Raw Danger review

When a city cradled in the shadow of a dam boasts it’s the safest place ever built, gut instinct warns us that trouble’s a’ brewin’. Unfortunately for the residents of Geo City, gut instincts seem to be in short supply (alongside motor skills, common sense, and fashion taste), so when the dam actually crumbles, they’re totally unprepared. It’s your job to keep the key players alive, and in the process, unravel the sinister truth behind the dam’s collapse. Raw Danger is an adventure-style disaster survival game in the same vein as 2003’s Disaster Report (it's actually the sequel).

You play through the night of the disaster five times, with five seemingly innocuous, unrelated characters. As you progress, you’ll discover that choices made in one story branch affect the paths of others. For example, if you shimmy up a pipe as one character, you're taking the easier route, but you’ll knock over a road sign that’ll block the path of another character. In the corner, you’ll see that second character puzzling over where to go, and you’ll remember that moment when you play through his story later. It’s unfortunate that these interactive moments are few because they are one of the few compelling aspects of this game.

The other intriguing idea is the BT system. The game utilizes “Body Temperature” as a measure of health. As you walk through the rain or splash through puddles, you get more and more wet, so your body temperature decreases. When you get too cold, you start limping or even blacking out. You can warm yourself back up with heat packs, hot soup, or heat sources (electric heaters, ovens, gas stoves). Umbrellas and atrocious-looking raincoats scattered throughout the game let you arm yourself against the cold as well.