It often seems as though violence is embedded into video games at a structural level. With even the ever-happy Mario responsible for the deaths of thousands of turtles and mushroom people over the years, some gamers more averse to conflict may wonder what hope there is for video game adventurers with a conscience. Thankfully Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan, from developer ManaVoid Entertainment, is here to add some positivity into the gaming space.
Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is a 2.5D adventure game that blends together platforming, puzzles, and turn-based RPG mechanics. The titular Billy is on a quest to bring color back to a grey world, hopping from island to island on a literal Friend Ship to share good vibes and make allies with the creatures around him. Along the way, victories are found not through combat, but instead through conversation.
This positive outlook truly makes Rainbow Billy refreshing to play, with a real focus on inclusivity across the board. It's a game that is suitable for everyone, and thankfully in a title that's focus is on color there are good accessibility options including colorblind options to choose from. However, this family-friendly approach belies a surprisingly varied and complex game system.
The closest comparison is likely the Paper Mario series, in terms of combining a variety of gameplay modes into a cutesy, cohesive end product. Billy travels around around the game world with a decent amount of platforming agility, while using the Friend Ship to hop between islands to uncover new secrets. The real core of the game, though, comes from its turn-based confrontations with greyscale enemies as Billy and friends try to color them back in.
In a move reminiscent of Undertale, it's not about outright combat but instead reaching your foes through compassion and understanding, using a color- and shape-matching mechanic to add them to your team a la Pokemon. At the start of each round the player can choose to Talk and Listen to the enemy character, and through their choices they can help uncover more color options to win the battle. Then, the player will take part in a selection of mini games ranging from basic button-mashing to tiny games of Breakout.
This could get old quickly, but thankfully Rainbow Billy keeps things fresh by making each battle feel different. Rather than the basic options of the early tutorials, this shifts to each unit having a unique challenge, such as having to beat confrontations with a time limit on each turn, or without using leveled-up friends. Not only does this keep the gameplay challenging, but it also helps to add personality to each of Rainbow Billy's characters. Overall this means that Rainbow Billy is rather ingenious in a number of ways. Its approach to friendship may be deliberately corny, but there's something infectious about just how far it leans into its message of compassion. Meanwhile, its gameplay elements make the player think about their decisions in a way that games very rarely do, deliberately going easy on certain enemies while focusing on building trust.
Rainbow Billy isn't perfect, however. Its visuals are a mixed bag, at their best reminiscent of the 1930s-style animation of Cuphead but at their worst feeling quite basic, particularly with some of the allies that Billy picks up along the way. Meanwhile, the controls can sometimes be a bit awkward during platforming sections, an issue that isn't helped by the odd moment where the camera works against the player's movements.
These issues ultimately don't undermine just how charming Rainbow Billy is to play. With a message of good faith that rarely wears out its welcome and a brilliant take on turn-based RPG combat, Rainbow Billy is a game that was clearly made with a lot of care for its individual components. Providing players can turn off their cynicism, there's plenty to love here.
Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is out now for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a PS4 download code for the purposes of this review.