1998 was a pretty pivotal year in gaming, when we saw the launch of ground-breaking masterpieces like Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, to name a few. More importantly for me, it was the year that the Dreamcast launched in Japan, a console that would be Sega at its most creatively optimistic and yet also the end of an era, being the company's final console.
That contradictory sense of one era ending and another beginning happens to be the theme of Rain98, a gorgeous-looking indie adventure game that's also set in 1998 (also see our pick of the best retro games consoles).
While you can imagine that setting is going to be a nostalgia trip, it's not trying to emulate similar games from that period (certainly not July, a Japanese-exclusive Dreamcast launch title that was technically a graphic adventure but in reality consisted of walls of Japanese text).
Fortunately, the demo I got to try for Rain98 during BitSummit did have English as a language option, but it was the noirish visual presentation that left the strongest impression.
Getting to speak with the game director who goes by the name of Shoon T, I'm told that the inspirations for the game came less from games and more from a variety of other media of that time, such as films by Takeshi Kitano, cult horror Ringu, but also anime like Serial Experiments Lain and Perfect Blue.
Indeed, what I find most striking is how it does feel like you're playing an interactive anime where, unlike a low-budget visual novel, you're not just interacting with static environments. Which isn't to say the indie studio C#4R4CT3R (pronounced 'Character') is making a fully animated game but rather it's using smart lo-fi techniques to make each scene feel alive.
"We place great importance on the beauty and silence of still images, while animating only specific elements when necessary - hair, smoke, rain, blinking, light reflections, subtle camera movement, and so on," Shoon T explains. "Even small movements can leave a powerful impression when combined with the right timing, sound, and pacing of text."
Despite the specific year also alluded to in the title, Rain98 isn't meant to be completely historically accurate, though the team did research period references extensively, including details like street signs, arcades, fast-food restaurants, and old apartment buildings.
"Rather than reproducing everything exactly as it appeared in photographs, we focus on conveying the feeling that this is what the humidity and noise of Tokyo in that era must have felt like," Shoon T explains.
"Culturally, we've woven elements such as photo booths, PHS phones, arcades, magazines, CD shops, television, fast-food chains, and late-90s youth culture naturally into the story and everyday life. They're not included merely as nostalgic props; they're integrated into the experience of how Reina and the protagonist actually live in that world."
All of this is represented in a Tokyo in perpetual rain with a moody blue palette that's the antithesis of Sega's upbeat blue skies, in favour of a tone that Shoon T references from English artist Derek Jarman: "Blue is darkness made visible."
"Rain isn't merely weather, it's a motif tied to themes of life and death," Shoon T continues. "It blurs city lights, separates the inside from the outside, and obscures the boundary between reality and dreams. Because of that, the sensation of blue and rain remains strongly present throughout the entire game. I want players to feel as though they're trapped inside a rainy room, submerged at the bottom of an aquarium."
Given the studio name, character is a strong focus, and you'll spend most of the game in the company of Reina, a mysterious sullen-looking girl in school uniform. There's evidently something dangerous, even terrifying about her lurking beneath the surface, especially when Shoon T cites Sadako from Ringu as one of the inspirations.
But in contrast, an even more important inspiration was actually Rei, a singer from Korean idol group IVE that he says he first saw wearing a school uniform while performing Y2K-sounding music.
"Reina's not the kind of heroine who immediately treats the player kindly," Shoon T says. "She can be unreasonable, cold, difficult to deal with, and sometimes says things that genuinely hurt. What's important to me is portraying her not as a character to 'conquer,' but as someone you unexpectedly end up spending time with, and occasionally catch a glimpse of unexpected kindness. Through those small moments, her outline gradually begins to emerge."
For an indie studio just starting out, it would be smart for C#4R4CT3R to leverage an alluring character like Reina beyond the game itself, from merchandise to other media adaptations. It's certainly something you with other popular Japanese, and especially anime-inspired, IP.
While Shoon T insists the focus is on having audiences experience the whole game alongside Reina ("her appeal is deeply intertwined with that world"), he doesn't rule out her potential.
"I don't want her to be a character that's consumed and forgotten quickly, I want her to linger in people's memories for a long time, the kind of character you suddenly remember on a rainy day," he concludes. "If Reina can become that kind of presence, it would make us incredibly happy."
Rain98 is coming to PC in 2026, and you can wishlist it on Steam.
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