Rusty Rabbit is a platformer known as a Metroidvania, a term derived from the classic games Metroid and Castlevania. And that means there’s a lot of side-scrolling action and beasty bashing here, along with some nonlinear exploration and a nice little story.
That narrative focuses on a “rust-grubber” named Rusty Stamp. He’s an old bunny living in a post-apocalyptic world of sentient rabbits. His snowy junk world wasn’t always rabbit-run, however. As Rusty and others have dug their way through the various areas of Smokestack Mountain, they’ve discovered bits and pieces of lore about “giants” that came before them.
The rabbit folk aren’t totally sure if these giants were gods or demons, but they’ve found “religious” documents that speak of a certain St. Peter—Rabbit, that is—who hung up his little blue jacket and launched their rabbit society.
But Rusty isn’t really concerned with religion. He’s focused on taking his Junkster, a robotic digger he created from scrap and junk, and digging up valuable things in the giants’ abandoned dungeons that he can sell or build with. Of course, he isn’t averse to using the giants’ left-behind machines, if they help him get better at his excavating and exploring job.
The gameplay of Rusty Rabbit involves guiding Rusty’s mech through a sprawling map of the mountain. There are levels, tunnels, puzzling obstacles and bulkhead doors that players must figure out how to navigate.
In the Junkster you break through blocks; find usable items such as nuts, bolts, alternators and springs; and fight off mechanical rust beasts that infest the dungeons. Along the way Rusty interacts with other young bunny diggers who offer him blueprints for improved tools and weapons he can attach to his mech.
Rusty Rabbit is a single player game that does not require an online connection to play.
As Rusty progresses, he slowly makes friends with and helps out other young rabbits, guiding them away from a bad situation that they find themselves entangled in.
We also discover that Rusty has a daughter who left their village to explore the outside world and to learn more about giants. Rusty misses her greatly and blames himself for her departure. But he finds machines that help him contact her in a sweet side story.
Along with the story twists and turns, the game features a very nice set of upgrades and level progressions that keep the platforming and creature battles interesting. The play feels fresh, while never becoming overly difficult for younger players.
At first glance, the E10+ rated Rusty Rabbit may appear as cute and cuddly as its white, fluffy protagonist. But there are some mature elements in the mix.
Rusty himself sounds a bit like Jack Nicholson after a steady diet of cigars, for instance, and he has an “ain’t my concern” attitude designed to keep all but his closest friends at bay. And we see him at the local bar smoking a stogie-like carrot and knocking back a glass of booze. We also hear the grizzled bunny grunt out “d—it” when he takes a fall or gets hit in a fight, along with occasional uses of “h—” “jeez” and “sheesh!”
There’s the Peter Rabbit-based religion to navigate as well. Rusty shrugs it all off as nonsense, and some parts of the unfolding storyline are humorous. (For instance, the rabbits have a bunny themed version of Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” fresco.) But it’s also easy to interpret that whole storyline as something of a slam against religion in general. The church leaders here, for instance, are haughty and manipulative.
A former priest even attempts to deceive the rabbit church and set himself up as a predestined savior. One of his planted documents declares that nuns of the church should dress up in “fishnet stockings and a leotard with a bow tie and cuffs.” His plot is foiled, and he’s shamed.
There are also battles with lots of rust beasts that Rusty must engage in. He uses upgraded blades, hammers and guns against the various large and small creatures that charge him, dive from above, and shoot explosive blasts. The battles are percussive but not messy in any way.
Rusty Rabbit has a lot of interesting story elements mixed in with its side-scrolling action. But some of those bits are more appropriate for older players than the game’s E10+ rating might suggest.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
