First up I’ll admit I jumped into Rain on Your Parade based purely on recommendations from a recent Kinda Funny XCast which compared the game to Donut County and that effectively sold me. Seeing as it had also arrived on Xbox Game Pass it wasn’t long before I could download it and see for myself. Developed by Unbound Creations this is a puzzle game that continually finds fun and creative ways to leverage your character’s abilities.

The game casts you as a cute little cloud whose goal per level is to ruin everyone else’s day, starting with an outdoor wedding ceremony and then moving on through a large number of locales. Your initial ability is to rain (well, it’s what clouds do!) and the yarn based people in this world (known as “hoomans”!) are not too fond of your interference so taking them on is usually one of the key objectives in the levels. As you advance through the game more abilities become available to you such as thunder which add further twists and objectives to complete. How you approach each task is mostly up to you but completion goals and limitations such as timers, water scarcity and environment quirks help guide you on what to focus your efforts on. The variety is a strong point here and you rarely feel like you are repeating yourself in anything.

One of the most charming aspects of the game is that it doesn’t act like it’s beholden to its core mechanics and will often play around with them just for something different (or silly) to do. There’s plenty of pop culture references to film, television and video games and they’ve all been nice to see and provided a break from the regular levels. The game even offers you the ability to customize your cloud with accessories you earn through completing all the objectives on each level and you can even draw a new face for your cloud if you like.

I can’t help but like Rain on Your Parade – the levels provide just enough of a challenge to keep you thinking but not enough to get you angry or frustrated so progress happens at a friendly pace. Coupled with the cheerful presentation, it’s an easy choice for a game where you can have a little fun minus any large frustrations.

Rain on Your Parade is out now for PC, Xbox and Switch. Played on an Xbox Series X.