Who knew there would be a game created to celebrate the love of rain! Pluviophile is an atmospheric walking simulator game by independent game developer Tonguç Bodur.

Warning - this review contains spoilers! Though, there isn’t much to spoil as it’s not that sort of game. There are no difficult challenges or puzzles and the gameplay is simplistic by design. This game is more about creating an immersive experience that is designed to relax you.

You spend your time in the game wandering along a primarily linear path collecting glowing purple flowers that unlock fragments of an inspiring poem by Julius Cawein. It is almost constantly raining and there are even rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning in the distance adding to the atmosphere.

There are a total of 3 chapters in Pluviophile however all are rather short. Tonguç describes the game as a very short experience about the mood of rain in the woods. It may take you a little over an hour to complete the game at walking pace while exploring the environment as it only took us a little over 20 minutes “running” through the game on our second playthrough.

There is an underlying feeling of mystery when you wander through the lush forests and beautiful scenery. There are hints of a larger world here begging to be explored. Tonguç Bodur has a flair for creating these kinds of games and his portfolio of atmospheric games is steadily growing. You can check out all of his games on his website at www.tongucbodur.com

These kinds of games are not for everyone, though it is fascinating to see their rise in popularity. Gamers use walking simulators to help them relax and focus. In fact listening to game music for relaxation and studying is surprisingly popular.

In my view these kinds of games are perfect for Virtual Reality. The immersion would be spectacular. The simulation of rain particles and fog lends itself to VR and listening to rain as a 360° spatial audio experience would be perfect for us pluviophiles. Hopefully, this is something Tonguç will consider, and there may be another audience for his games.

An original music score composed by Pınar Karabaş accompanies your journey through a misty rainy forest far from civilization. The soundtrack to Pluviophile can be purchased separately from the game. Both the game and soundtrack are currently on sale on steam for an an amazing $0.89 USD each. Yes - only 89 cents which includes a 10% discount.

The game ends with a mysterious figure standing with her back to you almost reminiscent of the pre-Raphaelite Lady of Shalott. She aptly whispers, “Now we sleep” and the credits begin to roll.

Pluviophile a beautiful game built on Unreal Engine and ran smoothly on my now outdated gaming rig. I could manage 60fps with no problems running at 1440p on my i7 4790 CPU with 16GB RAM and an Nvidia GTX 1070ti graphics card. The minimum specs should suit casual gamers recommending only a modest quad core processor with 8GB Ram and either a GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX5600.

I highly recommend Pluviophile if you haven’t experienced this type of game before. At the ridiculously low price, it’s a no brainer for a game about the love of rain.

store.steampowered.com/app/1322170/Pluviophile/

If you’re in the mood for some more rainy content to relax, check out our collection of rain sounds for sleeping & relaxation at www.pluviophile.com