#Rainbite

[miloscat]

[Review] Trigger Witch (PS5)

What if Zelda... had a GUN?

Rainbite's previous game, Reverie, was a charming Zelda-like set in a magical-realism-tinged Aotearoa. This follow-up from the small Kiwi team adopts a similar formula, but with a ballistic twist: it's also a twin-stick shooter! Be warned, I will spoil late-game plot twists in this review.

The setting is a magical realm where witches and goblins, once cohabitants, are now separated by a mystic barrier. The witches have abandoned magic in favour of the firearms that fall through a portal in their town. Their preoccupation with guns provides avenues for light satire of religion and cultural prejudices, although oddly issues of gun control aren't really part of the narrative. Either way, the story is lightly handled, with some nice character dynamics between your protag Colette and her two friends who you cross paths—and butt heads—with as you journey to thwart the plot of a sinister interloper, the man in black.

The revelation at the climax of the plot pushes the game into absurd territory as it's revealed that the mysterious antagonist is none other than Joseph Stalin, experimenting with interdimensional travel in order to gather magic power for the glory of Soviet Russia. Suddenly the cute monsters you've been blowing away in great clouds of blood [confetti mode is also available] are human Soviet soldiers and I start feeling even more iffy about the central mechanics of gun violence using real-life firearms. Then Stalin shoots your mother in cold blood (don't worry, she gets better), and you fly to the moon to fight his super space mech. The mix of goofiness, heart, worldbuilding, social commentary, and violence makes for some odd tone swings that don't always come together but are fascinating to watch.

The gameplay is more consistent, solidly homaging 16-bit action-adventures like Zelda with lovely colourful pixel art and some fun dungeon design. The action is handled via your swappable and upgradeable arsenal of guns; your ammo is infinite but reloading takes time, so you usually use a more advanced one until it runs out then swap to another, or default to your basic hand cannon. Combat encounters are often frantic and fun mini twin-stick shooting arenas, with a few vertical shmup sequences sprinkled through the game.

I'm not sure what else there is to say except to compare Trigger Witch to Rainbite's previous game. Reverie's down-home charm being swapped out for more overt fantasy is a lateral move at best for me, although the big swings taken here made for an interesting experience. The puzzles are gentler but the action is engaging, and ultimately the "Zelda with guns" goal can be marked with a big tick. I think I would recommend Reverie above this but it's not a zero-sum game, go ahead and check this out afterwards as well!

[krewssleuth]

— 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍 ...?

a villain was a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. important did not mean to disrupt or ruin the plot. was what they did right? maybe not, but it was necessary—important.

The White Rainbit was concluded to have committed mass murder, the actual method is unknown and is only in theory that "magic" was used. This leaves us to wonder why she did this: kill everyone including herself. She was smart, intelligent I dare say. She was also cunning like a fox which nobody would suspect of the sweet, innocent rabbit. One of the only few considerably sane ones unlike the others such as Draco Hatter. Rainbit only wanted what was best for her and her friends; was that too much to ask? They were all living a lie, and all she did was get them out to live a reality together. The deaths were necessary. She sacrificed herself for everyone and yet no thanks but instead punishment.

Princess Gold of the Kingdom of Tales was a runaway along with her niece who is the daughter of Princess General Funneh. She hated how her siblings ruled, casting aside the weak as they only thought about the strong. Wait, scratch that, not casting aside but not even realising the poor existed. Gold was getting better in terms of her mental health, and she refuses to be pulled down and surrounded by these insensitive people. Dominga agreed to escape and looked up to her more than her mother. The two then embarked for justice of their people and peace in their hearts. A tale of the Should-Have-Been King and the Neglected Daughter; The Runaway Duo.

Sacrifice 001: Funneh; the winner—and lone survivor—of the Sanctuary. The youtuber had previously been made to move homes multiple times by harassing her about what happened to the other sacrifices. Fans of the other sacrifices sending death threats as they ask about their idols' being. She remains silent about the contest, leaving many to ponder about its origins, location and host. More specifically the host's intentions. Rumours were spread that she murdered multiple people related to the contest as she seeks vengeance for her siblings. Funneh was also heard to shout and criticise a person by the name of "Oracle" in her ward the day after winning the Sacrifice Sanctuary.

SLEUTH'S NOTES :: currently i have no ideas for lunar and draco so comment anything like aus and what the plot could be :) thank yaa (also, no, i didn't forget itfunneh, tommeh and draca. i have diff ideas for them though they are still technically considered villains but i see them more of their "own" person rather than an alternate self)

[kiwimadegames]

'Reverie' (2018) By: Rainbite (Auckland) For: PS4, Vita, Switch Restless spirits threaten Toromi Island’s inhabitants, Tai must venture through dangerous dungeons and across a variety of environments to put the spirits to rest. Links: - PS4: https://bit.ly/3nFsDTz - Switch: https://bit.ly/3t8GD9p

[emotionalmultimediaride]

Game release: "Reverie: Sweet As Edition" (PC, PS5, Xbox Series)

Rainbite and Eastasiasoft‘s action-adventure RPG Reverie arrives in its Sweet As Edition on more consoles and PC. Originally released for PS4 and PS Vita in 2018 in its original form and then in the current edition for Nintendo Switch a year later, it has taken quite a few years for the game to materialize on other platforms. Inspired by classic SNES titles like the popular The Legend of Zelda:…

[clickbliss]

Reverie is a Zelda-like adventure with New Zealand flair

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Reverie

Developer: Rainbite

Publisher: Eastasiasoft

Switch, PS4, Vita

“Earthbound meets Zelda”. It’s really difficult to describe Reverie in any other way. You can dance around it, play up its New Zealand mythology, or use a phrase like “quirky top down action-adventure game” but the influences are worn very openly. Often imitated, but rarely replicated, invoking them means living up to a lot of people’s high expectations. So does Reverie clear the high bar it sets?

Maybe. Sorta?

Reverie doesn’t achieve anywhere near the same level of puzzle, world, or dungeon design of the series it cribs from, but it does have its own unique charm. Transplanting the framework of a fantasy adventure onto the domestic has a sort of eternal appeal, and in at least some part, Reverie captures that feeling of turning play sessions in the backyard into grand adventures.

Reverie is at its best when I’m fighting possessed washing machines and thwacking enemies with a yoyo. There’s still a playful novelty to seeing swords and arrows replaced with a cricket bat and nerf gun. The regional touches work add to this--being able to find a nest of Kiwi birds and add their lost feathers to your feather collection is genuinely cute.

Reverie kind of gets by on that novelty. From a formal standpoint, it’s uninteresting, rote even. It’s nowhere near as well constructed as its inspirations. Puzzles mostly involve pushing a box through obvious paths to press down a switch, only getting slightly more engaging when it asks you to do things like intentionally press the puzzle reset switch as part of the solution. Dungeons never really taxed me, aside from the bosses which tend to be slightly sloppy. Maybe the boss pattern is predictable, or the room is too big to easily track them--there’s a lot of small, obvious issues like that.

Outside the main town, the world map doesn’t have a great sense of geography either. Parts are a little too wide, or a little too narrow, and never have a sense of history or even connect in a fun puzzle box way. The same obvious logic found in the dungeons puzzles applies to the way areas connect, and even the winding paths I was sent through felt more like I was being sent the long way than properly exploring.

None of this makes Reverie unenjoyable. If anything, it lends Reverie a more casual, carefree attitude than other Zelda style adventures. The feeling I got most from Reverie is that the developers wanted to communicate “hey, we made a Zelda, isn’t that cool?” And, yeah, sometimes it is. It is cool.

[operationrainfall]

Trigger Witch Coming to Consoles

Trigger Witch Coming to Consoles

  In a press release put out by EastAsiaSoft they have announced they will be publishing Trigger Witch, a new game by Rainbite, developers of 2018’s Reverie.     Trigger Witch seems to be aiming (No pun intended.) to combine a classic Zelda style action-adventure game with a twin-stick shooter. The player will explore an expansive world from a top down perspective, solve puzzles, meet a host of…

[thesplintering]

Master Your Witchcraft and Triggery in Twin-Stick Shooter “Trigger Witch” this Summer

Master Your Witchcraft and Triggery in Twin-Stick Shooter “Trigger Witch” this Summer | #gaming #videogames #ps5 #Xbox #NintendoSwitch

Game publisher Eastasiasoft recently announced that retro-inspired, twin-stick shooter Trigger Witch is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and SeXBox in summer 2021. The game will be available via each respective platform’s digital storefront, as well as in physical format thanks to PlayAsia. Developed by New Zealand studio Rainbite, Trigger Witch is set in a world “where magic is…

[niche-gamer]

Vertical Shmup "Rym 9000" Launches February 15 for PS4, Retail Version Announced https://nichegamer.com/2019/02/06/vertical-shmup-rym-9000-launches-february-15-for-ps4-retail-version-announced/

[shatteredrabbit]

tumblr mobile's serch function is so fucked up im desperately trying to find that one spicy lore rp with rainbit in it and it won't come up no matter how i search for it this is so homophobic

[miloscat]

[Review] Reverie (NS)

This indie game is more like a cross between Link to the Past and Mother 3, plus a big bucket of wholesomeness.

The three guys that make up Rainbite are from New Zealand, and Reverie isn’t ashamed of that at all! Not that it should be, but what I’m saying is that the story is based on a Maori legend, there are New Zealand flags and wildlife all over, and characters use plenty of slang and expressions particular to that culture.

Visually, Reverie very much seems to me to be saying: “what if Mother 3 was set on a small island in Aotearoa?”, which I find very charming. In gameplay terms it’s a simplified Zelda-like: your sword is now a cricket bat, and you have two item slots for a nerf gun, yo-yo, plastic spade, pet rock, snorkel, etc., and the ultimate optional equipment, the protective kahu.

The overworld is very homey and colourful, with friendly characters to chat to and the occasional sidequest. The enemies rarely seem threatening even when they are, and the dungeons are nice and varied in places like a hollow tree, a giant sandcastle, a multi-faith church basement, or a volcano. Within these dungeons the navigation and puzzles—the typical blocks, switches lasers, etc.—can get pretty head-scratching at times, more so than most Zelda games.; it’s not insurmountable, but an engaging challenge.

It’s clearly an indie effort and a labour of love. Relatively short (my full playthrough was 5 hours), but surely “sweet as”. It was also nice hunting down the feather collectibles and looking up the native birds of Aotearoa that they went with.

Originally I was aiming to play this on Vita, until the Switch rerelease added extra features that weren’t ported to the other releases. These include a harder difficulty, a new minigame, an achievement system, and a quick item swap, none of which I ended up being too fussed about, and in fact I forgot about the latter feature until writing this. So I would recommend this game, and any version would be fine.

[hardcoregamer]

Review: Trigger Witch

That Trigger Witch does nothing new is something that cannot be hidden. It’s a well worn genre piece mixing in elements that have been used over and over for generations, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, which is where Rainbite pulls the rabbit from the hat. Exploring the world is fun, gunning down the enemies is fun, and finding and using new and varied weapons is, well, fun.

Read more!

https://hardcoregamer.com/reviews/review-trigger-witch/408431/

[kiwimadegames]

'Reverie' (2018) By: Rainbite (Auckland) For: PS4, Vita, Switch Restless spirits threaten Toromi Island’s inhabitants, Tai must venture through dangerous dungeons and across a variety of environments to put the spirits to rest. Links: - PS4: https://bit.ly/3nFsDTz - Switch: https://bit.ly/3t8GD9p

[nintendonext]

το Φεβρουάριο αναμένεται το Reverie: Sweet As Edition

το Φεβρουάριο αναμένεται το Reverie: Sweet As Edition

Το Reverie: Sweet As Edition έρχεται στο Switch eShop στις 7 Φεβρουαρίου, σύμφωνα με τη Rainbite. Τι άλλο γνωρίζουμε; Ανακαλύψτε το με ένα κλικ!

(more…)

[argy89]

Ya puedo volverlo aguardar 😎. . #Reverie #eastasiasoft #rainbite #PSVita #Playstation #Playasia #Videogames #vitaisland #trophies https://www.instagram.com/p/BqrBOuin2S2/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1u2eyvf9ovf8y

[wer1your2podcast]

Almost finished with this gem #reverie from #rainbite #gamer #gaming #ps4 #playstation4 #ps4pro #xboxone #nintendoswitch #games #pc #mac #videogame #psvita #vita #vitaisland #playstation #indie #indiegame #IndieGameDev #indiedev #videogames https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo674nDl4v1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=60eqafa30prp

[clickbliss]

Trigger Witch takes the “ultraviolent Nintendo game” gag to its logical conclusion

By Amr (@siegarettes)

Trigger Witch 

Developers - Rainbite

Publisher - eastasiasoft

Switch, Playstation, Xbox

Among easy internet gags “Nintendo game with ultraviolence” is a long time staple. One look at Trigger Witch and it’s easily clear this is its starting point. Everything from the viewpoint, tilesets, structure and even certain melodies mark it as a clear pastiche of A Link to the Past, with AKs and Magnums replacing the swords and magic. Complete with the violent bursts of blood when you finish off an enemy. 

What makes Trigger Witch stand out is how far it’s willing to take the concept, answering questions of how and why, and doing legitimate world building around it. Witches in the world have forgotten how to use most magic, and in its place a faith devoted to the use and crafting of firearms has developed, complete with rights of passage to receive your first gun. 

It’s at once far more elaborate than you’d expect--going so far as to talk about the infrastructure that allows them to develop and magically conjure ammunition--and not elaborate enough. By answering so many questions about the world it leaves many more open. And coming from American gun culture, in which the right to lethal force is presented with equal religious fervor, Trigger Witch rides an uncomfortable tension. 

More straightforward is Trigger Witch’s play on the Zelda structure, complete with an overworld that slowly opens its gates as you earn new weapons. Traversal’s a little less charming when the doors open to a grenade launcher, however. Likewise, enemy patterns become less interesting when your entire arsenal is projectile based. Most enemies you’ll encounter perform some form of either rushing you down or firing at you, and though the room design attempts to keep this novel, it quickly becomes rote. 

When combat does switch up for boss fights, it becomes a hectic, sloppy mess. Not confident that it’s boss gimmicks can carry it, Trigger Witch throws enemy mobs into what are already iffy fights, completely breaking up the steady rhythm that its combat sets elsewhere. The first boss fight in particular proved so tedious that I ended up just spraying bullets and spamming health potions to grind through it. 

Building on that is Trigger Witch’s bizarre ammunition system. Your revolver is the only weapon that can be manually reloaded, with other weapons requiring you to switch to the pistol and wait until a full clip conjures itself into the chamber. It’s already a bizarre system with only two weapons, but the more weapons you pick up the more unwieldy it becomes, adding an unwanted sense of chaos to combat. 

Trigger Witch is full of small decisions like this that make it more messy as it goes on, which draws a lot of unfavorable comparisons when the game you’re riffing on is known for its flawless polish. Outside of boss battles, it does a surprisingly good job setting the pace, but these small problems continually have Trigger Witch stumbling over its own feet. 

With more considered combat Trigger Witch could have remained an enjoyable, if derivative, Zelda style adventure. As it is, it’s a light hearted gag that does more than expected, but doesn’t quite deliver.