Meet the Designer – Chai – Rain98

Welcome to our exclusive coverage of Rain98, a lo-fi psychological suspense adventure developed by Shibuya-based indie studio C#4R4CT3R.

Set in Tokyo in 1998, Rain98 takes place in a city where the rain never stops. It gives the game an immediately gloomy, slightly unsettling atmosphere, which fits surprisingly well with its rather unusual story. The protagonist somehow travels back in time from 2025 to 1998, where he meets Rena, a mysterious girl with a particularly bleak goal: she wants everything to end. Before long, the two find themselves heading down that path together.

Blending visual novel storytelling with adventure elements, mini-games and exploration, Rain98 also puts a lot of emphasis on its presentation. Thousands of custom graphics and animations help create its distinctive anime-inspired style, giving conversations and environments considerably more movement than you might normally expect from a visual novel.

There’s still a central narrative driving everything forward, although smaller branches can appear depending on the choices you make along the way. Across seven chapters and roughly 10-15 hours of gameplay, that leaves plenty of time to get to know Rena, explore this rain-soaked version of Tokyo and, presumably, work out why destroying the world seemed like a reasonable idea in the first place.

Following its appearances at gaming exhibitions, a free public Steam demo is now available covering the opening through to the first half of Chapter 2, offering more than three hours of gameplay. It’s a pretty generous introduction and gives players enough time to properly settle into the world and its slightly uneasy tone.

During the exhibition tour, Kelly and I caught up with Chai, who handles promotion for Rain98, to chat about C#4R4CT3R’s first game, its unusual premise, distinctive visual approach and what the team is trying to create with its journey back to 1998 Tokyo.

Here’s what Chai had to say.

Chai (Rain98 Marketing Contact): Oh yeah, we have a different producer. I handle the promotion.

Ben: Oh, cool! Excellent. Tell us a little bit about the game and where you’ve come from.

Chai: First of all, we are a game studio in Shibuya, Japan, called C#4R4CT3R, and this is our first game. It’s called Rain98, and it combines visual novel and adventure elements. It’s a completely brand-new genre of visual novels. The story takes place in Tokyo in 1998, and the protagonist somehow travels back in time from 2025 to 1998. He meets a mysterious girl named Rena, who is the main character, and she wants the world to end. So the protagonist and Rena get together to destroy the world.

Ben: All right, so it’s not a happy ending! It has a gloomy, low-vibe kind of atmosphere. But since this game is approximately 15 to 20 hours long, does the story gradually change from that all-time dark atmosphere?

Chai: Yes.

Ben: Is it a story-driven game? If you make choices, does that affect how the game progresses and which direction it goes in?

Chai: The main narrative is a single overarching story, but there are minor branches that differ based on the choices you make.

Ben: I had a quick look at it earlier. It has that real anime feel at the beginning, combined with cartoonish movement around the city. Is that a deliberate style you’ve created?

Chai: Yes, because we have thousands of custom graphics and animations built into everything, which makes the story much more immersive. We want players to feel like they are actually living alongside Rena, which is why we placed so much emphasis on visuals and animations.

Ben: I noticed that the beginning perspective follows the protagonist who has gone back in time—showing his thoughts and point of view—and then it shifts to a third-person view later on.

Chai: A little bit, but essentially you primarily play from the protagonist’s perspective.

Ben: Awesome. And Rain98 has just been released—is it not live on Steam yet?

Chai: For now, people can only play the demo at game exhibitions, but we will have a public demo available on Steam this October.

Ben: Excellent!

Chai: And that will be different from the demo you played today. Today’s version is a 70-minute demo, but the public Steam demo will be three hours long.

Ben: Wow, that’s a good chunk of the entire game! You can really get a feel for what kind of game it is.

Chai: Exactly.

Ben: And this has all been developed in Tokyo, in Shibuya?

Chai: Yes.

Ben: Awesome. Thanks so much, Chai. We’d love to play more soon.

Chai: Thank you too.

Ben: Were you at the Tokyo Game Show as well?

Chai: Yes.

Ben: I was there too! It was huge. There were so many areas I completely missed just because of how big it was, but it was amazing.

Chai: Yes, it was very crowded.

Ben: Thanks again, Chai.

Chai: Thank you too!