Rusty Rabbit Preview: SteamWorld Dig Meets Psycho-Pass and Peter Rabbit?

ign.com:

“Always wanted to play as a hard-boiled rabbit? Then we have the game for you.” This is the clear message that Rusty Rabbit delivers with its title screen, right from the get go. In his leather jacket, smoking a carrot, protagonist Stamp would have been right home in a Like a Dragon game. He does end up eating the carrot in the end, but who can blame him? He’s a rabbit after all.

While Stamp’s characteristics can be grasped in an instant, as a game, Rusty Rabbit is a bit more difficult to explain. As Stamp, you explore a vast 2D environment with plenty of obstacles and enemies on the way. However, Rusty Rabbit relies too much on player choice to call it a Metroidvania. There are a wide array of abilities ranging from speed boosts to wall climbing, and in certain instances these need to be utilized in the right way in order to progress. That being said, many of the game’s challenges don’t have a single answer and can be overcome by using the weapon or ability that the player feels like using at that moment. Even when I was fighting a boss right after obtaining a new weapon type, that boss could be defeated with any weapon.

Rusty Rabbit is set in a post-apocalyptic world that was previously inhabited by giants (that’s how the rabbits refer to humans), but the giants are long gone. For some reason, the rabbits survived and created their own civilization. The stories of Peter Rabbit, an ancient document left by the giants, functions as their bible.

Stamp often heads into a place left by the giants that is called Mt. Chimney. Here, he mounts a mech-like vehicle to collect the junk that can be found in this multilayered place. Rusty Rabbit’s main gameplay loop consists of exploring Mt. Chimney, and then heading back to your base to sell or use your collected junk to upgrade your mech.

The drill is the only weapon that Stamp can use in the beginning of the game. Reaching new locations by digging deeper and deeper can at times feel reminiscent of SteamWorld Dig. However, Stamp