It’s Pride Month in the Year of the Rat, so I found a perfect thing to cover within that Racial Justice itch.io bundle. In the name of the giant rat who makes all of the rules, we’re looking at Sewer Rave.

Sewer Rave is a game by Autumn Rain, with music by Lady Saytenn. So, I mentioned Sewer Rave a long time ago when I looked at a bunch of Autumn Rain’s stuff, but I chose not to cover it since Lady Saytenn’s a friend. But then I realized: who gives a shit. It’s not as if I have any serious clout. They’re probably more successful than I ever will be anyway, so who cares?

You are a person that’s fallen into a sewer, which is thankfully not as bad as it sounds, because we got talking rats running a rave. Rats dance to addictive electronic beats while others bum around with drinks, rambling random nonsense to you. There’s a way out of the sewer, but alas, it’s so easy to get lost. Well, might as well enjoy the sights on the way.

The world of Sewer Rave is somewhat procedurally generated. Most normal NPCs are given randomly chosen dialogue to spout, which is some fun jokey nonsense that’s good for a few laughs. There’s a pre-set number of rooms that’s randomly stitched together, with exits leading you to other rooms – or, in some cases, can just lead you back in the way you came. To be honest, I’m down for the randomly chosen dialogue, but I’d prefer if there was an actual set layout for the sewer.

Most rooms are party rooms with goofy rats dancing to some nice electronic music. Sadie, it rules, I’d commission you for music if I wasn’t trying to save money. Personally, my favorite track is (looks at notes) Ello Yewchube Today We’re Doin’ Parkour in an Active Subway. It’s a good name, I appreciate the Posting energy.

Occasionally, you’ll find yourself in a unique room that switches up the gameplay style. There’s a labyrinth run by cats to traverse through, with the cats challenging you to WarioWare-esque minigames. There’s some jobber that challenges you to an Earthbound-styled knife fight. And most importantly, there are platforming segments that give guaranteed collectibles. Though, I’ll be honest, the platforming doesn’t feel good to me, especially when there’s moving platforms present that your character just refuses to stick to. However, they still make for a nice change of pace.

Speaking of collectibles, there’s cheese and fruit strewn around the sewer. They’re unsanitary, but there’s a giant snake and possum that wants them and if it’ll help you get out of the sewer, whatever. It’s actually easy to collect enough to “win,” especially considering that items respawn, so the actual challenge is trying to get to where you’re going.

But really, who cares? What kinda square focuses on leaving a party as soon as possible and rejects any kind of social interaction? Well, me, but that’s not the point. In fact, I can kinda get why exits just randomly teleport you around. It encourages you to just sorta live in the moment and enjoy the music and the good vibes all around. Just gotta embrace and love the rat.

Sewer Rave is a nice and goofy walking sim that’s good for killing an hour or two. If you’re a Twitch streamer, you’ll get some more mileage from it because it has the functionality of creating rats that spout things typed into Twitch chat. It’s a function that works stylistically with regards to the game because the way I see it, Twitch chat is just a bunch of ravers that revel in trash, except they say poggers.