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Rain is more than just weather in the human imagination. It is symbolic, ranging in its symbolism from rebirth all the way to sorrow and anxiety. Rain in video games is often meaningful, as creating rain is extra work on the part of the creators. Rain often can set a tone in games that are in the horror and/or action genre.
Amongst games that have rain, there are ones that stand out for having the most. Inclement weather never seems to end in these titles. Read on if you want to know what games have rain as an almost permanent feature.
10 Gone Home
Gone Home is a first-person game where you explore a rural Oregon family home in 1995. For some reason, the family of the protagonist is not home. So she has to explore and piece together what happened.
You explore the house, not really going outside in the game. However, it is storming outside and the sound of rain can be heard outside the walls. While the game is not a horror game, it does set an uneasy tone as you explore a dark home alone.
9 Resident Evil 2 (2019)
Zombies and rain often go together, and that is true in Resident Evil 2's remake. A lot of the game takes place in the police station and underground, but it is raining outside the whole time. There are moments outside though, and the street is shiny with puddles and the sky is falling down in drops.
It would almost be relaxing if not for being chased down by zombies and the hulking Mr. X.
8 Max Payne 2
This game dates back to 2003 and was launched on the Xbox, PS2, and Windows. The game was inspired by film noire, and like any noire, it bathed its scenes and settings in rain. There is just something about a crime-ridden cities, nighttime, cynical detectives, and rain that really work together, and Max Payne 2 delivered it all neatly in a third-person shooter game.
The game is set in New York City, and it does rain a lot there in real life (119 days per year on average!).
7 Fatal Frame 3
The survival horror game Fatal Frame 3 actually mostly takes place in a dream (which is more of a nightmare). It does not rain in the dream, but it is always raining when Rei wakes up. Miku's dialogue in their house often says, "It's raining again," and she is right. You always hear it outside of the home.
The rain plays deeply into Fatal Frame 3's tone and story, as Rei's fiance died on a rainy day and that pain is still fresh in her heart.
6 Batman: Arkham Knight
Arkham Knight is set in one night, and it is an insanely long rainy Halloween night. Batman and rain typically go well together, as he is a hero of darkness and brooding. The game itself has a lot of themes of grief and loss, which sets well with rainy atmosphere in stories.
The game has been praised for how good its rain looks as well.
5 Detention
Detention is a Taiwanese horror game deeply rooted in atmosphere and symbolism. The game takes place in a school set in the 1960s during the White Terror period when political dissidents were oppressed. Most to all outside scenes take place during rain, as the school is threatened by an incoming typhoon for a large section.
A major theme of the story is guilt, which is a sort of emotion that is sometimes symbolically expressed through rain.
4 Silent Hill: Downpour
As its title describes, Silent Hill: Downpour features a weather system. There is always a varied degree of rainfall or fog in the game. When the rain is the heaviest, more monsters appear and they behave more violently.
The game came out in 2012 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It had a range of reviews that were mixed to average. While the music was praised, most critics disliked its combat and the fact that it was too easy to get lost during exploration.
3 Rain
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Released in 2013 exclusively for the PS3, Rain's most interesting mechanic revolves around the fact that it rains a lot. The mechanic is that the player character is only visible in the rain. The mechanic is quite unique and create an exgrossing atmosphere.
However, reception to the game was average. Many critics revealed that the beauty of the game and its unique mechanics was a missed opportunity that could've been done better in terms of story and pacing.
2 Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain is an interactive drama about the search for the Origami Killer that uses rainfall to drown victims they kidnap. While the game does not have constant rain, it sure does have a lot of it. After all, the rain is an actual plot device. The more it rains, the more likely it is that the Origami Killer's next victim is drowning.
While the game is quite entertaining, there is consistent agreement among fans and critics that the plot has many inconsistencies.
1 Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 has an entire level dedicated to heavy rainfall called "Hard Rain." While it does not rain for the entire level, a hurricane is on its way and gets worse and worse as the level continues. Your goal is to get gas for your boat, but when you get the gas the hurricane arrives in force.
You have to go back with deafening wind with next to no visilbity. It is certainly a level for those who want a higher difficulty.