Crooked rain, crooked rain: Calvino Noir, a 2D heist game coming to iOS

This is a gif — clicking makes it rain.

If you remember our near-blanket coverage of Gemini Rue a while back, you know PT‘s staff is programmed to respond to monochromatic 2D street scenes at night. If it’s raining, forget about — that’s when we get straight up Manchurian Candidate. Reader Emil S. wrote in to tell us about Calvino Noir and I am helplessly spellbound already.

This game is in development for iOS by Dan Walters, who last year released the aesthetically stunning insect adventure Morphopolis, though we missed that at the time and I regret that. It looks extraordinary.

Walters describes Calvino Noir as a side-scrolling heist game where you control multiple characters through a time-shifting mechanic to rob from Europe’s wealthiest bon vivants in the 1920s. Here’s some more of what Walters says about it.

As the player, you will live the story from the perspectives of multiple characters. Sometimes you will control only a single character. Other times, it may be necessary to control many through a unique time-physics mechanic that will require you to cooperate with yourself to achieve the objectives.

To succeed, you will need to fully understand the flow of the environment and use it to negotiate the various situations that arise. A sandbox will allow you to explore possible solutions and iterate around a chosen strategy until the desired outcome is achieved.

It’s very early days for Calvino Noir’s development but we’ll be watching this one for sure. There’s a dev blog you can follow, and a Facebook page too. After the break, the trailer for Morphopolis, a game with a very different style and palette but that shows off Walters’ considerable ability.