Rainy City: Pandemic Is A Snapshot Of Hard Times Through A Cyberpunk Lense

Rainy City: Pandemic is a walking sim style game. You make deliveries with the goal of affording your sister’s medical bills. Technically, you do leave the car, but a simple background comes up and you have brief conversations. Only the driving is in a 3D space. It has a relaxed feel though there’s a fifteen-day time limit. Each conversation does take a day but are mostly mundane. 

The most tense part of Rainy City are the almost too real references to living in a pandemic. Those aren’t dwelled on since this isn’t a grim setting. This is a game where you make a delivery to a cat. There’s more of a focus on how life continues, even while dealing with unique issues. This isn’t a game where you’ll be saving the world.

The ending is vague, but is mostly effective. From all the time you’ve spent with Sam you can feel the disappointment if your bank balance isn’t high enough. But the game doesn’t give a concrete ending. Which takes away the one incentive there was to do well. It’s also a bigger hurdle to replayability than the frustrating fact that there’s no map. Another con is that with one delivery a day there doesn’t appear to be a way to earn enough. 

Rainy City: Pandemic is nice for the unexpected, cute moments and its atmosphere. Otherwise, there isn’t a whole lot to hold your interest. Getting little peeks into people’s lives was interesting. Without second interactions it’s hard to remember some NPCs. Rainy City is good if you want a “cozy” experience that brings humor and its own vibrancy to a dark situation.