Put me within the camp of level and click on aficionados who fiercely imagine that 1993’s Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers is without doubt one of the greatest journey video games to ever contact a PC. First in a trilogy of thriller mysteries, it featured writing that was a reduce above Sierra On-Line’s standard fare, puzzles that veered on the facet of wise investigations somewhat than moon logic, and a wonderful bastard of a Cajun protagonist.
The Kathy Rain sequence owes a lot to Gabriel Knight. Swap the ’90s-era New Orleans creator for a ’90s-era biker chick/journalism scholar, substitute the voodoo killings with a conspiracy involving the dying of a grandparent, and you’ve got the primary Kathy Rain, which was launched in 2016 and boasted the generic-but-still-memorable tagline: “A Detective is Born”. However regardless of receiving fair praise from John again within the day, Kathy’s first outing had a murky plot about cults, trauma, small city disappearances, and Elder Gods that was solely made comprehensible through a spruced up Director’s Minimize in 2021. Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, I am blissful to report, wants no such re-release, although anybody who hasn’t accomplished the primary recreation is certain to nonetheless be just a little confused.
The sequel begins with a recap of the Director’s Minimize, formally canonising it because the definitive model of Kathy’s previous journey in Conwell Springs. Three years after that incident, Kathy is older, wiser, and residing within the imply made-up metropolis of Kassidy. She’s struggling to maintain the lights on at her PI workplace, Rain Investigations, till her mentor lets her know {that a} $200,000 reward is out for info pertaining to a serial killer dubbed the “Soothsayer.” After deciding to hunt the killer, Kathy hooks up together with her Christian roommate Eileen (the pair are a stunning odd couple) and learns that the Soothsayer is linked to the occasions of Conwell Springs.
The plot is extra assured in its presentation than Kathy Rain 1, which regularly appeared uncertain of what to do with its supernatural components, and took a nosedive into Twin Peaks territory within the eleventh hour after largely enjoying it straight. Right here, the David Lynch surrealism and dashes of Silent Hill horror are naturally woven into the narrative on the finish of every in-game day, which usually conclude with Kathy experiencing vivid nightmares that function the Crimson One, a burgundy-suited baldie who talks in riddles. These scenes are connective tissue that make the seek for the Soothsayer extra partaking and sidestep all the “Huh, what is going on on?” questions that the primary recreation offered.
The strategies of your investigation resemble Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers, however with the minimal interface of a late ’90s LucasArts recreation – Full Throttle, for example. (For these questioning if that is extra Sierra or LucasArts in the case of deaths, know that you simply can die, however doing so simply fades the display screen to white, sending you again to the place you have been.) The majority of your actions are normal level and click on stuff – chat with people, choose up objects, use objects to unravel puzzles to progress additional. Every time Kathy speaks to an NPC, the well-penned dialogue and vast breadth of subjects are extremely partaking, and there is a sublime system in place the place you may ask people about stuff in your stock and objects within the speedy setting, prompting an enormous number of solutions.
Roundabout, overly-complicated puzzle sequences go hand-in-hand with the journey style, however most of Kathy’s challenges could be solved by clicking on the proper hotspots or exhausting stock combos. There are a number of sequences that veer in direction of filler (ie, handing an NPC the proper sequence of instruments to assist them repair their automotive), however most are properly impressed, like composing the right haiku to impress the proprietor of a poetry membership. There are two particularly difficult (and really ’90s) puzzles that contain hacking a pc and deciphering pager codes, however they’re nonetheless simpler than that second in Sins Of The Fathers the place Gabriel needed to decipher voodoo-speak on the facet of a tomb to discover a secret cult hiding place in a bayou.
Your journey is illustrated by among the greatest pixel artwork I’ve seen in a degree and click on recreation, and the lighting results that drench Kathy when she walks underneath Kassidy’s neon indicators make me really feel like I am residing in a parallel timeline the place Gabriel Knight continued to embrace 2D for subsequent mysteries as an alternative of FMV and clunky early 3D. The voice performing will get the job completed properly (Kathy and Eileen’s actors from the primary recreation make a welcome return), whereas Daniel Kobylarz’s rating gives a semi-melodic, semi-atmospheric vibe that that I can hearken to whereas penning this assessment, which is far appreciated. Try the OST on YouTube should you care – the main map theme that performs as Kathy’s driving by means of city on her hog actually will get me going.
All of those aspects weave collectively to make Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer probably the most engrossing adventures I’ve performed in a protracted whereas. It is closely reliant on extending the narrative of its forebear, nevertheless, and just like the Kathy Rain 1 Director’s Minimize, a lot of its extra fascinating twists and turns exist to iron out the tough patches of plot from the primary recreation. However sequels do not essentially should be totally standalone experiences, and also you can most likely blast by means of each Kathy Rain 1 and a pair of within the span of lengthy weekend. If that sounds beneficial, give Kathy a go. A detective has certainly been born, and as a femme Gabriel Knight, she carries the torch of a distinct segment style in superb kind.
This assessment relies on a assessment construct of the sport supplied by the developer.
Disclosure: I examined a beta for Kathy Rain 2 initially of 2025.
