Preview: The Night of the Rabbit

I’m a newcomer to the world of point and click adventures having only really been introduced to the genre with Telltale’s The Walking Dead last year. The Night of the Rabbit is a much more old school affair, although not without it’s charm.

The player takes charge of 12 year old Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Hazelnut, whose biggest worry is that there are only two days left of his summer holidays. The boy has dreams of being a magician which, fortunately for Jerry, come true as he is placed within the apprenticeship of 6 foot rabbit Marquis de Hoto. There is an evil force moving across the enchanted realm of Mousewood, and it is up to Jerry to turn the tide for the forces of good.

As I’m still relatively green to the genre I was treated to the game’s tutorial, presented within the narrative as a seemingly all-knowing morning exercise radio broadcast that we later find out is given by a certain molish denizen of Mousewood. Whilst this was at points a tad tedious it took the player through the controls and basic actions clearly and set you up well for the coming puzzles. Regulars to point and click adventures will be glad to hear that this option was skippable.

The first thing that hits you once you get into the game is just how beautiful it all is. The Night of the Rabbit utilizes hand drawn 2D graphics with the occasional cutscene and parallax scrolling is used to give the illusion of depth to each scene. The characters and the world they’re within are all wonderfully drawn and would not look out of place in the painted illustrations traditionally found in classic children’s books.

The music too, was wonderful throughout, composed especially for the game it added to the feel of the whole world, one minute being as excitable as the young magician that we follow and the next being decidedly morose. Most of the characters that I encountered were fully voice acted which while not constantly to a high a standard as the rest of the audio, were largely good and as I understand it, above average quality for a game of this type.

The preview that I played made up approximately one sixth of the total game so, although it took me somewhere between 3-4 hours to get though, it’s still hard to tell exactly in what direction the puzzle design was going. For the most part the puzzles I encountered were fairly typical, inventory gathering and combination stuff and I only really got stuck at one point because the last item I needed was hidden away in the artwork. That’s not to say that they’re overly simple though, the first major puzzle the player encounters involves a lengthy collection of items from various locations which then needed to be used with the environment and combined together, again within varying locales.

As the story develops Jerry visits several magical worlds and their inhabitants, many of whom aid Jerry on his quest to become a true magician. With their help he learns new magic spells which add further depth to the game, including a magic coin which allows the player to see beyond the physical game realm and reveal things within the environment that could otherwise not be found.

As far I am aware, the ability to pull a pug from your hat at will is not a magic trick Jerry can learn. A man  can hope though.

One feature that was not yet implemented in the preview built that I played but is promised for release is the inclusion of a wide range of collectibles such as a deck of cards or mysterious magical dew drops scattered all over Mousewood which would tie into the story and help flesh out the game’s lore. All of which ought to keep the completionists amongst you busy as you make your way through the game.

The Night of the Rabbit was released yesterday, it’s a graphical and musical treat, with an interesting storyline that I myself am very keen to see how it will unfold. If you’re at all interested in point and click adventures, be it as a veteran or newbie like me, you could do a lot worse than The Night of the Rabbit, it’s well worth a look.