The Night of the Rabbit, Daedalic Entertainment’s upcoming release, is a point and click adventure due for release on the 29th of May (2013). This is a preview of the game, meaning that I was only at liberty to play a snippet of the overall game. This was a kick-ass snippet though and I cannot express enough how much I am looking forward to the full release of the game.
The game plays like all point and click-ers, you point and click and shit happens. Now that you are all caught up on all the difficult technical stuff, here is the game. The prologue sets the mood and is very successful in relaying the story and in garnering the audiences’ interest. A world-wizened voice starts off telling you of the games pre-story, letting the audience know that this game is just a fragment of a much, much bigger story. This feeling of grandness in scale is mirrored by Daedalic Entertainment, who said that this is their biggest and best game. After this initial storytelling, the player is thrown into a world, one of many, of mysticism and grandeur as they take control of ‘the Rabbit’. As you move your character around you are met by an ‘Odd Figure’ who tells you that he knows your story and guides you to the portal which will take you on your path.
The player is then introduced to the main character of the game, ‘Jeremiah’ during his summer holidays two days before the start of school. Jeremiah (Jerry) is a young boy who dreams of becoming a magician. Jerry is a very adventurous boy, who likes exploring and creates fantastic stories out of even the smallest of his daily chores, which he does for his mother. Through the carrying out of your chores you return home to see a magic envelope fly into your letterbox. This magical vessel houses a riddle, the first true problem-solving activity within the game. The riddle is a recipe, a recipe for a “Flaming Carrot” which summons the Rabbit. this rabbit will open the floodgates of knowledge to Jerry, speeding him on his course to becoming a true magician. This will take him to new worlds and allow him to discover powerful new magic and interesting new people. Collectible items are also available in the game. These collectibles add to the game lore and are not just for completionists.
The artwork was not entirely finished before the preview. That being said, I was still in awe at how breath-taking the detail and quality of the art was. It lends to the gameplay and adds depth to the experience; there are subtle details in the animations that really reveal how much work went into the making of the game. For example, the players character will nod and shake their head depending on the answer the player gives to questions.
The voice acting, for all but the character Jerry, was brilliant. I would go far as to say that this is my favourite voice acting in any game. The opening dialogue is emotion evoking, carrying such power behind it that it draws you into the game world, and this continues throughout as you are introduced to increasingly more interesting characters. The only negative point I can give on the in-game dialogue, is that there are awkward silences in some of the conversations. It is not always obvious if there are more points to the conversations, so there were a few times that I was unsure of whether or not I was supposed to just wait to see if the other characters had more to say. The music for the game makes you feel as if you are in an epic tale and is great at portraying the tone.
When you are given a quest you are told the information and off you trot, armed only with your own knowledge and a thirst for adventure. There are no way markers or journals that will tell you all but the actual answer. This allows for a true feeling of accomplishment when you finish these tasks. This is refreshing in a day and age where players are continually smashed in the face with far too much information in adventure games, making it less about the exploration, discovery and problem solving, and more about the result. The quests in The Night of the Rabbit are not short quests that require little thought. They are fulfilling, memorable and thought provoking.
The Night of the Rabbit looks set to be an amazing game. It is visually stunning and full of brilliant features. One of these is the background artwork; this is because what you can see in the background of the screen changes, depending on Jerry’s position on screen to show what he would be able to see from that position. This is fantastic, I have never seen this in this type of game before. The Night of the Rabbit has laid the foundation for being a very engaging but tough adventure game. With an in-depth story, I would recommend everyone keeps and eye on it, especially those of you who like adventure games. A great art style, tough puzzles and no hand holding marks this title out as potentially magical.