Image: 7EVIL Studio
Horror games are all the rage right now, it would seem, but there’s one sub-genre of horror that’s been consistent for the last decade or so: those concerning animatronics. Surely everyone’s aware of Five Nights at Freddy’s by now, and then you also have the likes of Poppy’s Playtime, My Friendly Neighborhood, and Finding Frankie. Now there’s another one for horror fans to get excited about, one that’s a little less kid-friendly: Rainbow Gate.
Developed by 7EVIL Studio, Rainbow Gate isn’t very ambitious when it comes to its set-up: having found yourself trapped in an abandoned toy factory and amusement park, you need to fight your way out after you come to the realisation that its attractions are alive. Where it sets itself apart from others in the genre, however, is in its gameplay and visuals.
Basically, Rainbow Gate looks stunning. Built using Unreal Engine 5, its combination of photo-realistic textures, natural lighting and smooth animation makes for a game that’s impressively immersive from the outset. This truly is one of the best-looking games out there at the moment, which is saying something. There is a caveat, however. 7EVIL Studio has been open about its use of generative AI when it comes to some assets, and quite rightly received some criticism for it. As a result, the studio plans to replace such assets with those made by humans in the future.
When it comes to the gameplay of Rainbow Gate, this is a full-on survival horror experience. There are puzzles galore, with some of them being genuinely challenging. And when you’re not scratching your head you also need to keep an eye out for useful items around, be aware of any imminent threats, and manage resources such as health syringes and batteries. Your character is pretty agile here, too, able to not only run and crouch, but also climb in certain locations. Throw in some thrilling chase sequences and you have a game that keeps you on your toes.
It perhaps might be a little easy to overlook some gameplay elements of Rainbow Gate at times, though. You might find yourself stuck in a room for a while, for example, before realising that there’s a small latch that you can interact with to open a door. My biggest problem with it, though, is that there’s no controller support. If, like me, you enjoy playing this type of game while sat on a couch, you might want to avoid Rainbow Gate for now. Of course, you can fiddle around with Steam Input to get a controller sort-of working, but it will take considerable effort to get things set up correctly and even then it’s not ideal.
I’m really hoping that 7EVIL Studio does add controller support to Rainbow Gate, as it really does seem like a great entry into the animatronic horror genre, AI usage notwithstanding. But while those who are comfortable using keyboard and mouse can throw themselves into its dark rooms and foreboding corridors right now, those who enjoy playing in a more relaxing manner might want to wait until controller support has been confirmed. Maybe it won’t take too long: though it’s been out less than a week, 7EVIL Studio has released numerous updates already.
Rainbow Gate is available now on PC.
