‘Rattenkönig’ Makes You Work Together With a Corpse
Rattenkönig follows a rat that’s forever connected to another, slightly more deceased and decaying rat. Platforming with a corpse tied to you ain’t easy.
CONTENT WARNING – DEATH, GORE, GRIEF
You play as a rat whose tail is tied to its sibling’s corpse. Amidst flashbacks to your childhood when you were born, you have to make your way through a factory-like setting. Not an ideal place to have a dead body tied to you, as it will constantly catch on things, drag you down as you jump, and get in the way as you try to explore. You don’t have many options to take care of it, as all you can do is move, jump, and give your sibling a yank with your tail. With these simple interactions, you’ll have to work through some narrow tunnels and across deadly machines in order to reach the end.
It’s quite difficult to get around while tied down like this. You’ll often find yourself cursing this unnamed body, which stirred up some feelings of guilt as I considered the situation. It’s beyond depressing to think about having to carry this constant reminder of a loved one’s death, and getting mad at the body felt incredibly dark and bleak. It strengthened the sadness of the situation as I dealt with this varied feelings, and all while I marched forward without really knowing what I was doing. Would the living rat be feeling the same thing, marching forward without knowing what to do? You’ll go through many feelings as this marches toward its bleak conclusion.
Rattenkönig gives you some difficult puzzle situations to work through, and I have to admit, lugging a body does add some unexpected dimensions to solving jumping challenges. It’s the myriad emotions I felt while playing it that will keep haunting me for some time, though.
Rattenkönig is available now (for whatever you wish to pay for it) on itch.io.
