Just five days before Gamescom 2025, I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to put together a complete cosplay. I have always loved the creature designs in Rain World, and I decided I wanted to go as a Scavenger Chieftain. I knew going into this that pulling off a full costume in less than a week would be stressful, but once I get an idea in my head, I have to see it through.
The base of the mask started with a simple balloon. A quick tip if you ever try this yourself: make sure to measure your head properly beforehand, because my mask ended up being a little too small! I covered the entire balloon in a base layer of paper mache. To create the distinct "teeth" at the bottom, I cut a piece of cardboard, attached it, and used more paper mache to blend it into the balloon. For the Scavenger's massive horns, I rolled up pieces of newspaper and glued them directly onto the head.
Whenever something felt unstable, the solution was usually just to add more layers of paper mache or tape. When the horns were still too wobbly after drying, I secured them with duct tape and covered them in another layer of mache to make the surface even again. After putting it on for testing, I realized that the horns were way too high, so I cut out a section in the middle and taped them back to the head piece. You can see this height difference in image 1 vs. 2 below.
Because I was running out of time, I didn't let the paper dry as thoroughly as I should have before cutting. I drew the shapes for the eyes and the face hole on paper first, adjusted them until I was happy, and traced the outlines onto the mask. Because I had added so many layers to stabilize the horns, the paper mache was incredibly tough. A standard box cutter wasn't cutting it, so I had to bring out an electric rotary cutter to carve out the face hole and the teeth, which actually worked out great.
Then came the painting phase, which taught me a few lessons through trial and error. I started with a transparent primer to stop the paint from sinking into the porous (and still somewhat wet) paper. Then I applied white acrylic paint, but to my dismay, the paint cracked after a night of drying. I tried adding a layer of lacquer to fix it, which wasn't great either, but it at least gave me a solid white base. Finally, I remembered I had an acrylic paint spray, which worked perfectly to cover all the messy inconsistencies from the previous layers.
With a smooth base ready, I could finally start adding the character. Using red acrylic paint, I loosely added the stripes and blocks of color wherever it felt right. For the markings on the mask, I combined the "The Survivor" and "Friendship" symbols from the game to create "The Chieftain" symbol. I drew it on paper, transferred it to the mask, and traced it carefully with red paint. To finish the head, I found a stretchable fly screen at my local market, cut out the eye shapes, and superglued them from the inside.
A Chieftain isn't complete without their pearls. I used a mix of cotton and wooden spheres, painted them in various colors, and strung them up using a steel cord-reinforced string so they wouldn't snap on the crowded convention floor. But I wanted to go a step further. In Rain World, pearls act like USB drives containing lore. So, before painting, I sliced the spheres open and inserted NFC tags inside them! When tapped with a phone, the tags link directly to a custom webpage I built earlier this year containing all of Rain World's pearls and dialogue contents.
It was a ridiculous amount of extra work considering only two people actually scanned them on-site, but I absolutely love the idea that my props had functioning lore embedded inside them. For the rest of the outfit my mother came to the rescue and helped me quickly sew together a cloak and cape combo out of some dark fabric I got on the way home from work.
Taking the finished cosplay to Gamescom was such a cool experience. Even though Rain World is a somewhat niche game, six different (groups of) people recognized the game and asked for pictures! I also ran into some amazing cosplayers representing other great indie games, and we had to get some photos together.
As a bonus to the weekend, I actually got to play the Hollow Knight: Silksong demo! I chose the advanced demo set in the Deep Docks lava area with the dash unlocked. The movement and combat felt incredibly snappy and fluid. I spent so much time exploring optional rooms and finding secrets (including what looked like new grubs) that I almost ran out of time. I managed to land the final hit on the Lace right as my 15-minute timer expired.