Update Thirty-Three: 5 August 2017

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Despite the fact that it only rains, like, once in the game, and she never carries an umbrella, Kathy Rain is one of my favorite modern point-n-clicks I had the privilege of playing.

Starting out as a straightforward mystery and ending up rather Twin Peaksy, Kathy Rain ups the ante slowly, cooly, and with nice pacing. The eponymous Kathy Rain is a punk sophomore in college for journalism when her plucky, polar-opposite roommate Eileen lets her know that her estranged grandfather had just died. When Kathy goes to the funeral and reconnects with part of her family she hadn’t seen since she was a young child, she begins to follow the story of what, exactly, happened to not just her grandfather, but to a number of missing and insane people of the town.

I don’t want to spoil more of the story, because the way it’s unraveled is really fun. The pixel art is gorgeous from the incredible backgrounds to the satisfying and fluid animated sprites. The writing is cool, and Kathy is able to be both at once annoying and likable, like a lot of college students can be. The voice acting in particular was great - it was produced by Dave Gilbert, of Wadjet Eye fame, and ol’ Davie even made an appearance as a minor character.

Point-n-clicks are often criticized for really obtuse puzzles, and Kathy Rain avoids this in a wonderful way. The game is set in 1995, and the best, most satisfying, crunchiest bits of gameplay is just… acting like it’s 1995 again. Using a phonebook, tapping in phone numbers, and dealing with an old timey-ass computer was just so fun for me, for some god damn reason. Most of the major ‘puzzles’ are logic ones about tracking and following information, which is apropo for the game and works really well.

Before I wrap up, though, I want to talk about part of the ending that I really appreciated. Feel free to skip this: 1. because it’s spoilers; 2. because it’s about a controversial opinion for my (country at least’s) political climate and; 2.5. I really don’t want to get into a discussion about it, I; 3. just want to talk about how I felt about this scene. Okay? Okay!

The last part of the game involves with a rather Psychonautty trip into Kathy’s projected subconscious where she has to wrestle with her problems that have been plaguing her. One problem is her dealing with her anger at her father abandoning her as a child. Another is dealing with her guilt over having her mentally-ill mother committed to a mental institution. The last is dealing with the fact Kathy had had an abortion.

This is manifested by the ‘child’s’ ghost appearing at the age he would have been if Kathy had carried him to term… with him holding forceps around his neck and haranguing Kathy about how she didn’t want him and how could she have done that to him, she killed him, etc. etc. etc. Now, at this point, I am pretty fucking pissed - this is some really heavy anti-choice propaganda lines that this fucking ghost-fetus-child-thing is spouting to guilt Kathy. I was loving this game but, since bodily autonomy and the right for every single person to determine what goes on in their body is incredibly important to me, I was ready to say fuck this shit, this is a low ass blow.

But then Kathy has a chance to respond. And the first option is: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t regret what I did.’ And the ghost kid just shuts up, and drops the forceps. It was a test. And it showed really well the kind of emotional anguish and inner-guilting that goes on with the decision to have an abortion many people feel - not all, maybe not even most, but many. A cool ass super ghost shows up and tells Kathy how cool Kathy is for getting over her guilt that weighed on her.

This is, I think, one of the first games I played that talked about abortion with not only this attention but this skill. It was quick, but nuanced, and I got to let Kathy stand up for herself.

Whew, that got longer than I thought it would. You still don’t have to read it, and I thank you in advance for not debating this with me in the comments! What a fun game this was!

Next up: I made a promise. Let’s find Earth.

See you soon!