Rusty Rabbit Takes Players to a World Run by Rabbits After Humans Left Earth
Restart learned more about this clever side-scroller at Summer Game Fest.
Posted 5 months ago
At Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, Restart had the chance to check out Rusty Rabbit, a 2.5D action side-scroller from Nitro Plus and NetEase.
Rusty Rabbit takes place on a version of Earth that’s been abandoned by humans following another ice age and taken over by rabbits who have developed their own “advanced” civilization and the ability to speak.
During our Summer Game Fest meeting, we were told the rabbits have “completely misunderstood human history” and believe they are the “chosen ones who God chose to put on the planet to live there.” Taking things one step further, the rabbits have adopted The Tale of Peter Rabbit children’s story as a sort of Bible, with “Saint Peter” as a hero, who has “banished” Mr. McGregor from the planet. Following these supposed events, the rabbits have emerged from their underground burrows to live on the planet’s surface.
The game’s (incredibly clever) original concept and screenplay were created by Gen Urobuchi, writer of the Godzilla animated film trilogy on Netflix, as well as the Psycho-Pass and Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime series, among others.
In Rusty Rabbit, players will become a rust digger named Stamp, an older, lonely rabbit who explores the human ruins known as Smokestack Mountain to gather resources that were left behind that he can use to create new things and modify his mech. While Stamp starts out working alone, he will eventually team up with a group of rust diggers called the “BBs” to further explore Smokestack Mountain.
Anna, one of the BBs in Rusty Rabbit
©NetEase
Smokestack Mountain is a space elevator humans created to send resources to space, which was left in operation when they abandoned the planet. As a result, the mountain is full of robotic enemies (and bosses) for Stamp to defeat with his mech through “smash and dash” gameplay. This will see players explore both “scripted” portions of the mountain, as well as randomly generated areas.
Stamp’s mech, called Junkster, comes equipped with two kinds of weapons: digging weapons and attack weapons. Digging weapons are useful for destroying blocks that prevent Stamp from moving around the mountain, while attack weapons, as you might have guessed, can be used to eliminate enemies.
As players defeat their foes, they’ll earn experience points and can unlock different skills for Stamp on a skill tree. They’ll also receive certain upgrades by simply progressing through the story.
While Rusty Rabbit won’t have a selection of difficulty settings, we were told the game is on the “easier side.” Even so, if players want to see everything, they can still expect the game to offer a 30-hour experience.
Rusty Rabbit will hit PlayStation 5 and PC on September 24. Those who pre-order the PlayStation 5 version will receive early access beginning September 21.