While Hollow Knight hopefuls wait for Silksong, another modern Metroidvania classic gears up for its second massive expansion

Three slug cats trek across a ruined landscape in art from Rain World
(Image credit: Videocult)

Metroidvania hit Rain World is getting a second major expansion with brand-new areas and another playable slugcat.

Rain World had the unfortunate luck of coming out within a month of Hollow Knight back in 2017, but that didn't stop the moody platformer from finding massive success. The Rain World: Downpour expansion already flooded the game with even more content just last year, and now, the developers are gearing up for a second major expansion. 

Developer Videocult announced the Rain World: The Watcher DLC with a short and mysterious teaser trailer that shows the titular slugcat emerging from the shadows. The announcement blog post mentions that the "fourth slugcat of Rain World has not been forgotten, their time is coming" - fueling fan theories that the elusive Nightcat is front and center here. 

"Journey beyond to something, somewhere only ever glimpsed," the announcement continues. "When the world beneath your feet cracks and crumbles, will you hold on to all you once knew? Or dive into the unknown? Unknown creatures stalk and climb and dive and hunt. New breeds rip and pluck and burrow and hide. Predator and prey redefined. And through the middle of it all, a lonely lost slugcat trying their best to outlast the ravages of a warped world."

Rain World: The Watcher has no official release date thus far, but comments from the trailer on YouTube point out that we might be enjoying a second expansion before Hollow Knight: Silksong sees the light of day. (That being said, Hollow Knight got some massive, free, and excellent post-launch content packs of its own, most notably The Grimm Troupe and Godmaster.) And the long-awaited sequel is "still in development," and should it actually come out this year, it would only bolster an already incredible time for Metroidvanias

You can wishlist Rain World: The Watcher on Steam. The same studio is also working on an awesome-looking, vehicular mayhem game called Airframe Ultra

While we wait for both, why not check out the best Metroidvania games to get lost in?

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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