Isn’t it ironic?

I’m a big fan of the special kind of chaos Katamari Damacy wrought — devastating, certainly, but in a bright, cheerful, not-malicious kind of way. I feel like I’ve been chasing that kind of semi-mischievous, totally adorable novelty high ever since, seeking a game that would fill a katamari-sized hole left in my heart. Did I find that in Rain on Your Parade? Hail yeah.

Developed and self-published by Unbound Creations, Rain on Your Parade is a precipitation-based schadenfreude simulator headed to Steam, XBox One, and Switch on April 15, 2021. For a friendly $14.99 USD, players can take control of Cloudy — the little cloud that could — as he drifts his windy way to the mystical city of Seattle, raining on all obstacles along the way. Can you help Cloudy overcome all odds as he infiltrates The Weather Channel, recreates scenes from The Office, helps a zombie army take over an entire city, and, of course, pet the doggo?

Rain on Your Parade’s Switch controls are straightforward — the left analog stick moves Cloudy while pressing A makes Cloudy rain. As players progress, they’ll gain new cloud powers for this Cumulus cutie, including lightning, snow, and tornado abilities to cause even more chaos and confusion in the game’s 50-odd levels. Some of the levels have simple goals, such as soaking the bride and groom on their wedding day or putting out a dumpster fire; others take the precipitation-based mechanics to the extreme, such as corrugating cars via an acid rain bath or helping an elderly woman with her grocery list utilizing your tornado powers. When it comes to creativity in Rain on Your Parade, the sky’s the limit — and even then, that’s arguable!

Let’s talk about Rain on Your Parade’s aesthetics because they are utterly delightful. Since Cloudy’s journey is being told as a bedtime story by a loving grampa to his sleepy grandchild, the levels are literal stages, complete with a cardboard Cloudy dangling as a stage prop from the ceiling. This doesn’t prevent Cloudy from wreaking actual chaos, however, raining on all sorts of sets from up above. Everything is so full of color and whimsy — much like the aforementioned Katamari Damacy — complete with cheerful, upbeat music. With bright and charming aesthetics, Rain on Your Parade is like candy for the senses, sure to please your mental sweet tooth.

When it comes to the actual gameplay, Rain on Your Parade definitely shines in its creativity. Each level has some goals that must be fulfilled and subgoals that are optional to complete. A trip to the beach can mean getting all the vacationers soaked while avoiding the sun, but a few optional goals might be not running out of water or even not using rain (protip: use your tornado power to throw beachgoers into the ocean). You only need to complete the main goals to move onto the next level, but finishing the subgoals will yield a fancy hat or shiny new decoration for Cloudy’s head or room, respectively.

Although I was a big fan of Cloudy’s generic look, I admit that I couldn’t put FFVII’s Cloud wig on Cloudy fast enough. When visiting Cloudy’s room to change up his appearance, I was charmed by how many trinkets I had collected over the course of the game, from the Mona Clouda I had stolen from the museum to a beautiful candlelit dinner from the fancy restaurant level. There was even an arcade cabinet in the corner, and booting it up yielded a classic DOOM game with Cloudy… Clazkowicz? soaking enemy suns in dank dungeons. Every single nook and cranny is fun-filled in Rain on Your Parade, a video game or pop culture reference just begging to be discovered at every turn.

I think that’s what I ultimately enjoyed the most about Rain on Your Parade — the discovery aspect. One level has a rain-modified version of Counter Strike, with Cloudy taking on the role of the terrorists as he soaks the good guys; another asks you to lead an alien from an SCP containment truck back to its UFO. There are so many random discoveries and charmingly designed levels that I found myself almost unable to get through the game fast enough to see what other bizarre fun was next on the horizon.

And although some levels are pretty difficult to finish — even the main challenges — none of them will truly hold back a dedicated player. Rain on Your Parade is challenging, but predominately designed for fast fun — and with a New Game+ mode, those who do want to struggle a little bit more will find what they’re looking for after the credits roll, the replay value absolutely there.

Rain on Your Parade is a delightfully charming puzzle game that will super-soak players with its incredible creativity. Although I had plenty of fun breezing through on my own, I can absolutely see streamers and youtubers drawing in an eager audience, wondering what hilariously designed level awaits them next. If you love a novel experience that doesn’t take itself seriously but is genuine fun every step of the way (or you just really like precipitation-based gameplay), look no further than Rain on Your Parade.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Available on: PC, XBox One, Switch (reviewed); Publisher: Unbound Creations; Developer: Unbound Creations; Players: 1; Released: April 15, 2021; MSRP: $14.99

Editor’s note: This review is based on a retail copy of Rain on Your Parade provided by the publisher.