Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 opens with the Startling Developments Detective Agency answering a call from a mysterious source. The case brings together evil doctors, unexplained thefts, a book of power, supernatural forces, hoboids, roboids and time-travelling dinosaurs. Its setting is New Arcadia, presented in 16-bit style, and its bizarre, humorous story is credited to Penny Arcade and Zeboyd Games.
The game is a single-player RPG that combines old-school design with modern sensibilities. It avoids random battles, while interrupt abilities let players disrupt enemy attacks. A multi-class job system grants powers associated with roles including the Tube Samurai, the Hobo, the Apocalypt and the Dinosorcerer. Recharging MP and items are part of the battle design, and a haiku-based help system called Help-Yu offers another distinctive feature.
Its activity figures therefore sit alongside a game built around an unusual detective premise, job-based powers and battles without random encounters, rather than participation in matches with other players. The mix of comic strangeness and classic RPG structure defines the experience described for this particular adventure.
