DETECTIVE – Rainy Night review (PS5)
The storm rolls in quietly, and so does DETECTIVE – Rainy Night. You step into the shoes of Iker Carmona, a weary cop chasing missing-persons leads to a lonely roadside motel. One night’s sleep later, the world has narrowed to drenched corridors, dead radios, and guests who vanish or turn up dead. Across five days and a dozen chapters, the game frames a closed-circle mystery packed with suspicion, whispered symbols, and the gnawing suspicion that the rain itself is a prison. As a mood piece, it’s compelling. As a detective game, it’s more complicated.
Atmosphere first, always
Rainy Night invests heavily in tone, and that investment pays dividends. The motel—damp carpets, buzzing neon, doors that sound heavier than they look—feels like a pressure cooker. Eavesdropping thunder and the constant hiss of rain often do more to raise hairs than any jump scare. The cast is sketched with enough shading to keep you invested in who’s lying, who’s hiding, and who’s next. The narrative lingers on dread and uncertainty, encouraging you to sift through conversations for crumbs of truth. When it’s locked into this register, it sings.
A guided case, not a free investigation
Despite the detective pitch, the actual sleuthing sits on rails. You move from room to room, chat with guests, examine highlighted objects, and trigger the next story beat. An in-game notebook logs facts and connections automatically, which is convenient but also reduces the satisfaction of piecing things together yourself. Rarely are you synthesizing clues or drawing conclusions; you’re confirming what the script is ready to reveal. Players seeking the agency of filling pinboards and testing theories will find little friction here beyond following objective markers.
Pacing: right mood, slow drip
The story favors a measured stride. Long conversations, restrained cutaways, and frequent scene-setting deepen the ambience but sometimes strangle momentum. A handful of segments feel like errands designed to walk you to the next cutscene rather than challenge your intuition. The result is a rhythm that can feel glacial, especially when the stakes are high and you’re eager to act. The tension is there; the release valve often isn’t.
PS5 controls and interface
On PlayStation 5, movement and interaction are functional and straightforward. Transitioning between exploration and prompts is mostly clean, and there aren’t notable technical stumbles in moment-to-moment play. The game’s biggest friction point is its delivery of dialogue. Without voice acting and with text that populates at a leisurely pace, conversations can overstay their welcome. Options that could ease this—such as adjustable text speed, more responsive skipping, or a greater number of interactive beats within dialogue—are absent, further reinforcing the feeling of being a passenger.
Presentation: indie restraint, evocative sound
Visually, Rainy Night keeps its ambitions modest. It leans into a slightly retro, lo-fi aesthetic that prioritizes mood and readability over fireworks. Subtle lighting changes and the perpetual downpour build an oppressive, boxy intimacy that suits the narrative. Sound is the MVP: rain hammering the eaves, distant rumbles, and sparing stingers heighten unease better than the visuals alone. It’s an audio mix designed to be felt through a headset, and it rarely misses.
When the detective work steps back
The core disconnect is philosophical. The game wants to be a tense mystery and also a guided narrative. Its solution is to place the story in front of you and ask you to walk alongside it. That approach will resonate with players who love being told a tight, moody tale and don’t mind limited influence over its unraveling. But if you came for the thrill of insight—spotting inconsistencies, assembling evidence, and making leaps that the game recognizes—the design leaves little room to surprise it.
Verdict
DETECTIVE – Rainy Night is a strong atmospheric adventure that nails its setting and sustains an eerie, rain-lashed tone from start to finish. It’s a hotel hallway of whispers and sideways glances, punctuated by a few standout reveals. Yet its commitment to a guided experience, coupled with slow pacing and pared-back interactivity, means the “detective” in its title is more branding than gameplay. For players who cherish mood, character interplay, and a steady drip of mystery, there’s a memorable stay here. Those who want to work the case, not just watch it unfold, may check out early.
