Rain World Downpour Reinvents an Ecosystem 

the first new cat slug is literally the quote of "give the lazy person the hardest task, they'll find the easiest way to do it."

The fact that each slugcat has a different story path to go down shows how well crafted this game is.

The gourmand does not stun enemies when falling, he straight up kills them. Fall from high enough, he'll kill a vulture, you can hit them twice in a single fall since he bounces up on hit. They can feed from dead enemies, so my main method with him is to stick to a high place and bonk everything in the head with his gigantic ass. Simply the best game that has ever been.

With the theory of humans becoming more intelligent in accordance with their food being cooked, it is interesting to think how the gourmand may be having enough food intake to grow intelligent enough for crafting like we did.

I like how rain world doesn't show the predators like a bloodthirsty monster but rather as a simple creature trying to survive in a harsh world

Gourmand is actually a tank. The slide and roll can damage and knock back enemies. The first spear thrown also deals triple damage

6:42 fun fact, using your explosive jump will actually alert these scavenger hit squads to the artificers location, and if you find these hit squads too difficult, you might try not using your explosive jump so liberally and only when absolutely neccessary, because the scavengers have a very vast array of tunnels to get to you very fast.

I love the idea of these slugcats existing in the same universe, generations apart. Adds so much to the world-building to be able to observe evolution through the eyes of the creatures living in each period. I wish I was a half decent gamer or else I’d be all over this game.

It is somewhat creepy how the NPCs in rain world seem to move and act like actual animals rather than like a traditional NPC

This channel introduced me to rainworld and im OBSESSED! As a biologg major, its so cool how this ecosystem is set up

when they were referring to emergent behavior, they were quite spot on with that. Technically emergent isn't for just 1 creature, but a single creature can sometimes adapt how it attacks you. I had a cyan lizard in Artificer's loop actually sit in one place instead of trying to pursue me, because it felt like it knew I was trying to stun it into a vat of acid below me. It camped almost like a friendly lizard, so I approached thinking I was safe. It actually managed to kill me as a result.

the gourmand is the leader of a colony of slugcats, making him actually a gigachad. You can also tame (almost) any lizard, it's not exclusive to caramel lizards

I think the real world would be a much funnier and therefore better place if real animals evolved to be so fat that falling on top of their predators is a valid survival strategy.

Rain World is just freaking incredible, just how active everything is amazes me. The game is very unforgiving but I'll be willing to die over and over again just to keep playing

Imagine if humans could also just store mechanical components in their stomachs and cough them up at a moment's convenience.

Lol... I love the fact that the devs actually said "this is so cool! Why don't other games do this? Well, other games are RIGHT not to do this." Hats off to the devs for pulling off these kinds of procedural tricks anyway!

Dude, you are literally an absolute blessing for all of us rain world fans. I was shocked when you made the first video, and was incredibly grateful for you doing so. But a second video? This is amazing! For a second time, its my favourite channel making a video of my favourite game.😊 Edit: also ive sort of wondered whether the gourmand is actually fat. Canonically he is the strongest slugcat in the game, i believe his spear damage is 4* that of survivor, which is i think 2* of hunters, making him actually crazy strong. We dont know what the slugcats anatomy is like, so maybe all that extra weight is muscle, and he gets tired easily because he has the same respiratory system but more muscle and maybe a more developed brain (he also seems to be the most intelligent slugcat). Surely if that was all fat, the gourmand would need less food to survive, not more.

Gourmand is... gourmand. He is the basic downpour experience. I would even say the easy mode. You will already have beaten the game before playing him so you will not have to harshly strugle to play with him. He gets tired and is kinda slow, but his spear throws are the strongest, dealing 3 times the one of the survivor when not tired, but half when he is. His ability to craft pearls make him really really effective if you wants to get along with scarvangers. While he requires a lot of food, he can eat everything, and feed himself better when fusing two food items, so it isn't that much of a problem. Artificer is a fighter, forget spearmaster who is far from being that great of a predator, artificer is nuts. You WILL abuse of his mobilty and bomb-crafting like hell. You can't angle yourself to hit something? Bomb it. You see a very strong predator in front of you? Vulture, red centiped, daddy long legs, you name it. Explose it. The offensive potential of this character is beyond that of any other thanks to its ability to makes bombs. But keep in mind several things: he cannot go past karma gates without the corpse of a scarvanger of high enough karma (except the ones that requires basic karma level), and the beginning will be hard (you begin in garbage waste, which is heavily infected with rot and has a lot of room filled with acid. The garbage worms do their things... And the scarvanger toll will require you A LOT OF LUCK to go past, if you choose to take this way.) Rivulet? Good golly this character is fun. Quick speed, higher jump, higher breathing capacity, but so so little time between the rains. Playing with rivulet is playing a race against time every cycle, and I love it. And the shelter failures will never be so helpful than with this character. Just, I HATE The Rot. And be wary of passages that require precise movements, as his speed can easily go against you (and may even kill you). Spearmaster is... interesting. Fighting is something you WILL require, but you will do so with much more strategy than with artificer. The reason goes like this: artificer can do massive AOE damages. You just need to throw bombs you made beforehand at your enemies, then feed of their dead bodies to replenish used energy and makes even more bombs. Spearmaster throw spears. But spears that he NEEDS to use to feed, and he needs a LOT of food, without even counting the fact that he can't feed of fruits. You will tend to use a spear you crafted only once because you will not want to waste food (as their draining effects are only effective for one throw) making you craft lots of spears. And you can drain ONLY from alive beings. That mean you will not kill them by any means at your disposal but try to feed of them as much as you can as you kill them. And spears aren't bombs. They must hit their targets to be effective. They do basic damages (by that I mean that you'd rather not waste your time trying to kill a king vulture with your toothpicks). And it takes times to craft them, and you will mostly have to craft them WHILE trying to survive the assault of the thing that's trying to kill you, given that unlike with the artificer, you will not alway kill in one hit while playing as spearmaster. I haven't yet unlocked saint. And I will forever curse Shaded Citadel.

I love how this game has essentially turned speculative biology into a video game. I'm surprised nobody has come close to this concept before but I'm glad that its been done and that its been done right. Probably one of the games I ought to add to my very scant collection.

[spoilers] The Saint’s story is so ridiculously powerful! To think that the Saint would attain true transcendence in the physical world and then come back to ascend every other creature left in this world at the end of time is so beautiful! As their world ends, they finally choose to free all souls that are trapped in it.

I mean I understand that you are focusing on the new creatures, but one prominent creature you'll find in Saint are the orange lizards. I think the only regions they don't exist in is "Drainage," Subterranean (I think), and Submerged Superstructure (this one is kind of self explanatory). Anyways I think the reason for this is that prey is more scarce, and also for the body heat. Perhaps like bees, they sleep together for warmth in the frigid wasteland. Additionally, by sticking together they can survive and arguably thrive while many other lizard types are scarce, barely being able to survive. "Apes together strong" XD

Rainworld is one of those games that is more fun to learn about and watch than actually play

Something else really cool I've noticed is that in the Saint campaign, older lizards like greens, yellows and cyans have adapted to the weather as well. Usually being bulkier and possessing some larger scales mostly seen on the head.

I love the lead-in to each different type of Slug Cat, good job on your writing and execution.

This is one of the most unique games I've ever seen. Think I'm gonna buy it.

through playing the gourmand i have learned that he was never at the bottom of the foodchain. quoting another comment from another video "in a world where the weak starve, fear the fat".

I downloaded and played rainworld after your first video went viral. Holy shit you didn't emphasise enough how HARD that game is.

Gourmand and Saint: alright, let's just try to survive using maneuvering carefully and taking advantage of some items or something. Artificer and Spearmaster: *peace was never an option*

The artificer also has an additional ability in that, if you hold the eat button on a creature that’s still alive, you’ll start "mauling" them

The fact that one of the creators has the last name "Primate" feels like cartoon animal characters named after the animal they are lol Like Emmett Otterton or whatever his name was, from Zootopia "James Primate" is the exact same energy

I would never have heard of this outstanding and unique game if not for this channel, thanks

I knew you would cover downpour from the moment I got the notification for your first rain world video. Everyone in my friend group has been devouring the lore since release, so I don't see much appriciation for the ecosystem side of the game. If people would allow me to speak for the Rain World community, I'd say that we are honored to have you cover our game. Great work as always, Archive.

Everything else amazing about this game aside, I also love the art. The Slugcats are unique and adorable!

Games like this one prove you don't need the most impressive visuals to make an outstanding game

I, for some reason love the way he says "rotund"

Fun fact: Although slugpups dont spawn outside of gourmand, survivor, monk, and hunter, Rubicon is coded to have a 100% spawn chance for slugpups, and the devs said that this was the case because of "All slugpups go to hell."

“It impales and drains the life force out of its enemies” *You had me at impale*

The Artificer and spear master embody the quote "I am the danger"

"Let's ignore the fact that when max karma of 10 is reached with the saint, it can litterly goes godlike and oneshot everything, even iterators..."

My favorite is Spearmaster,just the concept of making needle-like Spears to both deal incredible damage but also extract their blood is just awesome

the amount of times ive been outsmarted by scavs and lizards is unreal, nothing in any game compares to enemies like this, the scavs even feel like people sometimes

If anybody wants to know that timeline of which slugcat reached the area first, it goes like this: Spearmaster, Artificier, Hunter, Gourmand (which might be why it has hunter spawns on and HLL), Survivor, Monk, Rivulet, Saint Also I do not know where ‘Inv’ takes place, as it is a joke character.

The reason gourmand instantly gets tired after a spear throw is because he is throwing it in an extreme strength doing the highest normal spear damage

So timeline is? 1. Spear-master 2. Diversifying their coordination into squishy Gourmand 3. Into Slugcat classic w the arrival of scanvengers. 4.into the artificer when the scavengers become too malicious. 5.into the rivulet when the rain comes super frequently 6.into the saint when the rainworld begins to freeze

I played this game after watching your first video and I'm so glad I did, even if it mildly traumatised me. One of the most creative, complex, beautiful, immersive worlds in any video game.

the style you make your videos in are very enjoyable and you make it work well with everything

Genuinely so great that this amazing RU-vid channel is making videos about such an underappreciated game like rain world. Thank you For making this!

Imagine a Rain World MMO where everyone is a different species and the ecosystem still works and every update your species evolves! I would play that but I'm scared no one else would.. We still got Rain World though so this timeline is great!

You’ve singlehandedly sold me on a game I have never even heard about, thanks!

I'm kind of terrible at games so I'll probably never play Rain World, but oh my god, everything I've heard you say about it makes it sound amazing.

This game is beautiful

I loved your first video on this game and i’m so happy you decided to make a video on the dlc. Also you are a great narrator, good job, great videos.

This game seems challenging. Playing it, I would feel like a toddler trying to make his first steps in an unforgiving world.

Bag new slugcat post of represents one of the ability passes in DND: Spearmaster is strength Rivulet is dexterity Artificer is constitution Gourmand is intelligence Saint is wisdom Slugpup is charisma

Thank god you are posting another video about this game. It deserves to get way more popular, it is a piece of art.

The rain world games are so interesting!! I love your videos on it!!! Whenever I make rain world creatures on my channel, I’ll definitely credit you!!!

Hello Curious Archive, Have you heard or seen the art and worldbuilding of 1920+? There is an art book about it similar to Simon Stalenhags works. The setting is an alternative history after WW1, where massive mechanical walkers and machines roam the lands of the 1920s. Ordinary scenery turned into an unsettling and mysterious atmosphere, where mechanical war machines tower over fields and forests in the distance.

man i finished the game 3 days ago and i didnt yet finish any of the stories so this will have devastating spoilers i will finish them 1 by 1 and gradually finish the video or watch it all together on the finally

the best word to describe rain world is just... beautiful

You should make a video discussing the biology of Metroid Prime! Since the remaster came out, the visuals on the environments and creatures are beautiful!

Caramel Lizzie’s don’t actually have 6 legs, it just looks like it because they are more hyperactive than other lizards

I love your videos, they are so fascinating and dreamy! Hope you're gonna make a video about The Eternal Cylinder ecosystem sometime soon.

i do love that gourmand gets a happy ending cus he does not want to assend he has a family and kids

With the exception of the artificer, I found every single one of the new slugcats quite frustrating to use at first. Very clunky feeling and difficult to play as. I think this is a symptom of them all being very well designed and distinctly different from each other, no matter the order you play them in. By the time I had gotten to the end of each one's campaign, they all felt fluid to use and I was very familiar with their strengths and their limitations. I think that this served to further the frustration of using the next slugcat. Even the Rivulet, who, by rights, is the most mobile of the bunch, was difficult to get a grasp of due to just how dialed up all of their movement was (overshooting jumps into ravines, or directly into enemy jaws). Every slug cat has such a distinct personality and an interesting set of tools at their disposal, with equally interesting challenges to balance them out. After a certain amount of time I came to look forward to that clunky beginner experience I was going to have with the next slugcat in the list and I think it's because it's so reminiscent of first playing the base game, when you don't have muscle memory yet, and when you start to discover the deep and rich set of intermediate to advanced movement techniques. I'm an avid map-breaker when it comes to other games, and while there was more than enough to explore to sate my hunger for it, I pride myself on reaching certain screens that I know for a fact aren't part of the campaign of the given slugcat I was playing, or reaching areas in reverse through tunnels that are "out of reach" to the more basic move-sets. This out of a combination of sheer will and the complex but effective tools made available to each of the slugcats in their own way. The devs really outdid themselves on what was already an amazingly unique take on and implementation of a staple genre.

Elite Scavengers can also appear in usually Spearmaster's kill squads. While this behavior is rare, it did happen very often when one killed a slugpup and i roleplayed Artificer for a while

Thank you for introducing me to this game, probably one of my favorite of the year!

Learnt about Rain World and got obsessed with it because of your first video on it! Though i cannot play it myself, i have spent countless hours listening to James Primates OST of the game on spotify~ I love the narration style and still revisit that first video every once in a while. Im SO glad youve covered this DLC of the game as well!!

Great video, and I really appreciate the closed captions!

Rivulet and Arty are my two favourites, in that order. RIVULET GANG RISE UP

glad the channel that got me to dump48 hours into this amazing game still uploads about it

I like the gourmond sluggies. Cute little smarty cats.

It is just amazing how they have managed to make such thing work. The ecosystem and everything and also how the different slug cats have a completely different way of living. would love to see more of this content keep going!

It seems that the rain world universe has a lot of lore and history with all the broken down ruins and climates. It would be cool if there was a video going more deeper into the lore and history of this awesome and curious game.

Basic every different slugcat in a nutshell Gormond:I craft thing Artificer:KABOOM Rivulet:Me like to swim Spearmaster:BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD THRONE! Saint:**undertlae pacifist run noises**

Carrying the slugpups is a nice callback to the very beginning

Spearmaster is probably the most fun, like you have been hunted already now it's time for YOU to be the HUNTER. very cool

You had me until you said I'd have to be a parent and risk putting my slugpups through rainworld I'd actually cry if I lost one

Me about to spoil myself on the game because your content is just to good

FANTASTIC VIDEO LOVE THIS GAME AND THIS CHANNEL! also, im suprised he didn't mention how in the saint's campaign the lizards have evolved horns

0:49 that lizard is so CUTE

Love this video, and love your content! Any chance the full interview with the Rainworld devs would ever be uploaded, maybe on a second channel?

Imagine how good single player games are going to be in 10 years when this technology advances even more

The Spearmaster Slugcat sounds like a badass

I love hearing you talk about this game.

Rain world and Hollow Knight are the best games I've downloaded indy wise on my handhelds in a while

One suggestion, I don't know if it's a good one: make a video about the Orion arm project. It is a science fiction collaboration project and, although old, it is very interesting and complex with the description of alien beings in structural details of their biochemistry, planetary environment, atmosphere, etc. the drawings are of questionable quality but some are good enough for video.

Glad you revisited this series, you got me into rainworld.

the artificier also has a parry attack, he cans stun basically anything, even pole traps, vultures, scavengers, a lizard that just bit you, everything. Just don’t abuse it or you’ll blow

AYYY HE MADE ANOTHER RW VIDEO

He did a review on this game, my prayers have been answered. Edit: Now I just need a person to be a valentine :(

Artificer and Saint were the hardest slugcats to me. This game is incredible

Got introduced to your channel because of the rainworld video, so this is gonna be fun!!

Thanks so much for this I love this game

this video dosent contain the much needed spoiler warning as the dlc is worth days of exploration and play time so if u scrolled down the comments before the video this will be you last warning at least finish one of the playthroughs and explore the reigons on you own before watching!

Thank you for bringing some attention to this game, it deserves a larger fanbase!

YES! Thank you for covering Downpour too now that it's out!

Then there's the secret 6th Slugcat, who really makes you feel like a gamer and dating sim protagonist.

The Stowaway is just a Barnacle from Half Life

This looks like an awesome well crafted game with a backstory for each slug cat.

I'd like to thank you personally for showing me this game in a previous video.