how hard this game is?

[e]

compared to light world super meat boy or spelunky.

[Salok]

I'd say it's pretty close to spelunky, but with more relying on planning and strategy than reflexes.

[e]

Originally posted by Salok:

I'd say it's pretty close to spelunky, but with more relying on planning and strategy than reflexes.

i mean, hell spelunky

[e]

(how hard this game is compared to spelunky played the hell-way)

[Franky M.]

I can't comment on Spelunky (except for the fact it's a roguelike, which RW definitely isn't), but Rain World has so little to do with SMB's gameplay that a raw comparaison would be pretty pointless.

To put it simply, with its short levels, die/retry approach and speedy atmosphere, SMB is mostly high risk/low punishment. The emphasis on platforming is arguably lower in RW, with far fewer tricky jumps but BIG setbacks if you die. The mechanisms are also slightly more complex (including climbing, different types of jumps, pickups, combat etc). RW is generally much slower-paced, although you can end up dead very quickly. Overall it relies on such a different set of skills that I don't think my 100+ hours of SMB helped much if at all.

The bottom line is that platforming is the core and essence of SMB, while it is merely the means to an end in RW. RW's focus is on exploration/discovery, adventure and survival. Its platforming is a subtle blend of puzzle, action and reflexes. I'd say it's pretty unique in that respect.

[AndrewFM]

This game is not really comparable to either of those games. It's not a precision platformer, it's not a rougelike, platforming is not the focus, it's only a means to an end. The things that make Rain World difficult are entirely separate from the things that make Super Meat Boy or Spelunky difficult.

Rain World is a survival, exploration-oriented game. You are thrown into a very big open world, with almost no guidance. You need to find food and shelter quickly, and you need to avoid being killed by the many different creatures higher up in the food chain that are trying to hunt you down. There is a lot of stealth and planning involved. A lot of the game revolves around carefully observing the ecosystem and learning its rules through trial and error. Creatures that seem brutally unfair early in the game become easier once you learn ways to trick them and manipulate their behavior.

In order to progress in the game, you need to survive a certain number of days in a row without dying in your current region. To do this, it largely revolves around learning and becoming familiar with your surroundings. Leaning the different paths that are available to you, learning the locations of threats, learning how to deal with those threats, learning the locations of food sources, etc.

The ecosystem and mechanics are pretty deep and complex, and since you're expected to learn them all through experimentation it can take a while to get used to the game (unless you use a guide). For most players it'll take probably 10-15 hours before they'll really start getting comfortable with it. This is largely the reason for the mixed reviews the game gets. Half of the players find this 10-15 hour period extremely frustrating and unforgiving. Others find it a brutal, but fun learning experience. Use your judgement as to which of those two groups you'll fall into.

[Doktor Ondskan]

I love Spelunky and have beaten Hell in it, and generally I love hard games. But, I definitely fall into the category that finds this game frustrating and unforgiving (but not in a satisfying way). I'm more like "good riddance" when I complete a challenge than the "I finally did it!" when I beat a boss in a souls game. In the end I stopped playing after around 6 hours since I realized I basically didn't find any enjoyment in the game.

I don't think the right question is "Is this game harder than X or Y?", I think it's "Does this game earn its difficulty?" and to that, unlike with Spelunky or Super Meat Boy, I'd personally answer "No".

[e]

Originally posted by Doktor Ondskan:

I love Spelunky and have beaten Hell in it, and generally I love hard games. But, I definitely fall into the category that finds this game frustrating and unforgiving (but not in a satisfying way). I'm more like "good riddance" when I complete a challenge than the "I finally did it!" when I beat a boss in a souls game. In the end I stopped playing after around 6 hours since I realized I basically didn't find any enjoyment in the game.

k
im asking "how hard this game is?" not "how fun this game is?"

[Doktor Ondskan]

Uhm, okay them. So what kind of answer are you looking for? On my arbitrary scale between 1 and 5 it's a 4. It's, as AndrewFM said, not easy to just compare the difficulty of games with vastly different gameplay loops and mechanics.

[RAWRmonger]

SMBoy's challenge is compensated by wasting little time on each attempt, despite requiring some quick and precise maneuvering.

Rain World gets a lot easier once you understand how things work, there're barely any metric jumps in the game.

-Primarily, people have trouble with the controls, which have a sort of natural/realistic feel to them, but also make them unique. You can adapt easily though.
-Then people don't know how to be cautious and either fall in hazards, get pincered by enemies, panic when enemies assault them, etc. There are situations when you just get screwed no matter what, but for the most part (>90%), you will be able to deal with situations successfully if you do the right decisions.
-The game does not hold your hand either, you either learn from observation, learn from trying things which you may have gotten from other games (wall jump), or browse the internet.

Personally, I don't *currently* consider this game "hard" with my experience.

[Ethan]

Originally posted by AndrewFM:

This game is not really comparable to either of those games. It's not a precision platformer, it's not a rougelike, platforming is not the focus, it's only a means to an end. The things that make Rain World difficult are entirely separate from the things that make Super Meat Boy or Spelunky difficult.

Rain World is a survival, exploration-oriented game. You are thrown into a very big open world, with almost no guidance. You need to find food and shelter quickly, and you need to avoid being killed by the many different creatures higher up in the food chain that are trying to hunt you down. There is a lot of stealth and planning involved. A lot of the game revolves around carefully observing the ecosystem and learning its rules through trial and error. Creatures that seem brutally unfair early in the game become easier once you learn ways to trick them and manipulate their behavior.

In order to progress in the game, you need to survive a certain number of days in a row without dying in your current region. To do this, it largely revolves around learning and becoming familiar with your surroundings. Leaning the different paths that are available to you, learning the locations of threats, learning how to deal with those threats, learning the locations of food sources, etc.

The ecosystem and mechanics are pretty deep and complex, and since you're expected to learn them all through experimentation it can take a while to get used to the game (unless you use a guide). For most players it'll take probably 10-15 hours before they'll really start getting comfortable with it. This is largely the reason for the mixed reviews the game gets. Half of the players find this 10-15 hour period extremely frustrating and unforgiving. Others find it a brutal, but fun learning experience. Use your judgement as to which of those two groups you'll fall into.

I fall into the dieing alot and karam grinding, yet I can't put the game down without a effort.
Well said, Andrew.

[Aereto]

Originally posted by RAWRmonger:

SMBoy's challenge is compensated by wasting little time on each attempt, despite requiring some quick and precise maneuvering.

Rain World gets a lot easier once you understand how things work, there're barely any metric jumps in the game.

-Primarily, people have trouble with the controls, which have a sort of natural/realistic feel to them, but also make them unique. You can adapt easily though.
-Then people don't know how to be cautious and either fall in hazards, get pincered by enemies, panic when enemies assault them, etc. There are situations when you just get screwed no matter what, but for the most part (>90%), you will be able to deal with situations successfully if you do the right decisions.
-The game does not hold your hand either, you either learn from observation, learn from trying things which you may have gotten from other games (wall jump), or browse the internet.

Personally, I don't *currently* consider this game "hard" with my experience.

As someone who has played the olden days of adventure games, including the core mechanics of exploring without guidance and 2D mapping (classic PC and few console games) where the hazards are in plain sight or subtle, what matters to me is having the nerves of steel and have the foresight of what might be on the next map section ahead and behind me. It does happen to drain my energy a bit more, akin to strategy games I play, so I make sure to take breaks in between before my nerves make me slip up.

In Rain World, it is nice to keep a level head on things when there's predators, food, and life-crushing rain to worry about... and there are a good number of games that Rain World reminded me of, but can't remember the names of them. Good times of being young and green when you now stand as a seasoned explorer.

[Kaz]

It's not really comparable to your run-of-the-mill 2D platformer, so any difficulty-comparison would fall a little flat. I have encountered quite the range of tight jumps and annoying enemy placement so far, but a lot of the difficulty of those has more to do with how to approach a situation strategically and how to manipulate both enemies as well as your own movement(which is really more like controlling a jiggly physics blob that attempts to follow what you want it to do and not necessarily tight in a traditional sense) in a way that will let you solve the situation at hand. The game has its own internal consistency in how you are allowed to move so it doesn't necessarily take you out of the experience, but it feels distinctly closer to a cinematic platformer than it does to a traditional one.

That being said, the game is a notoriously slow boil, many threats are ridiculously deadly and the randomness of certain things can sometimes just outright screw you out of success, so failure is common and the punishment is harsh. Rainworld has a big world with a failure state that wastes quite a bit of time as it occurs without considering the time required to return to where you last died, unlike for example Super Meat Boy, where death is quick and painless, respawn time is less than a second and levels are a minute or two long at most.

It may or may not be harder than these games, but it is certainly more infuriating if you struggle.