Rain98 是一款氛围绝佳的低保真心理惊悚浪漫冒险游戏（2026年发售）

• #1

How did I not learn of this game when it was first announced last year? This looks really good.

I only learned about it from seeing an interview with the game's director

Anime News Network: What would you say is the "theme" of Rain98?

Shoon T: "There are several themes I want to explore in Rain98, but at its core, I think it's about how people come to terms with the overwhelming anxiety and fear that seem to permeate the world around us. Today, there is a vague anxiety about the future, a sense of social stagnation, and a kind of fundamental fear that is difficult to put into words. In some ways, I feel that these emotions echo the unique atmosphere in Japan during 1998 and 1999, just before the turn of the century and the Y2K fear. In Rain98, I wanted to portray those fears, not as grand events or ideological conflicts, but as something deeply personal. I wanted to create a work where the anxieties of an era and the fears of an individual slowly seep through these small, intimate moments. Reina calls herself "the Angolmois of the Fin de Siècle" and claims that she will destroy the world. Whether those words are serious, a joke, a prayer, or something else entirely—I hope players will gradually discover their meaning through the story. Is Rain98 a story about saving the world? Destroying it? Or neither? Rather than providing a clear answer from the beginning, I want players to spend time with Reina and arrive at their own understanding."

ANN: Perfect Blue and Serial Experiments Lain have been cited as influences for Rain98. What other works have influenced it?

Shoon T: "There are quite a lot. Rather than drawing direct inspiration from any one particular work, Rain98 feels more like a fusion of influences from many different works, all brought together through its core themes and concepts. Films such as CURE, Ringu, and Dark Water deeply inspired me with their uniquely Japanese, rain-soaked atmosphere and lingering sense of dread. What interests me is not the idea of a monster attacking from the shadows, but rather the feeling that everyday spaces themselves gradually become unsettling. For depictions of 1990s Tokyo, I looked closely at works like Love & Pop, Tokyo Eyes, and Bounce Ko GALS. In terms of dialogue and loneliness, I have been influenced by [...] Lost in Translation, where two people simply spend time together without a clearly defined destination. Emily Dickinson's poetry has also been a source of inspiration. [...] While Rain98 contains elements of psychological horror and suspense, it is ultimately grounded in Japanese aesthetics—nostalgia, lingering traces of memory, and concepts akin to wabi-sabi. I hope players enjoy not only the story itself but also exploring which influences may be reflected in particular scenes.

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3498720/Rain98/

In a chill but dark apartment room, you're joined by Reina Amehara (VA: Rio Tsuchiya), a girl with a mysterious and somewhat dangerous charm to her.

Together, you decide you have to perform a strange ritual... to save the world from destruction.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvE9g-UOSsQ

Loose socks minigame is kinda weird, not really my thing.

Last edited: Sep 7, 2026

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• #2

Another interview

What is the inspiration behind Rain98?

There were many, many inspirations. For Japanese media, things like Perfect Blue, Serial Experiment LAIN (which came out in 1998), and a lot of movies that came out in the 90s. There are the movies of Takeshi Kitano, Ringu and the character of Sadako, and many of the elements of that time. I also drew some important inspiration from a much older movie. There is a French film called La Jetée, and its style gave me so many ideas and concepts that became a big part of Rain98. Also, the writings of Murakami Harumi are some that I enjoy very much. His ideas and cadence in storytelling became a part of my creative process. In fact, I have this list of everything that had some influence in the creation of Rain98, and they're simply too many to list.

[At this point I am shown a literal list of what must have been dozens, if not hundreds, of different things that were influential to the game's creation. It left me thunderstruck.]

The approach to interactive literature has been changing a lot in the last few years, with more and more Western audiences becoming involved in the scene as both fans and creators. What was so important in making Rain98 an interactive fiction title and not, say, some other kind of title?

The way that players can watch and consume the animated sequences is really important to us, and that's something you can do with interactive fiction. For example, there's a mini game where you're putting loose socks on Reina from the protagonist's perspective. There are many of these mini games that players will do that are important to how you build your relationship with Reina, and it wouldn't work as another kind of game. [ShoonT takes a moment to acknowledge my daughter, who is also taking notes during the interview] Though, there is also a cigarette smoking mini game, so you might want to avoid playing it, sorry [laughs].

Additionally, you can see that the way that the lights in the city and even the sound effects of the rain throughout the demo creates this atmosphere around the player and Reina. This isn't something that we could have done by just making it a straight visual novel, nor would it have felt the same if we turned it into an anime instead of a game. We're creating a hybrid experience where you're both a viewer and an active participant in this specific pocket of existence. We feel that our direction is what makes Rain98 become the true version that we want to share with everyone.

• #3

Added to my wishlist! Thank you for the update

• #4

I am so here for this. Immediate wishlist

• #5

This was shown in one of the summer showcases (couldn't tell you which) but I'm glad more people may be discovering it outside of that

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• #6

Can't stop thinking about this game rn. Found another interview from Gamecom Latam.

Ukiyoe Studios wants to focus on good, tight games with shorter playtimes, not big 80+ hour games

[Hardcore Gamer] First, can you talk about yourself, your team and your experience with the indie scene and the industry as a whole?

[On Takahashi] My name is On Takahashi, I'm from Ukiyo Studios. I help developers and publishers all around the world with their events and promotions.

I think indie games are doing very well recently. You know, I think a lot of people are sometimes a little bit tired of very, very big games, like 80-hour, 100-hour experiences. So they want a good, tight three-hour experience, 10 hours, you know, things like that. And I think indie games fill that void perfectly for a lot of players.

Doesn't like to work with Gen AI

So how do you pick the games you want to work with? How does this work?

So, in terms of Ukiyo Studios business, we're not very picky. Most of the time it's through referral. So one of our customers tells their friends, "Work with Ukiyo, they are great," and we get more customers to come, or they meet us at events.

This week, some Brazilian developers were here, and we were talking, and they were like, "ah, I want to show my game in Japan, can you help me?" or to go to America, China and so on. We are always very open to working with everybody, but personally I don't like to work with GenAI (Generative AI). For mobile games, we don't have a lot of experience working with [either]. Both me and my business partner, David [Cardenas], we love indie games, so we tend to focus on indie games.

Rain98 has huge 90s anime vibes

What can you say about Rain98 and how did it come to be one of your games?

For Rain98, we've actually been working in a consultant role for a very, very long time. It's a very interesting game. The developers were all born in the early 90s, and they wanted to show the 90s vibe of Japan to players around the world.

I think nowadays, with the popularity of anime, a lot of people feel like they know Japan, but the Japan they know is after the 2000s. With Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, it's all modern. Whereas Rain98 is this very brief period in the 90s that a lot of people don't know. Maybe Evangelion? But other than that, it's very rare to find 90s Japan IP.

Myself included, we were kids in this [specific] 90s period, so it kind of mixes in a lot of elements that we think will be very unique and interesting for the 90s kids.

The importance of localization

Even with the minigames, it is a very narrative experience. The text matters a lot. The game here was in Portuguese and English is available as well, but how did you pick the languages you wanted to bring to the game?

So, in terms of localization, we work with a very talented group, a localization team called Warlocs. They handle a lot of different indie games. We currently take Rain98 to many events around the world and, depending on where we go, we try to prepare a local language build for them.

And we knew we were going to gamescom latam, so we prepared Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish. The Brazilian Portuguese translator is Amelia [Molino]. She's worked on a lot of indie games and is very passionate about Japanese culture. So I thought she was a perfect fit for this game.

Everything about the game is very carefully planned for this immersiveness through sound, voice, visuals, and everything.

• #7

back when it was announced, and seeing 16 languages planned right of the bat, for a little indie dev, i was really affraid it would be AI... And while i understand wanting to reach more audience with AI translation since a lot of people don't speak english and tons of indie games are only available that way, it still sucks when it's low quality

hopefully it's not the case here with the warlocs team they're talking about

• #8

Thanks for the heads up! Absolutely wishlisted, the rainy vibes are god tier!

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• #9

back when it was announced, and seeing 16 languages planned right of the bat, for a little indie dev, i was really affraid it would be AI... And while i understand wanting to reach more audience with AI translation since a lot of people don't speak english and tons of indie games are only available that way, it still sucks when it's low quality

hopefully it's not the case here with the warlocs team they're talking about

Yeah, definitely something to worry about today.

Here's the localization group, looks like most of the staff have at least 4+ years of experience:

Can't say I heard of them before, though they did also localize Mewgenics, The Drifter, and Sektori. And they localized 1000 x Resist.

• #10

It's like a video game version of an Ado music video.

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