I read an article this morning that compared rain to ICO and this simple idea actually made me curious about this quiet little title. While we haven’t seen much of it since its announcement, we do know a few things about it.

For one, the game is co-developed by Sony Japan Studio, Acquire, and the folks over at PlayStation C.A.M.P.!, which stands for Creator Audition Mash up Project! You might’ve heard of a couple of their games: Echochrome, an Escher inspired puzzler that was released on both the PlayStation 3 and the PSP, and TOKYO JUNGLE, a game set after the fall of man where you play as different animals to try and uncover what exactly happened and, at the same time, survive the wilds of a barren metropolis. rain isn’t about having weird Penrose step-like puzzles nor does it have quirky survival tactics or mating rituals. The story of rain is, instead, something that sounds oddly familiar to ICO fans.

rain is the story of a young boy chasing after a girl who is being hunted down by ghostly apparitions. Realizing that he has no power in the real world to save her, the boy ventures into the rain in order to save her, only to realize that he, like the girl, is now invisible.

Looking at the latest trailer shown below entitled, “Two silhouettes,” the gameplay featured in rain revolves around traversing the environment and using cover from the rain as means to turn you invisible, thus adding a stealth element to the puzzle solving and the exploration aspects of the game. The trailer also touches upon the story of the two main characters and teases us of what to expect when playing the game.

I feel like rain is one of those titles that people gasped and awed when it was first announced, then quickly forgot. It’s easy, given the excitement of the announcement of the next gen consoles, but it should be noted that this generation seems to be going out with a bang this year. And if this strong first quarter is any indication, the fall is looking more and more like an incredible last hurrah for our favorite current platforms. rain joins these titles when it gets released on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network this fall.