Hi everyone! I’m currently working on a game set, and I’ve added a scene where it’s constantly raining. I’ve uploaded a short video so you can see how it looks.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:
Do you think rain (and other weather effects like fog, wind, storms...) help build atmosphere and immersion, or do you sometimes find them annoying or unnecessary?

Also, what game do you think has the best use of atmospheric effects?
I’m looking for inspiration and would love to check out games that nailed the mood through weather.

Thanks in advance for any feedback! I’m especially curious if you think these kinds of elements add to or take away from the player’s experience!

Do you think rain (and other weather effects like fog, wind, storms...) help build atmosphere and immersion, or do you sometimes find them annoying or unnecessary?

It depends on the context. If the game has rain, fog or storm etc for decoration, it might interfere gameplay inadvertently such as having heavy rain in run n gun while there are shots which look almost similar to rain drops.

OTOH those effects are great or even necessary to show direction of blowing wind if there were strong wind blowing player and objects.

Weather effects can sell an area really well. (They can also be distracting if done wrong! That's also true.)

Here's fog and rain effects in Crucible Crest. (1:36:53 and 2:31:57 timestamps for fog and heavy rain, respectively. There's also lighter rain in a couple places.) In both cases I think the areas wouldn't have the same character without them.

In your example, I think there's more things you can do to sell the rain effect better. It's very brightly colored right now in contrast to the dark nighttime screen--originally I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be rain or snow. I would maybe up the translucency a bit so it doesn't stand out as much. I'd also definitely have animations for rain hitting ground, and not just have it going from the top of the screen to the bottom without ever landing. It might also be worth playing around with different angles for the rain, but I'm not sure you need that in every case--that'd depend on the strength of the rain.

The main reason I use weather effects is to enhance realism.

In the horror game I recently released, I’ve approached weather in a few specific ways:

• The weather changes randomly, which helps convey the idea that “this game world continues day after day.”
• To make the weather-related sounds feel more authentic, I used ambient audio recorded in real environments.
• I use weather and its associated sounds to influence the player's sense of unease.

I think weather can be a powerful tool—like a well-used spice—when applied effectively.
But without a clear purpose or intention behind it, it can easily become distracting noise.
The key is to think about how you want to use weather as part of your overall atmosphere and storytelling.

Rain and weather effects build immersive context for your game. But they can interfere with gameplay so you need to find the right balance. In Deer, You Are Being Hunted I made the snow very light to preserve the ease of play. But in Red Balloon of Happiness I made the game get increasingly darker to force the player to light a match and potentially cause an unwanted consequence. ;-)