Final Fantasy Friendship. Suikoden Kindness. If you need a fast description of what Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is all about, these are a very good begin. While it is categorized as a “2.5D Adventure-Puzzle-Platformer” on official marketplaces, Rainbow Billy is an RPG at its core, due to its team-building mechanics and a “battle” system worthy of these vaunted franchises. The exploration and platforming components do add an air of journey, however these moments aren’t as clean crusing due to some bizarre technical points. The points will not break the sport although, as the complete expertise is wrapped in a rainbow-colored heat that is onerous to explain. It has a continuing “glass half full” perspective, taking part in out by way of dialogue between characters that mirrors quite a lot of real-world conditions. The message alone makes the sport value testing.You play as Rainbow Billy, a denizen of the World of Imagination. A large water-faring dragon known as Leviathan lays a horrible curse on the land, draining it of its shade, and Billy should board his tugboat–named the Friend-Ship–and sail throughout a number of islands to resolve puzzles, make new pals, and restore the world’s vibrant colours. Joining Billy on the journey is Rodrigo, a sentient fishing rod-looking creature that helps Billy get all over the world by way of swinging, gliding, and extra. The important focus of the game–and the concept that units Rainbow Billy apart–is its “battle” system. You’ll see that phrases like “battle” and “confront” are in quotes all through the overview, and there is a motive: there is no “battle” available. Instead, Billy and the buddies they recruit try to revive the colour in every black-and-white creature they “confront,” they usually do it by way of dialogue and easy minigames.Gallery
Here’s the way it works: You’ll select from recruited pals and place them on the battlefield in designated lanes, assigning one among three coloured shapes to every pal. Once these “battle lines” are fashioned, minigames start based mostly on the lead creature in a lane. Some contain a slot machine-esque recreation the place rainbow stars should cease on a line, others require button presses in a sure sequence. Upon successful a minigame, the colours then journey to the “enemy,” filling in any corresponding clean shapes above their heads. Enemies will combat again, depleting Billy’s Morale meter, and an empty meter means a failed battle that have to be restarted. Fill all of the shapes in, nevertheless, and voila! A brand new pal is recruited.As the sport progresses the confrontations get a little bit extra concerned, whether or not rising the variety of colours to fill in, including extra difficult minigames to finish, or including distinctive parameters throughout a combat. One enemy, for instance, worries about others being extra “perfect” than they’re, so any time you full a minigame with no errors, they negate all the colours instantly. The wrenches thrown into the battle system maintain an already distinctive mechanic from rising stale, giving each occasion its personal spin and making the complete recreation higher within the course of.The creature being concerned about how others view them truly speaks to a core tenet of the Rainbow Billy expertise. Every single one of many 60 creatures that you’re going to discover is feeling some form of nervousness, inflicting their lack of shade. One rodent-esque creature does not need others specializing in their large entrance enamel. Another acknowledges that they snack an excessive amount of, even when the snacks are wholesome. A 3rd is a champion boxer coming to phrases with the top of their profession and the necessity to go the baton.Every one among these tales feels actual, rooted in real-world emotions which might be completely relatable to most gamers. These new pals are telling tales of tension over identification, having bother making pals, and being bullied, all very prevalent real-world points. Granted you might not relate to all 60 of them, however there’s undoubtedly one or two that may make you suppose, “huh, I’ve felt that before.” The recreation then follows up with speaking by way of the problems, engaged on them, and as soon as shade is restored, acknowledging the character’s private flaw and transferring previous it. It’s great, inspiring stuff that might genuinely be useful to some folks, all present in a cute rainbow-tinged journey.This thought is not restricted to the battle system both, as every of the 60 characters can improve in power–and acquire extra colours to make use of in confrontations–by fulfilling their requests. Items discovered whereas touring the world–ranging from a teddy bear to video video games to artwork supplies–are requested by the creatures, and giving a creature the merchandise they need additional explores the roots of their flaws. Their colours are already restored, positive, however they’re nonetheless working by way of what made them lose their colours within the first place. These typically use comparable elements–a lot of those animals reference school-based trauma, for instance–but the conditions they describe are very a lot based mostly within the human expertise.Take Alpharoar, one of many first pals you may meet. Alpharoar is tremendous protecting of his little brother Bark, a lot in order that he additionally obtained expelled from his college as soon as for going overboard defending Bark from a bully and getting right into a combat. Through his dialogue, he realizes that overdoing it might have gotten him separated from the household he is making an attempt to guard, thus leaving his sibling weak to bullies in Alpharoar’s absence. He understands the necessity to tone issues down, giving him extra understanding of why what he was doing is incorrect. This is only one instance of the 60 tales you may be informed, and all of them are as heartwarming and as actual as this one.Billy’s previous that can be explored all through the journey, culminating in Billy coping with some troublesome matters head-on. Like the others, this story is informed with respect and realism, by no means straying too far into the cartoonish regardless of the cartoon it is set inThese mini-stories all arrange the overarching story of Billy themselves, who’s coping with heavy trauma of their very own. Avoiding spoilers, there’s so much in Billy’s previous that can be explored all through the journey, culminating in Billy coping with some troublesome matters head-on. Like the others, this story is informed with respect and realism, by no means straying too far into the cartoonish regardless of the cartoon it is set in. It’s a exceptional expertise that may depart an enduring impression on lots of people.Outside of “battle” the essential gameplay loop establishes itself early: You pull as much as a dock within the Friend-Ship, do a little bit of platforming or puzzle-solving earlier than assembly a creature, “confront” the creature to revive its shade, and transfer on to the following island. Some islands have extra gimmicks than others–from having a number of creatures to confront, to needing a number of visits to complete–but in any other case, that is the gist of the sport. It’s repetitive, however you by no means really feel that repetition weighing on you. The recreation does a very good job of giving every island its personal distinctive properties and making them really feel like particular person experiences.That mentioned, traversing the islands tends to be irritating. Billy has a significant downside with ledges and cliffs. Walk too shut earlier than leaping and Billy will get caught, requiring some maneuvering to get unstuck and take a look at once more. Sometimes Billy will follow an edge throughout a soar, sending them into the water as an alternative of up within the air. A number of island layouts create some confusion throughout traversal too, placing an impediment additional out of attain than it seems and inflicting some unintended drops off of a ledge. Luckily, there are not any “lives” in Rainbow Billy, which means there are not any repercussions for a trial-and-error platforming strategy. If at first you do not succeed, you may try to attempt once more.This lack of penalties additionally applies to the puzzles, that are easy mind teasers involving pushing snowballs or aiming beams of sunshine. Sometimes a single button press is all it’s essential to full a puzzle, ensuring that the merchandise you are pushing is on target. You could think about the majority of those puzzles too simple–a few will be solved by urgent switches in a pure order with little thought–but actually, that is the entire level. Rainbow Billy is billed as, amongst different issues, a extremely accessible expertise. The recreation places no strain on you to succeed in your first, second, and even third attempt at a puzzle, figuring out you may simply flip a change and begin once more. That lack of strain is liberating in a way, letting you experiment with out having to fret about, properly, something.Gallery
As the world expands, the Friend-Ship’s skills will as properly, due to the sport’s important collectible: Thoughts. These tiny gray creatures dot the world, and gathering them enables you to improve the ship by chatting with the pc inside. Some upgrades do not add much–hooray for Photo Mode filters?–but issues like having extra turns in “battle” or extra creatures to select from throughout a flip are essential to victory later within the recreation. The greatest a part of the Thoughts are the tiny bits of character they’re given within the in-game menu; every one having a small message like “is a hot dog a sandwich” or “If it’s called a waterfall, does that mean its opposite is a firefly?” These foolish jokes, very similar to the remainder of the sport, will put a smile in your face.Honestly, one of the best ways to summarize Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan was carried out by Cyndi Lauper 35 years in the past. This is a recreation about exhibiting one’s “true colors” to the world, educating that being oneself is one of the best ways to strategy all features of life. Its messages of affection, friendship and self-discovery are inspiring, the form of Ted Lasso-esque positivity the world might use much more of proper now. The bundle delivering the message does not all the time impress, particularly with its platforming, however the distinctive battle system and rewarding exploration decide up the slack.Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is the role-playing recreation equal of a heat hug from a very good pal, and typically all you want is love.