Rain World Rain World - A Spoiler-Free Primer

Rain World is a deeply difficult game, both in terms of mechanic and in how willing it is to make itself explained. Here's a few tips to make your first hours less teeth gnashingly hard, while preserving some of its mystery.

Introduction

Rain World is a "hands-off" game in every sense. It does little to guide you in how any of its convoluted systems work. It rarely guideposts any reasonably path through this world, the Yellow Guide be damned. Enemy placement is randomized, a difficulty that is not crafted by any developer, but by the Ecosystem it inhabits. This is a game that is maddeningly alive, which means it's chaotic and unfair.

You can not beat this chaos, but you can learn to temper it with knowledge and skill. But those two things should only come as hard-fought victories, and not through some wiki page. Dig deep enough - and trust me, it requires a lot of digging - you'll find a mystery worth the hours, and an incredibly immersive world. These tips should be enough to help you without any cheating.

The main issue I encountered was going through things in the "wrong" order, so, perhaps the most important tip of all...

Don't Go Up Or Where Do I Go?

I can't stress this enough. Don't go up. It's the areas that are by FAR the most chaotic and unpredictable, with lizards and sky monsters and instant-death falls far too difficult for an untrained Slugcat. I powered through these places but it was Not Fun, and I do not want you to make the same mistake. If you find the Chimney Canopies - turn back.

Imagine if you went down to Blighttown before going up to the Undead Burg, that's kinda the situation.

If not up, then where? Though the yellow guide is cryptic, it IS helpful in guiding your first steps. Only problem is figuring out where it wants you to go, as it isn't particularly common with its help... My advice: Look for water, green or blue.

Controls

These controls are going to be, well, slug-ish for the first 10 hours. The procedurally animated Slugcat is equal turns nimble and awkward. Mastery over this is going to come with time, but for starters...

Movement

You don't need to hold down the down button to crouch. Just tap up and down to switch stances. This is important because...
Long jumping is a crucial skill. Long jumping is done by crouching and holding in the jump button, allowing you to jump over longer gaps.
Not an exact science, but you can grapple onto ledges by holding up, the direction of the ledge, and pressing the jump key. Quite common in conjunction with long jumps.
While crawling through tunnels, try jumping. Depending on the direction you're traveling in, you'll get different results.
Up to grab, down to drop. Applies to several things.

Item Management

Hold down while pressing the grab button to gently set an item down.
Double tap the grab button to swap items between Slugcat's paws. The right paw, left from a player perspective, will always throw the item first.
Hold down the grab button while you're holding an item and something unexpected will happen.

Navigation

It can be difficult to tell the difference between an instant-death fall and a new location. Generally if a new area extends past the screen, it'll be shown by a pole going off screen towards it, but other times you're just simply going to have to guess. Not the best design feature.

Items & Food

Items

Spears are always useful. Try and have one on you as often as you can. They're for more than just killing...
Rocks and debris on the ground are useful for stunning and distracting enemies.
See a shiny thing with a white speck on it? That's a Pearl. They're valuable - but to who? Maybe you can get something in return.
Coloured pearls are precious.
Items stored in shelters, if they aren't perishable, will remain indefinitely.

Food

Bats and fruits are going to be your stock at the start, but don't expect to see them everywhere.
Bats won't survive in the shelter with you, fruit does.
Some food might take a few extra steps to prepare, things you didn't even realize WERE food. Try eating stuff - surprisingly, for a game that's gleefully murderous otherwise, nothing I've encountered has been poisonous
Not all food gives you a pip, but are useful to you in other ways.

Creatures

General

If it looks hostile, it probably is.
If it looks intelligent, it probably is.
Killing an enemy can be risky, and with little - to even negative! - gain depending on who you're facing. Stealth, cunning, and running away is going to be the main way you deal with enemies.
Stay quiet if you haven't been spotted. Falling from distances, running upright, throwing stuff - that's all going to attract attention.

Flora & Fauna

Lizards have randomized attributes, but can be consistently assessed by their colour.
If two lizards are of the same colour, they're probably going to fight each other for dominance, allowing you to slink away.
Hostile flora will try and grab you, but on the other hand, they try and grab anything.
Ok enough with the vague tips because ♥♥♥♥ this guy: The Pole Plant. These things disguise themselves to look like normal poles, but as soon as you grab them they pull you under the ground, killing you. The only way you're gonna get around these is patience, paranoia, and just some intuition. A hot tip: Real poles show up on your map, these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s don't.

Written by Fingerthing.

Source: https://gameplay.tips/guides/665-rain-world.html

Rain World - A Spoiler-Free Primer