TGS 2025 | "Rain98"
Right at the beginning of Rain98’s Tokyo Game Show demo, you’re told that what you’re about to see isn’t the beginning of the game. So imagine my surprise when the very first image I was greeted with was of a woman in a high school outfit on the verge of hanging herself. It’s not at all a subtle image to see, but it sets the tone for what you’re about to experience in Rain98. Two people, sick of the world, and wanting to put an end to it.
You don’t know why you’re in the room with this woman, and you discover rather quickly that you’ve gone back in time to 1998. As you talk to the mysterious woman, you let her know the state of the world from 2025, one that’s bleak and hopeless. With that comment, you find a sort of kinship with the woman. She gives you her name: Reina. Well…that might not be her real name, and she might not actually be all woman.
With no place to go, Reina allows you to stay with her, so long as you assist with some chores and the like. Her reason is a wild one: if she can fill her special passport with 100 stickers, she can put an end to the world. No more humans, no more corruption, and no 2025 to go back to for the nameless protagonist. She reveals her true identity: Angol Mois, the one Nostradamus predicted would bring the end of times. You don’t care much for the world anyway, so why not hurry with the apocalypse?
The visual novel style of C#4R4CT3R’s Rain98 is that of a beautiful melancholy anime, much similar to the works of Otaku Vs. Although the animation is limited, the voice acting and the little motion that occurs bring solid vibes to what this demo allows you to experience. The kind of vibes they may be might vary, but you definitely feel something the more you interact with Reina. (I would advise not getting involved with a woman who may bring about the apocalypse, but you might fail in that regard.)
On top of the visual novel aspect, there are also mini-games to experience. Putting together gachapods for cash, raising a Tamagotchi-like digital pet, and even stuff as simple as cleaning Reina’s apartment will move the story along enough to bring about some sort of interaction between future man and possible world destroyer. And with its piano-focused soundtrack, it ties all of this together in a way that’s both nostalgic and chill.
I don’t know where Rain98 will lead players, but with the end of the world being a possibility, one can bet that their interactions with Reina will be an interesting one. Thus far, C#4R4CT3R’s visual novel has plenty of my attention, in a way that I haven’t felt for a visual novel since VA-11 HALL-A. Dare I say, Rain98 is leading me to believe that — in some way — I can fix Reina. (Famous last words, amirite?)
