I saw an absurd game about rabbits at Summer Game Fest, and I’m obsessed with it - Beritaja

2 weeks ago

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A rabbit and a man recreate The Creation of Man in Rusty Rabbit.

My favourite point astir going to an arena for illustration Summer Game Fest isn’t playing big-budget titles I’ve been anticipating for years — it’s uncovering worldly I’ve ne'er heard of. Last year’s show introduced maine to Cocoon, which classed precocious connected my ain year-end database for 2023. This year, I erstwhile again person recovered a hidden gem connected The Summer Game Fest show level that’s go my astir anticipated crippled of The fall: Rusty Rabbit.

When I sat down for a gathering pinch NetEase for a hands-off demo, I knew thing astir The upcoming 2.5D platformer beyond its name. My eyes lit up arsenic soon arsenic The developers connected manus began talking astir it and showing maine gameplay. It’s The astir ludicrous elevator transportation I’ve ever heard for a game, 1 that bursts from The apical of The building and keeps going into The stratosphere.

Rusty Rabbit is simply a Metroidvania group in a postapocalyptic world. It’s not a dystopian game, though. While humans person abandoned Earth, adorable talking rabbits person inherited it. In The years pursuing mankind’s fall, rabbits began to study astir quality nine done The creation and tech they near down — but they’ve interpreted it each wrong. They portion together that rabbits are a chosen title created by God and rather virtually deliberation that The book Peter Rabbit is The bible, telling The communicative of “St. Peter.”

If your jaw is already connected The floor, it’s astir to spell moreover lower.

The escapade stars a middle-aged rabbit named Stamp who “chain-smokes” carrots. He’s a scrapyard tinkerer who has built himself a fancy mech that Can excavation up valuable metal. If you watch The trailer and consciousness for illustration his Japanese sound character sounds familiar, that’s because he’s voiced by Takaya Kuroda, The sound of Kiryu Kazuma in The Like a Dragon series. I committedness to God I americium not making this crippled up.

A rabbit in a mech slashes a machete in Rusty Rabbit.

All of that unsocial would already person maine sold, but I was particularly bought in aft watching a unrecorded demo. Rusty Rabbit is simply a 2.5D action platformer wherever Stamp barrels done junkyards in his mech. He has 4 different weapons, which see a shotgun and sword. He besides has a drill that Can trim done blocks of metallic and springiness him acquisition points in gameplay, which is reminiscent of The excellent Steamworld Dig. After leveling up, Stamp Can upgrade each of his weapons to unlock a heavy database of upgrades and combos. It’s a shockingly heavy combat and traversal system. Some precocious crippled upgrades I saw had him flying astir pinch a jetpack and doing multi-hit combos pinch his sword.

While its action (including a leader conflict against a portion of dense machinery) looks strong, it’s The absurd ocular style and joke that is drafting maine in. The rabbits themselves look precious, which makes The truth that they’re reliable scavengers pinch grizzled voices each The much funny. Several jokes had maine laughing retired large in The demo too. My unit is called The “BB’s,” but nary of my pals Can work together connected what that really stands for. One spot of speech had each characteristic saying a wholly different acronym arsenic they talked astir The group. It’s a panic portion of Abbott and Costello-style drama and I’m fresh for more.

A rabbit in a mech fights a instrumentality in Rusty Rabbit.

With a September 24 merchandise day confirmed, Rusty Rabbit feels primed to go 2024’s astir eclectic release. Plenty of games pinch oddball concepts for illustration this thin to beryllium one-joke memes, but Rusty Rabbit doesn’t look for illustration it’s falling into that trap. Its Metroidvania gameplay seems amazingly heavy and fresh, adding its ain rotation to The genre pinch its trash-collecting gameplay. If it’s moreover half arsenic delightful arsenic what I saw this weekend, I’ll beryllium location for it connected time one.

Rusty Rabbit launches connected September 24 for The PlayStation 5 and PC.