The player is given little explicit guidance and is free to explore the world in any direction via pipes and passages that pass through over 1600 static screens, each with enemies that spawn in set locations and can then move from screen to screen. The player's character, referred to as a 'slugcat', uses spears and rocks to survive in a hostile, ruined, and obtuse 2D world. Rain World received early attention for the 'uncanny fluidity' of its animations Release is expected for Switch, PS4, and Xbox as well, implied to happen in June. In January 2023, a downloadable content pack titled Rain World: Downpour was released for PC.

Some of these criticisms were addressed with later updates.

Rain World received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its art design and fluid animations, but criticized its brutal difficulty, inconsistent save points, and imprecise controls. The player is given little explicit guidance on how to survive, which was the intention of the developers, who wanted players to feel like a rat living on subway tracks, in which they learn to survive in an environment without grasping its higher-level function. The slugcat uses debris as weapons to escape enemies, scavenge for food, and reach safe hibernation rooms before a deadly torrential rain arrives. Players assume control of the 'slugcat', an elongated felid-like creature, and are tasked with survival in a derelict and hostile world. Rain World is a 2017 survival platform game developed by Videocult and published by Adult Swim Games and Akupara Games for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in March 2017, and for Nintendo Switch in late 2018.

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