lightning, snow and tornadoes, and he can also soak up liquids other than water, like oil and acid. The abilities themselves are quite simple, especially after testing them out and seeing how they can be used in conjunction with one another, so it's truly impressive how distinct each level feels. There are so many ways players can use Cloudy's basic skills to complete vastly different tasks.

While many levels are simply about ruining people's days with a sudden shift in the weather (or dealing with Cloudy's nemesis, Doctor Dryspell), the game also varies wildly in tone, scope and even genre. Some levels experiment with gameplay elements like stealth, shooting and action, while others pay homage to games like The Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear Solid or TV shows like The Office.

The sheer variety does run the risk of making the experience feel disjointed, but the creativity of each level complements the game's mechanical simplicity. Rain on Your Parade does contains some genuinely challenging levels and objectives, and it rewards players for completing them by giving them new hats and objects to customize Cloudy with. However, the game entices players to keep playing less out of a sense of progression or skill-improvement, but primarily by making them wonder what could possibly be coming next.

Rain on Your Parade is the kind of game that has no problem being completely absurd. From the first level, where Cloudy rains on a wedding and (somehow) manages to launch furniture everywhere, the game makes it clear that it's forgoing a realistic physics engine to prioritize maximum comedic potential. But while the game's main draw is obviously unleashing mayhem and evoking a feeling of schadenfreude, it often tip-toes the line between slapstick chaos and outright cruelty -- potentially crossing it at some points in a way other games like it don't really allow.

Sure, the horrible Goose is a jerk who steals a child's glasses, tricks him into paying for a toy he brought from home and traps him in a phone booth, but there's a difference between that and being able to rain corrosive acid on a crowd, hit a person with lightning and have a little skull pop up next to them, or set an entire city on fire. Of course, a lot of that is up to the player; those who want to cause trouble but not harm can usually avoid that by being careful with where they rain hazardous materials. Still, having such options gives the game some dark undertones that keep it from truly being lighthearted.

Overall, though, Rain on Your Parade is a simple, yet incredibly creative chaos simulator with so much to offer. Its straightforward controls make it easy to pick up and start wreaking havoc as Cloudy, while its more complicated bonus goals give players challenges to work towards. Plus, with more than 50 levels that range in scope and genre (and even more challenges to be found after beating the game), players will be getting plenty of content for a relatively low entry price.

Developed and published by Unbound Creations, Rain on Your Parade will release on April 15 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. A review copy was provided by the publisher.

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Noelle Corbett (204 Articles Published)

Noelle is a Features Editor for CBR. She can usually be found underneath a large pile of Pokémon plushies thinking about an RPG she never completed while trying to finish a different RPG. On the occasions Noelle remembers she has a Twitter, she can be found @Noelle_Corbett.