Intro

"Omen of Rain" is a short mystery game developed by quiesphere or Yomi using RPG Maker VX Ace. And appears to have been an early project created to help develop quiesphere's skills. At least if this comment on the game's summary page is anything to go by.

quiesphere
This is a very short project, but one from which I learned a lot.

At least I'd assume you'd learn a lot more from your earlier projects than later ones, but I've learned secrets about games hundreds of hours in before. Jeez, I just recently learned that if you raise a pet's attack and defense percentages in "Well of Souls" that said boosts will only come into effect when the pet is summoned again. Though if you merely have to recall the pet or enter a new battle altogether requires additional testing, but I'll be generous and assume this is an early project since it will be better for it's score since I have some serious issues with this game's narrative.

Story
Summary

You play as Hans whose returned to his old childhood hideout in order to meet up with some of his friends after they were split up 15 years ago. While you wait your free to solve a few minor puzzles that require the player to find and use various objects from sturdy branches to screwdriver bits. Though this section of the game mostly appears to be filler since your discoveries really don't appear to have any impact on the overall narrative. At any rate after you've wasted some time your friends show up and you look at the river for a bit before asking about sharing contact information. The game then fades to black and all of your friends disappear as you walk off into the night with a Grim by your side.



Greatest Strength/Weakness

"Omen of Rain" is interesting in that it's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness in my opinion. This strength is the mysterious nature of the story. As it stands the story leaves a lot of wiggle room on how to interpret the ending. As such it's not exactly clear if were seeing a ghost caught in an endless loop reliving one final fond memory or if Hans much like Mila has been trapped by some sort of entity that made the townsfolk evacuate the area in his childhood or is merely lost within his own delusions brought on by the red substance surrounding the area.

On the other hand this highly open nature of the game means this project feels incomplete. As if the developer never fully presented her idea to the audience. Or at least failed to do so in a way the audience could understand. Which is a major problem in my opinion since I'd rather the story give me a clear idea what the story is about then be left trying to decipher vague clues to come to my own conclusion.

At the same time I know how people interpret a work and how the author intended it to be understood can also be different. A good example of this is "Grave of the Fireflies". A lot of people see this animated movie as one of the greatest anti-war films of all time. At the same time the original intent behind the film was more along the lines of look at what your parent's went through you little shit heads! And what happens when you ignore them! So obey them! Now! And if you want more context for this I'd suggest watching BennettTheSage's review of the film on youtube since he talks bit more about the youth motorcycle gangs and whatnot that were happening at the time this film was released.

Gameplay

There really isn't that much gameplay to be had in this game since it's rather story heavy even if the story being told is rather vague. Though you do get to spend a little time searching for objects in order to solve a handful of puzzles to help buff the game's overall playtime to be around 10 to 15 minutes instead of a 5 minute short story.

Graphics and Sound

On the graphical side of things the game uses all custom assets which definitely serves this game rather well. After all, this is meant to be more of an atmospheric experience than a project that offers gameplay or narrative fulfillment. Though, I do wish the game had a few more images like the end credit image.

On the sound side of things the game appears to have mostly been a combination of the RTP for RPG Maker VX Ace along with some sound effects from freesound.org. Though as an overall package I'd say the music and sound effects are rather forgettable, but I tend to have a hard time remembering that stuff unless a song really caught my attention or the music or sound effects were used in a weird way.

Conclusion

"Omen of Rain" is a short mystery game that leaves the player with more questions than answers in my opinion. As a result I'm not particularly fond of since I think the most important part of any mystery is to make sure you give the player at least some answers. Though there are certain mysteries that are best left alone like why certain characters in the Highlander franchise are immortal, but I don't think the plot of this game falls into that category.