I have been looking forward to finally covering this game, today, I will be covering a personal favorite of mine, one of the greatest and bona fide classics of RPG Maker horror games, well, the remake. I do have thoughts on how it compares to the original, but, as usual, that is going to the final thoughts section.
The Forest of Drizzling Rain, originally released as freeware back in 2013, during the RPG Maker Horror craze of the 2010s, unlike many of its contemporaries, it wouldn’t be as popular in The West as it was in The East, I do have some hypothesis as to why, but that’s not within the scope of this review.
Yeah we got a “Big in Japan” situation (it even got a manga adaptation), although the game will still get some love among RPG Maker enthusiasts like yours truly.
Coming up to its 10th anniversary, many other RPG Maker Horror games were celebrating by releasing remakes of their old freeware versions, therefore, following the trend, Forest Of Drizzling Rain got a complete make over.
Without further ado, let’s cover the remake one of my favorite RPG Maker games of all time.
Story & Setting
Kanzaki Shiori is an average university student, one day, during her birthday no less, she receives a disturbing phone call, while out shopping for her birthday gift, both her parents were caught in an accident.
By the time she arrived at the hospital, they were already dead, leaving behind a mangled present.
During the entire aftermath, Shiori came to a realization, she doesn’t know anything about her parents, nor her family, and, even her own childhood is a big blur.
Desperate for something, anything, she stumbles upon a mysterious photograph, one with her grandfather for whom she has no memory, in an old house in Azakawa Village.
With no other leads, she decides to use her summer break to visit, what will her learn during her stay?
This town isn’t normal, there is something strange lurking in the forest, missing children, and a dark history.
What could The Forest of Drizzling Rain be hiding? This is a story of lost memories, and broken promises.
By the time she arrived at the hospital, they were already dead, leaving behind a mangled present.
During the entire aftermath, Shiori came to a realization, she doesn’t know anything about her parents, nor her family, and, even her own childhood is a big blur.
Desperate for something, anything, she stumbles upon a mysterious photograph, one with her grandfather for whom she has no memory, in an old house in Azakawa Village.
With no other leads, she decides to use her summer break to visit, what will her learn during her stay?
This town isn’t normal, there is something strange lurking in the forest, missing children, and a dark history.
What could The Forest of Drizzling Rain be hiding? This is a story of lost memories, and broken promises.
Presentation
The game uses pixel art for most of its resources, with some digital art used mostly for character’s portraits when they speak, not all characters have portraits however.
Even though most NPCs have similarish art, they retain some uniqueness to them, each one having some personality, and not just the important ones.
Although at some point there is use of shadow NPCs to represent generic characters, this only happens once.
The menu follows a rainy theme, with an open umbrella for saving, and a closed umbrella for going to menu (although you can just use F5 to quickly restart).
While walking around the game does use a magnifying glass icon to help the player find interactive items. With shinnies as a way to represent tiny objects you can interact with.
For the rest of the menus, the game does stick to the defaults of RPG Maker MV, but, there is a character who speaks in the form of written notes, those notes are an original design.
The backgrounds are really good, specially around the village, giving a warm rural vibe during the day, a mysterious vibe during the night, and a melancholic vibe while its raining.
The Archive has its own vibe, and its a character on itself, with some magnificent handling of atmosphere and darkness in chapter 1 and chapter 3.
The best use of darkness is in chapter 1, giving the game one of the best introductory chapters among all the RPG Maker Horror games. While chapter 3 has some of the best uses of building up tension while using both the archive and the forest to their fullest potential.
The forest does feel like its own different world, as well as certain landmarks you get to visit, which follow the usual vibes of folklore horror.
When it comes to flashbacks and dreaming scenes, the game gets creative with the artstyles, and the ways in which it uses the pixel art.
I will not spoil the design of the Taking Spirit, but, I can speak of the design of her victims, the ghost children follow a vastly different approach, with them looking like childish drawings or rough sketches, either with crayons or pencil, giving them the otherworldly vibe that spirits should have.
Even though most NPCs have similarish art, they retain some uniqueness to them, each one having some personality, and not just the important ones.
Although at some point there is use of shadow NPCs to represent generic characters, this only happens once.
The menu follows a rainy theme, with an open umbrella for saving, and a closed umbrella for going to menu (although you can just use F5 to quickly restart).
While walking around the game does use a magnifying glass icon to help the player find interactive items. With shinnies as a way to represent tiny objects you can interact with.
For the rest of the menus, the game does stick to the defaults of RPG Maker MV, but, there is a character who speaks in the form of written notes, those notes are an original design.
The backgrounds are really good, specially around the village, giving a warm rural vibe during the day, a mysterious vibe during the night, and a melancholic vibe while its raining.
The Archive has its own vibe, and its a character on itself, with some magnificent handling of atmosphere and darkness in chapter 1 and chapter 3.
The best use of darkness is in chapter 1, giving the game one of the best introductory chapters among all the RPG Maker Horror games. While chapter 3 has some of the best uses of building up tension while using both the archive and the forest to their fullest potential.
The forest does feel like its own different world, as well as certain landmarks you get to visit, which follow the usual vibes of folklore horror.
When it comes to flashbacks and dreaming scenes, the game gets creative with the artstyles, and the ways in which it uses the pixel art.
I will not spoil the design of the Taking Spirit, but, I can speak of the design of her victims, the ghost children follow a vastly different approach, with them looking like childish drawings or rough sketches, either with crayons or pencil, giving them the otherworldly vibe that spirits should have.
Sound wise, the game does have some voice acting kinda, but it is only used for atmosphere, like the Spirits calling/talking to the characters, crying, or screams.
To get around the limitations of the artstyle as well as RPG Maker’s, the game relies heavily on the use of music and sound effects.
Although I can recognize some stock sounds of RPG Maker, the game uses them only when appropriate.
The biggest stand out, has to be the music, many scenes are vastly elevated by the use of music, from the chill moments in which you go fishing, to the intense chase moments, and the emotional moments in which the best track in the game hits. All the limitations brought upon by the graphics and engine, circumvented with masterful use of music.
To get around the limitations of the artstyle as well as RPG Maker’s, the game relies heavily on the use of music and sound effects.
Although I can recognize some stock sounds of RPG Maker, the game uses them only when appropriate.
The biggest stand out, has to be the music, many scenes are vastly elevated by the use of music, from the chill moments in which you go fishing, to the intense chase moments, and the emotional moments in which the best track in the game hits. All the limitations brought upon by the graphics and engine, circumvented with masterful use of music.
Is the game scary? Not really, but it does maintain a great atmosphere, and with some really good writing which truly makes you want the characters to survive.
The writing is so good, it can even make you feel pity towards the Taking Spirit.
The writing is so good, it can even make you feel pity towards the Taking Spirit.
Mechanics
So, the game does have a few mechanics which are chapter exclusive, it even has a mechanic which is only used for 1 area in 1 chapter.
Most of the game is puzzle solving, examining things around and/or talk with NPCs until something happens, item hunting, and the obligatory moments in which your character is chased by someone or something, this is very standard RPG Maker gameplay.
Using items on things to have something happen, decipher paper scraps for number combinations, trying everything on everything, the usual stuff.
The game is also merciful enough to give you an opportunity to save right before a chase sequence happens.
The game does have multiple endings, with 2 bookends which are little easter egg endings which you can get at the start, 1 secret ending which requires you to pick certain options in Chapter 2 Day 1 and a specific option in Chapter 3, 5 endings which have a few requirements in Chapter 3, and an extra ending which is unlocked after getting all 5 endings.
Most of the game is puzzle solving, examining things around and/or talk with NPCs until something happens, item hunting, and the obligatory moments in which your character is chased by someone or something, this is very standard RPG Maker gameplay.
Using items on things to have something happen, decipher paper scraps for number combinations, trying everything on everything, the usual stuff.
The game is also merciful enough to give you an opportunity to save right before a chase sequence happens.
The game does have multiple endings, with 2 bookends which are little easter egg endings which you can get at the start, 1 secret ending which requires you to pick certain options in Chapter 2 Day 1 and a specific option in Chapter 3, 5 endings which have a few requirements in Chapter 3, and an extra ending which is unlocked after getting all 5 endings.
Don’t worry, with good use of saves, the amount of backtracking necessary to get them all isn’t too egregious, only the secret ending is easily missable.
Chapter 2 introduces side-quests around the village, doing them doesn’t change the story much, only some dialogue and scenes will be affected, since it can feel like padding, you can just skip them completely if you wish, keep in mind that the side-quests will only be available for Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 also introduces fishing, but, its as simple as it gets, wait for a fish to bite and mash a button, that’s it, to fish you need to use fishing tickets, which are earned by completing side-quests, this is another feature which can be safely ignored.
Why would you actually engage with the optional stuff? It gives more character to the town, besides the slight dialogue changes of course, it will also reward you with a bookmark.
Bookmarks are like little achievements you earn, each accompanied with some nice art, they are rewarded by going through the story, engaging with side content, and getting the endings.
Chapter 3 has the luminous stone necklace, which is exclusive to Chapter 3, its a health bar, each time a spirit touches you, you lose 1 stone, that’s it.
That’s pretty much it.
Chapter 2 introduces side-quests around the village, doing them doesn’t change the story much, only some dialogue and scenes will be affected, since it can feel like padding, you can just skip them completely if you wish, keep in mind that the side-quests will only be available for Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 also introduces fishing, but, its as simple as it gets, wait for a fish to bite and mash a button, that’s it, to fish you need to use fishing tickets, which are earned by completing side-quests, this is another feature which can be safely ignored.
Why would you actually engage with the optional stuff? It gives more character to the town, besides the slight dialogue changes of course, it will also reward you with a bookmark.
Bookmarks are like little achievements you earn, each accompanied with some nice art, they are rewarded by going through the story, engaging with side content, and getting the endings.
Chapter 3 has the luminous stone necklace, which is exclusive to Chapter 3, its a health bar, each time a spirit touches you, you lose 1 stone, that’s it.
That’s pretty much it.
Final Thoughts
Although mechanics wise is very limited, it more than makes up for it in the writing department, The Forest of Drizzling Rain is a fantastic story about memory and sins.
Compared to the original, I do have some thoughts.
If you are curious, the main differences (besides the remake using a more modern version of RPG Maker), is a complete revamp of the graphics and maps, more characters, 2 new chapters (Chapter 2 and Epilogue), being able to explore the town, the bookends, the bookmarks, and the secret ending.
The original did have chapter 2, but it was a very short filler, in the remake, the introduction of the side-quests, the new characters and being able to explore the town does give more life to the world, and, its completely optional, as it does increase playtime by at least 1 extra hour.
If you decide to ignore the side content, it will play out similarish as to how it did in the original Chapter 2.
Fishing can get tiresome very fast, and many of the new characters don’t add too much to the core of the story, still, is a nice addition. Especially because its optional, and you can just stick to how it was originally (for the most part).
The bookends are fun additions which aren’t intrusive, the same for the bookmarks.
The new graphics vastly improve the atmosphere, but, that’s pretty much it, as, I can play the remake solely by remembering stuff from the original.
The remake also gives you multiple hints about how to get some endings, to the point that it almost tells you where to go outright.
I really like the little extra the Epilogue adds.
Now, the only thing I dislike about the remake, the secret ending, I not only completely dislike how it plays out, I also dislike the way it retcons the origin story of the Taking Spirit, as it goes completely against the themes of the story, it also commits the worse sin horror media can commit, to tell you the origins outright.
The story in on itself is a masterful work as to how anthropology actually works, to find the meaning of the past by examining the present and going backwards, which is what you do throughout the game, eventually figuring out the origins of everything, the Taking Spirit, the rituals, the shrines, the prison, the stones, the altar, etc.
The secret ending completely destroys that, by having a completely new character who gets shoehorned in to the rest of the story may I add, to the point that just seeing it mentioned makes me cringe, it also takes away from the origin of the Taking Spirit, changing what happened, ruining the overall message of the game, which it tries to rescue with the rest of the game. The secret ending is just entirely conflicting with the entire game’s themes and tone.
I hate the secret ending and what it brings, to the point that even with a gun to my head I won’t consider anything that it was added to it as canon, and I will stick with how the story was in the original.
Still, besides the secret ending, everything else is top-notch, I like how chill Chapter 2 is, and how good it builds up to Chapter 3. The new art is great, the town is great, some of the new characters are great, and it legit has some true thought provoking moments, especially if like me you are into history, and anthropology.
Should you play the original first? I mean, its freeware, and takes about 3 hours, should you play the remake? Yes, is very good, as I said, my only true dislike is the secret ending.
All in all, if you are willing to look past the limitations of RPG Maker, you will be met with a true gem of folklore horror, this game, is definitely worth checking out.
Compared to the original, I do have some thoughts.
If you are curious, the main differences (besides the remake using a more modern version of RPG Maker), is a complete revamp of the graphics and maps, more characters, 2 new chapters (Chapter 2 and Epilogue), being able to explore the town, the bookends, the bookmarks, and the secret ending.
The original did have chapter 2, but it was a very short filler, in the remake, the introduction of the side-quests, the new characters and being able to explore the town does give more life to the world, and, its completely optional, as it does increase playtime by at least 1 extra hour.
If you decide to ignore the side content, it will play out similarish as to how it did in the original Chapter 2.
Fishing can get tiresome very fast, and many of the new characters don’t add too much to the core of the story, still, is a nice addition. Especially because its optional, and you can just stick to how it was originally (for the most part).
The bookends are fun additions which aren’t intrusive, the same for the bookmarks.
The new graphics vastly improve the atmosphere, but, that’s pretty much it, as, I can play the remake solely by remembering stuff from the original.
The remake also gives you multiple hints about how to get some endings, to the point that it almost tells you where to go outright.
I really like the little extra the Epilogue adds.
Now, the only thing I dislike about the remake, the secret ending, I not only completely dislike how it plays out, I also dislike the way it retcons the origin story of the Taking Spirit, as it goes completely against the themes of the story, it also commits the worse sin horror media can commit, to tell you the origins outright.
The story in on itself is a masterful work as to how anthropology actually works, to find the meaning of the past by examining the present and going backwards, which is what you do throughout the game, eventually figuring out the origins of everything, the Taking Spirit, the rituals, the shrines, the prison, the stones, the altar, etc.
The secret ending completely destroys that, by having a completely new character who gets shoehorned in to the rest of the story may I add, to the point that just seeing it mentioned makes me cringe, it also takes away from the origin of the Taking Spirit, changing what happened, ruining the overall message of the game, which it tries to rescue with the rest of the game. The secret ending is just entirely conflicting with the entire game’s themes and tone.
I hate the secret ending and what it brings, to the point that even with a gun to my head I won’t consider anything that it was added to it as canon, and I will stick with how the story was in the original.
Still, besides the secret ending, everything else is top-notch, I like how chill Chapter 2 is, and how good it builds up to Chapter 3. The new art is great, the town is great, some of the new characters are great, and it legit has some true thought provoking moments, especially if like me you are into history, and anthropology.
Should you play the original first? I mean, its freeware, and takes about 3 hours, should you play the remake? Yes, is very good, as I said, my only true dislike is the secret ending.
All in all, if you are willing to look past the limitations of RPG Maker, you will be met with a true gem of folklore horror, this game, is definitely worth checking out.
Pros
- + Amazing use of Folklore Horror.
- + Very good writing.
- + Charming art.
- + Very good main characters.
- + Extremely good music.
Cons
- - The limitations of RPG Maker.
- - Hit or miss endings.
8
Gameplay
As limited as it is by RPG Maker, the game makes effective use of every tool granted to them, to make a compelling story driven experience, with occasional puzzles, and some side content.
10
Graphics
The use of multiple types of art to convey different vibes and atmosphere is masterful, giving each screen and character its own personality, the portraits are iconic.
9
Story
Loses points for the secret ending, otherwise is a masterful use of history and anthropology within the framework of a compelling, thought provoking, and engaging tale of Folklore Horror.
10
Sound
Uses the stock RPG Maker sounds well, and the limited voices enhance the more tense moments, the true star of the show, is the masterful use of the beautiful soundtrack.
4
Replayability
You don't have to replay through the whole thing to get the endings, using saves effectively is enough, its completely to player's discretion.
9
out of 10
Overall
The Forest Of Drizzling Rain is one of the greats of RPG Maker Horror for a reason, it tells an engaging and compelling story of sin, and memory, with very memorable characters and creature, filled to the brim with interesting and thought provoking moments regarding the interpretation of history and folklore, making a very good and compelling introduction as to how actual anthropology looks like. All accompanied with very good art, and beautiful music, which elevates it even more, this game is vastly underappreciated in the West, and its an experience very well worth your time.
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