The City of Rain in Varsapura is heavily based on Singapore. The connection goes beyond visual inspiration. The historical Sanskrit name for Singapore is "Singapura" (Lion City), and the game's title "Varsapura" follows the same Sanskrit construction: varsa (rain) + pura (city).
Recognizable Landmarks
The 31-minute gameplay demo features identifiable Singapore locations, adapted rather than directly copied:
Bugis and City Hall areas are visible in the urban layout
NAFA (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) appears in the background of several scenes
Duo Galleria and CHIJMES are recognizable in the city architecture
Structures resembling Lazada One and Saint Andrew's Cathedral appear in the skyline
Street Names
Real Singapore street names are visible on road signs in the demo footage: Rochor Road, Serangoon Road, Ophir Road, and Kallang Road. These are actual streets in central Singapore, particularly in the Bugis and Little India neighborhoods. The developers did not try to hide the reference.
Why Singapore?
Singapore is a natural fit for Varsapura's design goals. The city-state has a tropical climate with frequent heavy rainfall, modern high-rise architecture, narrow alleyways between older buildings, and a mix of cultural influences that creates visual variety. Its compact urban density provides the kind of layered, vertical environment that works well for open-world gameplay with both street-level and rooftop exploration.
Artistic License
The City of Rain is not a 1:1 recreation. The developers have taken the geographic foundation and applied supernatural transformations: distorted architecture, impossible geometries in Cognosea event zones, and the ever-present rain that is much heavier than Singapore's actual weather patterns. The result is a city that feels grounded in a real place while remaining clearly fictional.
The Demo's Driving Route
The 31-minute reveal demo includes an extended driving sequence that traces a specific real-world route through the City of Rain's Singapore-inspired districts. The trip begins in the Bencoolen area (a real central Singapore neighborhood near the Bras Basah cultural quarter) and ends at Dempsey Hill (an upscale district in central Singapore known for its lifestyle and dining venues). The route covers a substantial portion of the playable map and showcases the open-world city's drivable street network. Bencoolen and Dempsey Hill in the real city are roughly seven kilometres apart, suggesting the in-game equivalent is large enough to feel like a meaningful traversal challenge by foot but compact for driving.
The driving sequence doubles as a character moment: Hollowone and Sayuki share canned Americano coffee in the cabin while exchanging dialogue. This pattern, where vehicle traversal carries plot rather than serving as filler, signals that vehicles in Varsapura are intended to function as social spaces, not just transport.