This may very well be the first game I’ve reviewed because I thought my daughter would like it. Watching the trailer for the game, all I could think about was how cute it looked, and with all the bright colors and tales of friendship, I figured it’d be a perfect fit. I didn’t expect to get overly invested in it, but those are typically the experiences that surprise you the most.
Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan may have a complicated name, but the nature of the game is certainly easy to understand. The Leviathan sucks up almost all the color of the world and it’s up to Billy to bring it back. You’ll travel to different islands on your boat (aptly named Friend-Ship) with a cast of characters you pick up along the way. The game features some minor puzzle platforming on the islands, simple relationship building with the friends you make, and non-violent turn-based confrontations that may remind people of the conversations with demons found in Shin Megami Tensei games.
Traveling by boat is by no means something as trying as the recent Assassin’s Creed games, nor is it as exciting as Wind Waker, but it gets the job done. Between finding the next island you want to trek to and trying to get there before running out of color, finding treasure chests, and fishing, there’s a fair amount to enjoy. The boat is also where you’ll go if you want to bolster your friendships, either by giving them the item they desire, which you can buy or find, or by feeding them the gummy fish you collect. The items are much bigger boosts to their experience bar, while the fish are more of a brute force approach. Leveling up a relationship means an added skill for the confrontations you’ll face.
Early into the game, the islands are all very basic, with some simple platforming and no real thought necessary. These become more complex later on, and even hold secrets for those willing to put in the extra time. You’ll be able to find Thoughts on the islands, one of the game’s collectibles that you can turn in for upgrades at Friend-Ship, such as camera filters or more turns in battle. Most islands have a character that has been stripped of their color and their faults are on full display. You’ll face these people by having a conversation with them, which serves as the battle. Each enemy has tokens that you need to match with the tokens assigned to your friends – as their levels increase, they gain different ones you can use. In the event you don’t have the proper token, saying the right thing during battle will result in some tokens you can piggyback on one of your characters.
The battles are not all cut and dry, as you’ll need to take different tactics depending on the foe. As an example, some matches will have 6 spaces for you to put down your cards. If you are able to play three cards (friends) at a time you can double two up, or you can space them all out. Each has their own perk, such as revealing a token that you need to use, or being powered up when played solo. On one enemy, I had two doubled up and another off by itself. The doubled up team was then removed from the turn as if he was Ruby Weapon. Turns out he’d remove what he perceived as the biggest threat, so figuring out who was disposable became important. To match your tokens with the enemy, each friend/card you play has a designated mini-game that you need to complete, which is essentially a quick-time event. The conversations themselves usually focus on insecurity, and you empathizing with them about it. It feels a lot like “customer service: the game” except the other person is happy with you at the end and not threatening your life over socks. Yes, if you’ve worked customer service, this may bring up some traumatic memories.
The only consistent complaint throughout from my daughter was that it is only single player. Even if the second player was inconsequential while running around the island, she would’ve loved moving around as many of the colorful personalities you come across. My main problem was that if a confrontation was running long because of the cards dealt, the dialogue tree seemed to repeat over and over with minor changes. It was always a welcome change when I thought a battle would be a slog and I was able to finish it by choosing the right options in the dialogue tree though. The game’s positivity can also be a bit overbearing, but I think that’s because I’m generally cynical in my life at this point.
If you’re looking for something that’s family friendly and full of positivity, look no further than Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan. It’s probably not for those of you looking to play something deep and gritty, or even grindy, but for those of us with younger kids, it’s a great way to bond (and read!) with them, and build up the ever important skill of empathy.
8 out of 10
Pros
- Charming Art Direction
- Unique Combat Direction
- Family Friendly
Cons
- Repetitive Dialogue Trees
- May Trigger Customer Service Trauma Flashbacks
Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan was developed by ManaVoid Entertainment and published by Skybound Games. The game is available for NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on PS4 and played on PS5. If you’d like to see more of Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan, check out the official site.
Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.
Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.