The lo-fi psychological suspense adventure Rain98 takes place in Tokyo in 1998, where rain never lets up. On October 16, its demo-launch trailer debuted at The MIX Fall Game Showcase 2026, with the free Steam demo releasing at the same moment. The video lasts around 90 seconds, moving from a silent nighttime street to nooses, many-eyed shadows, and a Tamagotchi-style pet counting down to July 1999 before finishing with a lone invitation to play.
Quick answer: The Rain98 demo costs nothing on Steam and is available for PC. Playtime is about three hours, taking you from the story’s opening up to midway through Chapter 2.
Rain98 demo: What’s included
Rain98 has been announced since April 2025 and has appeared at game events worldwide. Every earlier public build started partway through the story. This one starts at the beginning, which makes it the first chance to meet the cast in order.
| Detail | Demo |
|---|---|
| Price | Free |
| Platform | PC (Steam) |
| Length | About 3 hours |
| Story coverage | Opening through first half of Chapter 2 |
| Languages | 9 |
There are nine language choices: Japanese and English, Simplified Chinese alongside Traditional Chinese, Korean plus Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish followed by French and German. Director Shoon T says a later update is planned to include Chapter 2’s remaining half in the demo. The date for its arrival has not been announced.
Rain98 story setup and voice cast
You play someone who is pulled back in time to Tokyo in 1998. There you end up sharing an apartment with Reina Amehara. She doesn’t think much of the future you came from, and she says she can end the world. The trailer’s narration follows that thread. It opens with “Do you dream often?” and goes on to talk about a recurring dream of walking down an endless dark corridor.
| Character | Role | Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Reina Amehara | Heroine, your roommate | Rio Tsuchiya |
| Kyoko Yose | Mysterious woman | Mamiko Noto |
The demo announcement also confirmed Mamiko Noto’s casting. The trailer and demo each offer a short sample of her voice, but Kyoko’s role in the story has not been revealed. Her credits include characters such as Sawako Kuronuma (Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You), Ai Enma (Hell Girl), and Prospera Mercury (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury).
Rain98 gameplay shown in the trailer
The trailer moves fast, but almost every cut shows a different system. Visual novel scenes with dialogue choices hold the game together. Around them are exploration, odd jobs, and a pile of mini-games built to look like late-’90s consumer tech.
- Isometric walks through a rain-soaked recreation of Shibuya in 1998, with Reina along for the trip
- Point-and-click movement inside the shared apartment
- A handheld virtual pet whose screen reads “July 1999”
- A Picross-style grid puzzle with number clues
- A CRT fighting game labeled “REINA vs ENEMY,” complete with health bars, a timer, and a “GREAT!” hit flash
- A shelf of in-world media with titles like “Magic Girl Angolmeow,” “JUMELLE,” and “まちがい天国”
Money matters. Ending the world, it turns out, still comes with rent, so you take odd jobs at home to cover living costs, and cleaning is one of them. If you earn enough, you unlock more ways to spend your days with Reina. Story progress runs through the Angel Passport, a notebook that fills with 100 memory stickers, each one marking a moment you shared with her.
Rain98’s tone: Cozy rain, apocalyptic questions
Rain98 is tagged as psychological horror, and the middle of the trailer earns it. A burst of images flashes by. There are pixelated faces at a diner table, a survey with “YES / NO” boxes, candle flames floating over faces, a figurine under tiny nooses, and a dark figure surrounded by reaching hands and eyes. The narration asks things like “Dying slowly… or dying fast?” and “This world could end in many ways… Which one do you think would be the most beautiful?”
The rest of the trailer is much softer. The visuals lean on blurry blue light, VHS tracking noise, CRT scanlines, payphones, and pagers. A lo-fi soundtrack plays over steady rain. Rain98 pairs that comfort with Reina’s secrets, so everyday routines like shared meals and walks around the city always feel slightly off.
The trailer ends on a sleeping girl and a single subtitled line: “You are the shape of my prayer. So don’t ever leave me.” It then cuts to the Rain98 logo and a glowing phone in its charging dock under the words “PLAY THE DEMO NOW ON STEAM.”
Rain98 full game release window
Rain98 is developed by C, an indie label based in Shibuya. The full game is due in 2026 on PC via Steam and on consoles that have not been named yet. The studio moved its release target to 2026 in December 2025, saying it needed more time to reach the quality it wanted. No exact launch day has been announced.
The finished game has seven chapters and should take roughly 10 to 15 hours to complete. That means the demo’s three hours, stopping partway through Chapter 2, show only the opening stretch of the story. Shoon T has said the full game is meant to take players “somewhere you could never have imagined.”
