Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is the first installment in the RPG-Adventure game series based on the web comic Penny Arcade. Create your character in the classic comic style, and join…

80 21 May 2008

Adventure Role-playing (RPG) Action Comedy Historical

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One is an adventure developed by Hothead Games, released 21 May 2008 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux and Mac. The main story takes about 6 hrs to finish.

Verified 27 Sep 2026 Sources: IGDB , Steam , Wikipedia

What Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One is

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One is an adventure game developed by Hothead Games and released in 2008. It is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows).

The premise, in the publisher's words

The game begins with the narrator reading the first verse of a poem, later called The Quartet for the Dusk of Man. The player then designs a character of their choosing; with an introduction in the 1920s suburban neighborhood of the Player. A mysterious voice instructs the Player, whose home is quickly destroyed by a giant robot (a steampunk version of Fruit Fucker Prime), while smaller steampunk Fruit Fuckers attack. After a brief tutorial, the player teams up with Tycho Brahe, a scholar of Apocalyptic Studies turned detective, and his exceedingly violent partner who fought with the devil, Johnathan Gabriel, in search of information on Fruit Fucker Prime. The three meet with Tycho's…

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are action, comedy and historical. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. There are 12 achievements to unlock.

Where it sits in the Penny Arcade series

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One is the first of 7 entries we hold in the Penny Arcade series. The next entry was Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick in 2008. Its critic score of 80 is 3 points below the series average of 83. The highest-rated entry is Poker Night at the Inventory at 96.

See all 7 Penny Arcade games in release order →

How it was received

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One holds a critic score of 80 out of 100. That places it above 64% of the 7,530 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 2008 averaged 65, so it scored 15 points above the year average.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 6 hrs.

What you need to run it

The minimum specification calls for Pentium® III, AMD Athlon™ 1.0 GHz or better, 512 MB of available system memory of RAM and ATI Radeon™ 9500 or better, NVIDIA GeForce™ FX 5200 or better, Intel® GMA 950 or better with 64 MB of video memory (shared or dedicated)*. At 1GB of RAM, it will run on essentially any working PC — that is below what a budget laptop ships with today. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.

Full requirements and PC checker →

What it launched against

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One launched on 21 May 2008, within three weeks of GRID (2008), LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Ninja Gaiden II and Kung Fu Panda. It reviewed better than 3 of the 4.

Released around the same time: GRID (2008), LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Ninja Gaiden II, Kung Fu Panda.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →

Official trailer

Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel. See all 2 videos →

Screenshots

All media

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One gameplay screenshot

Quick answers

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One — frequently asked questions

When did Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One come out?

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One was released on 21 May 2008 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows).

What are the minimum PC requirements for Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One?

At minimum, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One needs Pentium® III, AMD Athlon™ 1.0 GHz or better, 512 MB of available system memory of RAM, ATI Radeon™ 9500 or better, NVIDIA GeForce™ FX 5200 or better, Intel® GMA 950 or better with 64 MB of video memory (shared or dedicated)* graphics, 350 MB of available hard drive space (185 MB installed) of storage.

How long does it take to beat Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One?

The main story of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One takes around 6 hrs.

How many GB is Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One?

The PC version needs about 0.3 GB of storage, going by the storage line in the system requirements ("350 MB of available hard drive space (185 MB installed)"). Updates can add to that, and console versions have their own sizes, which are not listed here.

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