Difficulties

''"Slugcat", "Monk," "Survivor" and "Hunter" redirect here. For the achievements of the same names, see Achievements.''

Slugcats are both the primary protagonists and only playable characters in Rain World. They are small white creatures with black eyes, thin arms, comparatively broad legs with small feet, broad-ended ears, and a thick tail that tapers. The player must keep the Slugcat they play as alive as they explore the world, confront strange creatures, and take part in completing challenging achievements. Slugcat has a variety of movement abilities which can be seen in detail on the controls page.

When a player starts their game, they have the option of playing as three different Slugcats. Monk and Survivor both spawn in the same location and have the same story (being led by the yellow overseer to the same destination) with the only gameplay differences being features or changes that make Monk easier than Survivor. Monk (Yellow), Survivor (White), and Hunter (Red) correspond to easy, medium, and hard difficulties, respectively.

= Gameplay Basics =

Food
In order to hibernate, Slugcat must find and eat enough food each cycle. This amount is represented by the food meter, which can be viewed alongside the current karma level by pressing and holding the map button.



The food meter is made up of several food pips - circles which fill up as Slugcat eats, and a vertical line that separates the food pips required to hibernate (all found to the left), and the food pips that will be saved for the next cycle (all found to the right). The amount of food required to hibernate varies between Slugcats: Monk and Survivor eat mostly smaller creatures and fruit. They can also devour any size of Centipede, though larger ones need to be dead first. A full list of all the different foods can be found here. Hunter's diet is more varied, as it also includes the corpse of any killable creature, however, certain foods such as Batflies, Blue Fruit, Slime Mold, Bubble Fruit and Neuron Flies provide less value, and will only fill 1/4th of a food pip when eaten.
 * Monk :
 * Survivor:
 * Hunter :

Incapacitation and death
While both disable the player's input and make the game over text appear, when incapacitated the player is still alive, just unable to do anything. Knowing when that is the case could potentially allow the player to continue on without the need to restart the current cycle. You can differentiate between them by looking at Slugcat's eyes (they'll be shut when incapacitated, and crossed out when dead) and listening for bass notes (incapacitation plays one, death plays two).

Lizards, Dropwigs and Big Spiders have an RNG-based kill system, which means that when bitten/grabbed there is a percentage chance that Slugcat will die. If this check fails, the player will be incapacitated, killed if brought into a den. Vulture bites always incapacitate the player, unless de-masked, in which case they are always lethal.

There are a few ways to get out of incapacitation. A creature is likely to let go if wounded, or attacked by something hostile towards it. Throwing a rock or spear in the short period of time where inputs aren't disabled to stun the creature, or having a tamed Lizard or friendly Scavengers nearby are some of the more reliable methods, and usually the only ones that work when grabbed by a masked Vulture.

= Campaign Modes =



Yellow Slugcat: The Monk (Easy Difficulty)
The Monk is described as being more in-tune with nature than the average Slugcat. Predators are less common and slightly less aggressive, and less food is required for the player to hibernate. Karma gates have their level requirements removed permanently after the first use, meaning the player cannot get trapped and can easily backtrack after entering a region they can’t progress through. Creatures are also much more quick to befriend or forgive Monk. The only significant downside is the Monk's reduced damage when throwing spears, meaning killing the sparse predators will be harder than normal, and even not killing weak enemies like Squidcadas or Noodleflies in one hit. Colored pearls are absent from the Monk's journey, locking off much of the optional lore, due to Monk placing farthest in the timeline so all of the data has faded over time. The Monk is designed for players seeking a more peaceful experience.

Backstory
The Monk is heavily implied to be The Survivor's sibling, and as such their introductory cutscene is largely the same - it follows a family of Slugcats doing various activities around a familiar territory. The only differences between the two lie in the last few slides, which highlight The Monk and show them diving down into the drains to go after their lost sibling.

Both The Monk and The Survivor start the game in the tutorial section of Outskirts, with nothing in hand nor stomach.

World Differences

 * Fewer creatures, some creatures are replaced with easier ones


 * Colored Pearls are replaced by dark gray "blank" pearls, which do not have special text


 * The yellow Overseer can light up dark areas within the Shaded Citadel in order to aid in traversal.


 * Five Pebbles: Unfortunate Development is more difficult


 * One more shelter is available in upper eastern Shoreline (SL_S11)


 * Significantly more Bubble Weed appears in Drainage System and Shoreline


 * One extra white pearl spawns in top central Subterranean: Filtration System (in SB_C06)


 * Five additional Blue Fruit: two in lower right Chimney Canopy (CC_C11) and three in the indoor room of Sky Islands' eastern hub (SI_A27)


 * One less Beehive in upper left central Industrial Complex (HI_B03)



White Slugcat: The Survivor (Normal Difficulty)
The classic Rain World experience, Survivor has standard karma gate requirements, requires 4 pips of food to hibernate, and must deal with the ever-present threat of predators. Survivor deals the standard amount of damage with spears (1) and encounters more creature variety (For example, Dropwigs are entirely absent from Monk but appear in a select few locations as Survivor).

Backstory
The intro cutscene revolves around a family of Slugcats. They're shown resting in a nest, walking across a pole and hunting for food together. While eating Batflies, attention is drawn to a younger Slugcat - The Survivor - who notices a few droplets of rain. A dangerous storm breaks out, and as the group attempts to make it back to a safe place, the juvenile Slugcat slips and falls into the drains below. The final scene shows the protagonist standing in a new and unknown environment, and shortly after it fades out, the game begins.

World Differences

 * One less dead Hazer in the Eggbug spawn room near the Drainage System gate in Outskirts (SU_A30)



Red Slugcat: The Hunter (Hard Difficulty)
Playing Hunter is a different and more difficult experience than the other two slugcats. Hunter is a carnivorous slugcat, described as being "karmically imbalanced". Hunter can eat any dead creature, unlike the other two characters who can only eat centipede corpses. Plants are still edible but only give 1/4th of a food point. Batflies also only give 1/4th of a food point. Karma flowers do not spawn as this character. Predators spawn in greater numbers, including some restricted to lineages for Monk and Survivor. Hunter is faster and stronger than the other slugcats and also has the ability to carry a second spear on their back. Their heightened metabolism requires more food per cycle than the other Slugcats, encouraging the player to fight for survival and hunt predators for food.

The Hunter's journey is significantly different from the other two slugcats, starting in upper Farm Arrays. The Hunter holds a green neuron fly, a spear on its back, and a pearl in its stomach when it spawns. While Hunter starts with a maximum karma of 5, Five Pebbles (character) only raises the Hunter's max karma by one. This means that visiting echoes is required; the player needs to raise their maximum karma four times before passing the Guardians. Hunter also does not have the ability to warp to previously visited shelters upon completing passages.

The Hunter has a unique cycle counter, starting on cycle 19 and counting down to cycle 0. Dying or quitting at/below cycle 0 causes the run to immediately end and the final score to be tallied. At cycle 0 and below, Hunter becomes significantly weaker, suffers seizure-like spasms, and requires more food to survive. The cycle count descends into negative numbers below cycle 0. Each step below zero makes the effects of the Hunter's affliction much worse. It is difficult, although not impossible, to survive for some time in negative cycles.

Backstory
The Hunter does not have an intro cutscene. Despite that, their backstory is the most involved with the lore of the world. Their spot in the timeline is the earliest out of all currently available campaigns, taking place sometime after Looks to the Moon collapsed. Her sorry state, caused by Five Pebbles taking in too much water, lead to slag buildup, which eventually became so severe that the little function she had ceased completely. Another iterator, No Significant Harassment (NSH for short), noticed the lack of rain coming from her can and decided to help by sending a special Green Neuron. This Neuron Fly holds several slag reset keys, which, as the name suggests, would get rid of the slag and allow Moon to function again if given to her. Being unable to make this delivery by themselves due to eroding equipment, NSH sent The Hunter to do it for them.

The Hunter starts the game in Farm Arrays, with the aforementioned Neuron Fly in their hand, a spear on their back, and a unique colored pearl in their stomach, which contains a message written by NSH for Moon.



World Differences

 * More creatures, some creatures are replaced with harder ones


 * Creatures killed by the player have a higher respawn rate; 50% per cycle compared to 33% for other Slugcats. (Creatures that die from non-player sources always respawn next cycle.)


 * Five Pebbles: Unfortunate Development is easier


 * Fewer Daddy Long Legs appear in The Exterior: Underhang and Five Pebbles


 * The lower section of Garbage Wastes is more difficult


 * Explosive Spears can rarely replace normal Spears (1/125 chance)


 * Two shelters are unusable: the shelter near the Outskirts gate in Industrial Complex (HI_S03), and the shelter next to a scavenger cave in Farm Arrays (LF_S07)


 * Two fewer Bubble Weeds appear in the pearl room of Drainage System (DS_D01). (This means that Hunter only has one room with Bubble Weed, near the Subterranean gate in Shoreline (SL_D05).)


 * Three Blue Fruit do not appear in the room left of Subterranean's ravine (SB_A09)


 * Nine additional Noodlefly eggs appear in Outskirts and Sky Islands: three in Outskirts (one in SU_B02 and two in SU_B09), and six in Sky Islands (two each in SI_C07, SI_D03, and SI_D07)


 * Some Popcorn Plants are withered and thus unusable; also, one extra Popcorn Plant appears in the room left of the ravine in Subterranean (SB_A09)


 * Five additional dead Vulture Grubs appear in Industrial Complex and Farm Arrays: two in Industrial Complex in the room outside the Outskirts gate (HI_B04), and three in the (now-unusable) shelter next to the scavenger cave in Farm Arrays (LF_S07)


 * Albino Jetfish appear in the water in Subterranean's "Leviathan cave" room (SB_J02)



Nightcat
Nightcat does not have a campaign, instead only being found in arena mode. It doesn't have any special ability and works just like the normal Slugcat. It has dark blue skin, two white eyes, and a white nose. Since it doesn't appear in single player mode, it is most likely not canon to the Rain World story.

The most likely reason why Nightcat is in the game is to give the arena mode a fourth Slugcat for multiplayer. All four Slugcats have the same abilities in arena mode.

Trivia

 * All four Slugcats are playable in the game's Arena modes, but they all handle similarly to how the Survivor does in Single Player.
 * Slugcats have a few different facial expression apart from the ones mentioned in the incapacitation and death section. For example, when throwing or swallowing an object, Slugcat will briefly close its eyes, and when regurgitating an object it will keep its eyes closed for a longer period of time. Slugcat will also keep its eyes shut when close to a threat. While idle, Slugcat will have widened, circular eyes which blink occasionally.
 * Slugcat will actively move its tail away from threats, such as lizards, in situations that allow it (such as resting at the top of a pole).
 * When faced by a lizard, Slugcat may hold its hand out in an attempt to briefly stop the creature from biting it.