Rain World is a game I have written about a lot. It’s on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch. Rain world is a known survival game, where you, the slug cat, survive the harsh ecosystem and explore until you meet the iterators, find the void sea, and ascend.

The Rain World lore goes much further than that though, especially with the addition of Downpour that adds more new slug cats and more storyline added. Let’s start off at the beginning of the timeline, before the slug cats came to be. There was a species named the Ancients that were known to be intelligent, yet also sinful. They were stuck in the infinite loop caused by life, and searched for a way out. Eventually, the ancients created iterators. The iterators are completely manmade superorganisms that retain sentience and feelings, while being stuck eternally living to find a way to escape the cycles. Soon after, the ancients found the void sea, and they escape from their issues.

The ancients flocked to the void sea, some ascending and some not. The ancients that were completely unable to ascend were turned into echoes, beings who could not leave or find peace. They are stuck just floating for eternally where they originate from, leaving places to help clear the sins from the slug cats later on and give them positive karma in return.

Onto the time of the slug cats, starting with Spearmaster. In the Spearmaster campaign, you play as a mouthless purple slu gcat who has to pull needles from their tail. They use said needles, and each stab into a creature drains its life source and gives Spearmaster food. They were made by the iterator Seven Red Suns to serve as a messenger, having a pearl inside of their chest to take to Looks to the Moon. They go and visit Five Pebbles, who gives them the mark of communication and tears the pearl from their chest, resulting in them going through extreme pain yet being able to now deliver the pearl. They then travel into the Waterfront Facility and to Looks to the Moon’s superstructure. After navigating it, they give it to Looks to the Moon who reads the pearl and leaves a broadcast in it. Spearmaster takes the pearl to the top of Sky Islands, up to Communications Array. They throw the pearl up, having it interact with the machinery and send out the message. It isn’t known what happened after that, yet it’s presumed that they either returned to Seven Red Suns or they went and ascended.

Next, onto the Artificer. The Artificer was a magenta scarred slug cat with a story much more simple, holding less game lore and more backstory to her. The Artificer is on a mission to kill the King Scavenger, having had one of her babies killed by a scavenger, and the other drowned. That drove her crazy, resulting in her war with the scavengers. She progresses up to Five Pebbles, learning that the drone that follows her is an ancient’s Citizenship Drone. He fixes the drone to give her permission to enter Metropolis, telling her to clear the scavengers out for him. Artificer does just that, entering metropolis and killing the scavengers until she gets to the king scavenger. She kills the king scavenger and takes the mask from it, her sins shining through and deeming her to never be able to ascend.

Now for the Hunter. This one as well is more heavy on the lore, and not having much slug cat backstory. The Hunter is a salmon slug cat that was made by the iterator No Significant Harassment, suffering from an illness deemed the rot that slowly eats away at them and makes them into a Hunter Long Legs that devours anything in it’s sight, including slug cats. The Hunter was sent with an old pearl and a green slag-key neuron. Their mission is to make it to Looks to the Moon to give her the slag key, thus keeping her alive after the collapse of her superstructure. When the slag key is given, Looks To The Moon develops 5 new neurons and brings her back to life. She is weak and unable to help, yet she attempts to. It is implied that Hunter either ascends before the rot can take over, or they get taken completely over.

Next, to the Gourmand. The Gourmand is a tan slug cat that delves more into the slug cat themself, of whom is a rotund slug cat who is gluttonous and enjoys food more than anything. The Gourmand starts in Shaded Citadel, aiming to return home to Outer Expanse. They head to meet Five Pebbles, who is rather annoyed with having slug cats visiting him. He tells them he will open the gate to Outer Expanse, and for them to tell their kin to stop bothering him. Gourmand leaves afterwards, going on the adventure to return home. They eat tons of food on the way, returning to their home and informing the slug pups of their findings, as well as sharing.

Then, we have the Monk and the Survivor who are a yellow and white slug cat that are linked together as siblings. Two siblings far from home, Survivor fell down away from their family during the rain. Monk went down to try to help them. Throughout the campaigns you try to get to Outer Expanse as both of the slug cats. Meeting Five Pebbles, he just gives you the mark of communications, assumes you wish to ascend, and sends you back off. You go down into Subterranean, trying to find either Filtration System or Outer Expanse. Once you get to Journey’s End, Monk and Survivor are reunited, and Survivor now has young who they care for.

Next up is the Rivulet, long after Monk and Survivor’s timeline. The Rivulet is a blue semi-aquatic slug cat bearing pink head frills with unknown origins. They are a slug cat for the story being everything as well, rather than for their own lore. They were created with no known purpose, yet they go and meet Five Pebbles, pulling a pearl from her stomach which has the instructions of where to go in Moon’s collapsed superstructure, known as Submerged Superstructure to fix the issue with the rain. They venture into Five Pebble’s slowly collapsing and rot infested Superstructure, fetching the rarefaction cell and leaving. They head to Looks to the Moon, navigating Submerged Superstructure and putting the rarefaction cell in her heart. Thus gives her more strength, and for the first time she’s seen using her technology. She sends a message to Five Pebbles, telling him how she cares about him. It isn’t known what happens to Rivulet, yet it’s assumed that they stay with Looks to the Moon or they ascend.

Last but not least is the Saint. The Saint is a fluffy green slug cat with a long tongue they can use to navigate the collapsing landscape around them. Saint was created presumably by the iterator Sliver of Straw, who was the first iterator to escape the cycle and die. The Saint goes through the frigid lands, gaining karma and more power until they reach max karma. Thus, gives them the ability to fly and ascend creatures using a beam of light, thus ending the cycles of the creature. They go off and ascend the iterators, ending the two’s agony. They then try to ascend, being unable to and falling into Rubicon. In Rubicon, the Saint needs to ascend the Guardians that should be protecting the Void Sea and they travel forward with rooms that look like ones they knew in their past. Eventually, the Saint meets Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon, who have been partially reunited. After awhile of talking, the Saint is sent off. They swim up into the void sea, being still unable to ascend themself and they slowly change into an echo instead before their cycle is repeated, leaving them in the freezing snow.

At the end of the day, Rain World’s story is a story that heavily references religion while also being a survival game. It warns the player not to do something, or some day you may regret it. It can also be seen as religion-neutral, because you can continue playing it without ascending, and you can ignore the karma system. Overall, it is a game for everyone who enjoys survival games and likes a good struggle.