A enjoyable experience stuffed with amassing junk.
Facet-scroller Rusty Rabbit stunned me. I hadn’t heard of this sport earlier than reviewing it, nor was I acquainted with the work of the anime author Gen Urobuchi who wrote the story, nevertheless it made a robust first impression that carried by way of all the way in which to the tip. The story saved me , however the exploration and motion of the gameplay was simply as necessary to retaining me going, and collectively they added as much as one of many higher video games I’ve performed shortly.
Set in a post-apocalyptic future the place people are gone and rabbits have turn into sentient, the world of Rusty Rabbit could be very well-developed. You play as Stamp, a grizzled outdated rabbit who explores the ruins of Smokestack Mountain, amassing junk to promote or construct issues with, and alongside the way in which you meet an entertaining forged of characters who provide help to piece collectively the intricate lore of the historical past of the “giants,” a.okay.a. people, and the way the world grew to become what it’s now. The story could be nearly overwhelming at instances with how a lot of it there may be, and whereas some cutscenes are absolutely voice-acted, different sections are simply giant blocks of textual content, which could be cumbersome to get by way of. Regardless of that, the sport by no means wore out its welcome for me, and saved me fascinated with unraveling its mysteries proper up by way of the conclusion.
The gameplay of Rusty Rabbit entails Stamp in his mech, exploring the depths of the mountain, breaking by way of blocks and combating off mechanical rust beasts that infest these areas. That is very paying homage to the SteamWorld Dig collection, the place digging additional down permits you to improve your mech with new capabilities and weapons that in flip can help you go even deeper. The junk you acquire could be offered, however can also be essential to craft the brand new weapons you purchase blueprints for alongside the way in which, and the XP you get from digging will get you talent factors to be spent on a really deep talent tree. Collectively, there’s an actual sense of development and empowerment that modifications the way in which you play.
Like a great Metroid-style sport, Rusty Rabbit’s large world permits for lots of exploration, however there’s a particular path it’s guiding you down. Going off the overwhelmed path will get you extra junk and expertise, and frequent fast-travel factors make it comparatively painless to return to areas when new talents can help you discover additional. The map does a great job of telling you the place issues are and what obstacles are in your method.
Stamp has 4 fundamental weapon sorts that every have their benefits and weaknesses. The drill and hammer are principally used for environmental puzzles and traversal, whereas the gun and sword are extra targeted on fight. If you discover blueprints for brand spanking new and higher variations of every of those it seems like an enormous deal, and every of them can be upgraded with plasma cores you discover all through the world.
Fight in Rusty Rabbit largely feels superb, with totally different enemy sorts requiring totally different methods, which helps maintain issues contemporary. There are additionally some fascinating bosses with distinctive patterns, however generally they’ll really feel too simple, the place should you’re leveled up correctly and are available in with some therapeutic objects, you possibly can roughly simply stand there and hack at them and so they’ll die earlier than you do. Alongside the way in which you unlock the power to struggle extra highly effective variations of them, which could be fascinating, in addition to randomly generated ranges which are useful if you wish to stage up or acquire sure sorts of things.
With an enormous world to discover and a compelling story stuffed with twists and turns, Rusty Rabbit provides a fairly meaty marketing campaign that stays fascinating all over. The gameplay loop and upgrades are very satisfying and maintain issues contemporary alongside the way in which. Whether or not you’re acquainted with the artist’s work otherwise you’re model new to it like me, I absolutely advocate Rusty Rabbit.
