S2022

The Most Complex Ecosystem in any Game

Discover the most complex virtual ecosystem I’ve ever seen in a video game. An exploration of the unexpectedly brilliant worldbuilding of the indie game Rain World. --- If I were to tell you ‘Rain World has the most complex ecosystem of any game,’ you might go… ‘What?’ Because Rain World doesn’t seem particularly advanced — it’s a 2D pixel art game where you play as a weird slug, how complicated could its world really be? While there are other games with fancier graphics and denser lore, Rain World’s unique system of procedurally generated animation and complex AI come together to simulate the feeling of a living ecosystem better than (almost) any other game I’ve played. From the lizards, to the scavengers, to the daddy long legs, it’s an incredible feat of worldbuilding. So, for this entry into the archive, we’ll uncover the fascinating intricacies of Rain World’s pixeled biosphere. Now, let’s become part of this virtual food chain…