The Night of the Rabbit

August 25, 2013

Daedalic Entertainment have released a series of high quality point-and-click adventure games in recent years, including the critically acclaimed Deponia series, and the Edna & Harvey series. The Night of the Rabbit is a little different to most of their previous titles, doing away with the zany humor and general insanity that has characterised their previous efforts. Night of the Rabbit feels as though it was designed with a younger audience in mind, it’s a light hearted adventure that has more charm than anything else. That’s certainly not a bad thing though, especially since the locations, writing, and voice acting combine well to transport players into a world of magic and mystery.

The Night of the Rabbit follows the adventures of a young boy called Jeremiah (Jerry) Hazelnut, who lives with his mother and dreams of growing up to be a magician. One day, a mysterious letter appears in his mailbox, which contains instructions for performing a magical ritual. After gathering the required materials, Jerry manages to complete the ritual, which causes a rabbit to appear out of thin air. It’s not just any rabbit, though. Jerry finds himself face to face with the Marquis de Hoto, an anthropomorphic talking rabbit who is also a powerful magician. The Marquis takes an interest in him, and offers to take Jerry on as an apprentice. Not being one to question his good luck, Jerry quickly accepts the invitation, and soon finds himself transported to the world of Mousewood. There he finds a peaceful town populated by sentient mice, squirrels, moles, and other creatures. All is not as it seems, however…

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As we’ve seen in their previous titles, Daedalic know how to put together a good, engaging story. Jerry, with his youthful enthusiasm and cheerful demeanor, is a likeable protagonist. His adventures across the world of Mousewood cause him to come into contact with many colourful characters, who will either help or hinder him on his quest. The Night of the Rabbit features full voice acting, which really helps to bring the vivid characters to life. The game’s pacing can be a little slow, particularly towards the start, but there’s always something to keep you engaged. Like any good point-and-click game, The Night of the Rabbit has no shortage of puzzles. These puzzles are well integrated into the story, and often have multiple parts to them. There’s nothing especially challenging, but they often require you to stop and think about the best ways to combine your inventory items. Combining items is an essential part of the game, both for puzzles and simply advancing the story. The combinations always make sense, so players shouldn’t have much difficulty with following the game’s logic. From a mechanics stand point, The Night of the Rabbit plays exactly the same as games like Deponia and Edna & Harvey. That’s not unexpected, but it would be nice to see a few tweaks to the system. New ways to interact with the world would definitely be appreciated. Fortunately, the troublesome mini-games that we saw in Daedalic’s previous release Chaos on Deponia, are absent.

There’s no shortage of nice visuals in The Night of the Rabbit, as the game is full of charmingly hand drawn artwork. It’s all high resolution, detailed, and rather beautiful. The game’s environments are a real pleasure to look at, and the high quality of the graphics really adds to the game’s charm. It’s hard not to fall in love with the world of Mousewood as you explore all of its nooks and crannies, which are full of personality. The audio is also a strong point, as the game is filled with well composed background music which really adds to the atmosphere of whichever location you’re currently exploring. The voice acting is strong overall, with the actors for Jerry and the Marquis de Hoto in particular putting in a great performance. Jerry’s voice is often filled wioth childlike wonder, while the Marquis’ wise and musing tone suits him well. Just as we’ve seen in previous games, Jerry has various unique lines that play when he tries to combine certain inventory items, even those that are incompatible. It’s a nice touch, as always.

TNOTRscreen02Overall, The Night of the Rabbit is a charming adventure, and yet another enjoyable point-and-click game from Daedalic Entertainment. I was always interested to see what would happen next to Jerry, and the game as a whole is full of personality, colourful characters, and creative puzzles. Mousewood is a fascinating place, one that I think would actually hold up well if it were to be explored in more detail in another game. As it stands though, The Night of the Rabbit is a great, well polished 10 hour adventure for all ages. If the premise appeals to you, then it’s well worth your time to grab it from the Steam store.

Positives:

Charming story with a likeable protagonist | Great visuals | Enjoyable puzzles

Negatives:

Mechanics are slightly stale

Overall Score: