We always find it a bit trite to start a review with comparisons, but humour us. Rusty Rabbit is a bit like SteamWorld Dig 2 mixed with Sylvanian Families. Or, it’s somewhere between Drill Dozer and Star Fox. Umm, Dig Dug mixed with Conker’s Bad Fur Day? We might be losing steam here…
From developer SoFun, Rusty Rabbit is an action and exploration game where you control Stamp, a grumpy, middle-aged rabbit that collects junk for a living in his mech, the Junkster. He’s a gruff character that smokes carrots and is even voiced by Takaya Kuroda, the VA for Kiryu Kazuma in the Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise. Meanwhile, the English VA for Stamp is Yong Yea — also the English VA for Kiryu Kazuma — whom some JoJo fans may recognise as Stone Ocean antagonist Pucci.
Both do a good job at selling the personality of this troubled character (yes, you can switch between English or Japanese voices), as well as the softness hidden underneath. Stamp and Junkster explore the mines of Smokestack Mountain, hidden below what is left of our world, and alongside a plucky group of explorers known as the BBs, all while also searching for his estranged daughter.
This world is a frozen and barren wasteland, and it seems humans have died out and these lucky lepus have not only survived, but set up their own civilisation on the surface, with shops, bars, and even a church. But more on that later.
Gameplay consists of mixing 2D platforming and action with just your drill, but after getting a gun, a blade, and a grappling hook, the restrictive moveset gradually becomes more swift and satisfying. Anyone expecting Ori or Metroid Dread levels of fluid movement needs to adjust their expectations. Instead, here you feel like you’re controlling a mech, both in power and pace.
Where Rusty Rabbit really works from the jump is exploration, as digging into the mysteries of this world is fascinating, and breaking blocks feels nice and crunchy (though the rumble is…ahem, enthusiastic). Wall-jumping works nicely with the grapple and other powers so that even tricky areas are always achievable, unless clearly hinted otherwise.
Speaking of which, nestled in the depths of Smokestack Mountain are plenty of strict blockades like unbreakable blocks, and a handful of additional powers. While the different biomes give unique challenges like lava or toxic air, the greater picture is spotting the different obstacles like vines blocking your path, and plotting when to return with more powers to uncover every inch of this world and every hidden room. You can use the map to spot conspicuously unbroken blocks and hidden areas just out of reach, and while there’s no marker system to allow you to pinpoint objective blockades to return to, the map does colour code and detail everything very clearly.
While the new weapons and powers are rewarding in their own right, it’s the supplementary progression through using junk to build accessories and building up Junkster’s skills that keeps the gameplay engaging while you wait to unlock the next big thing. Plus, there is a passive level system, helping you slowly get stronger.
Heading back up to the surface, you’ll find the overworld is hugely important here, and it’s another element that works in synergy with the main gameplay to keep rewarding you. Enter the bar to find quests like ‘Find four Springs’ or ‘Beat 15 Rust Crabs’ to earn money, resources, and occasionally Skill Points.
Next, popping into The Church allows you to ask Pastor Bower (again, also a rabbit) about the old world, where humans once existed. However, it seems the rabbits have found a copy of the book Peter Rabbit, and have misinterpreted this as a biblical text. We cannot recommend enough reading Peter Rabbit before playing this game (avoid the James Corden film, obviously), as it adds a lot to the slow reveals of lore Rusty Rabbit brings. Fantastically, Stamp even uses “McGregor” as slang, as the rabbits see farmer Mr McGregor as some sort of demon.
Anyway, you use food found in dungeons to pay Bower for information, which unlocks hay capsules. Swap these in The Diner for affinity and junk, and buy more junk from the Hardware Store to craft new accessories and weapons. Each vendor has a purpose, and the interplay is nicely woven through the entire game.
There’s a fair amount to keep track of, but no character or gameplay element feels wasted. Mercifully, you can also quickly swap between the vendors using ‘L’ and ‘R’ like in Splatoon, but talking to them and uncovering this world’s secrets is fun, especially with the stellar voice work. We do wish that the narrative didn’t interrupt the gameplay so often, though; some conversations could be done over a radio to keep you playing.
Thankfully, if you want non-stop action, there are the random dungeons, adding a huge amount of replayability to an already admirably-sized title. These feel well laid out and are really helpful for grabbing resources, building up your weapons, and ticking off quests.
Sadly, we have to end on a down note, as despite the somewhat simplistic gameplay style, it’s very clear that Rusty Rabbit could be better optimised on Switch. While load times are minimal and gameplay still feels somewhat smooth, firing up the Steam Demo (obviously) reveals quite the disparity in both visual clarity and in response time. Whether playing in docked or handheld, Rusty Rabbit on Switch feels slower than its counterparts in both input delay, frame rate, and overall performance.
Our minor gripes with the pace of movement and combat are exacerbated by slowdown, and while we’re not Digital Foundry, the Switch version feels in desperate need of a few patches (or a Switch 2 performance bump). Alongside some admittedly impressive graphics and gorgeous art for the cut scenes are some ugly textures, egregious pop-in, and just a generally ‘washed out’ look. It’s definitely not unplayable (we played Grime for Switch at launch, we know the difference), it’s sad that this game wasn’t given the time needed to feel at home on Switch.
Ultimately, Rusty Rabbit’s take on Metroidvania genre mixes mining and combat to great effect, as the gratifying power of Junkster, a bevy of subterranean secrets, and the many well-written peripheral characters all work in tandem to give a gameplay loop almost as satisfying as Moonlighter.
Conclusion
Developer SoFun has crafted an endearing and occasionally hilarious world full of mystery, which even after credits roll feels poised for bigger things. However, at launch, the game feels noticeably slow and the visuals seem compromised on Switch, which brings borderline sluggishness occasionally into frustrating territory. By no means a dealbreaker, and not necessarily a barrier to the dozens of hours of fun gameplay you can find, but we hope to hear of some updates that make exploring Smokestack Mountain as enjoyable as it should be.
We always find it a bit trite to start a review with comparisons, but humour us. Rusty Rabbit is a bit like SteamWorld Dig 2 mixed with Sylvanian Families. Or, it’s somewhere between Drill Dozer and Star Fox. Umm, Dig Dug mixed with Conker’s Bad Fur Day? We might be losing steam here…
From developer SoFun, Rusty Rabbit is an action and exploration game where you control Stamp, a grumpy, middle-aged rabbit that collects junk for a living in his mech, the Junkster. He’s a gruff character that smokes carrots and is even voiced by Takaya Kuroda, the VA for Kiryu Kazuma in the Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise. Meanwhile, the English VA for Stamp is Yong Yea — also the English VA for Kiryu Kazuma — whom some JoJo fans may recognise as Stone Ocean antagonist Pucci.
Both do a good job at selling the personality of this troubled character (yes, you can switch between English or Japanese voices), as well as the softness hidden underneath. Stamp and Junkster explore the mines of Smokestack Mountain, hidden below what is left of our world, and alongside a plucky group of explorers known as the BBs, all while also searching for his estranged daughter.
This world is a frozen and barren wasteland, and it seems humans have died out and these lucky lepus have not only survived, but set up their own civilisation on the surface, with shops, bars, and even a church. But more on that later.
Gameplay consists of mixing 2D platforming and action with just your drill, but after getting a gun, a blade, and a grappling hook, the restrictive moveset gradually becomes more swift and satisfying. Anyone expecting Ori or Metroid Dread levels of fluid movement needs to adjust their expectations. Instead, here you feel like you’re controlling a mech, both in power and pace.
Where Rusty Rabbit really works from the jump is exploration, as digging into the mysteries of this world is fascinating, and breaking blocks feels nice and crunchy (though the rumble is…ahem, enthusiastic). Wall-jumping works nicely with the grapple and other powers so that even tricky areas are always achievable, unless clearly hinted otherwise.
Speaking of which, nestled in the depths of Smokestack Mountain are plenty of strict blockades like unbreakable blocks, and a handful of additional powers. While the different biomes give unique challenges like lava or toxic air, the greater picture is spotting the different obstacles like vines blocking your path, and plotting when to return with more powers to uncover every inch of this world and every hidden room. You can use the map to spot conspicuously unbroken blocks and hidden areas just out of reach, and while there’s no marker system to allow you to pinpoint objective blockades to return to, the map does colour code and detail everything very clearly.
While the new weapons and powers are rewarding in their own right, it’s the supplementary progression through using junk to build accessories and building up Junkster’s skills that keeps the gameplay engaging while you wait to unlock the next big thing. Plus, there is a passive level system, helping you slowly get stronger.
Heading back up to the surface, you’ll find the overworld is hugely important here, and it’s another element that works in synergy with the main gameplay to keep rewarding you. Enter the bar to find quests like 'Find four Springs' or 'Beat 15 Rust Crabs' to earn money, resources, and occasionally Skill Points.
Next, popping into The Church allows you to ask Pastor Bower (again, also a rabbit) about the old world, where humans once existed. However, it seems the rabbits have found a copy of the book Peter Rabbit, and have misinterpreted this as a biblical text. We cannot recommend enough reading Peter Rabbit before playing this game (avoid the James Corden film, obviously), as it adds a lot to the slow reveals of lore Rusty Rabbit brings. Fantastically, Stamp even uses "McGregor" as slang, as the rabbits see farmer Mr McGregor as some sort of demon.
Anyway, you use food found in dungeons to pay Bower for information, which unlocks hay capsules. Swap these in The Diner for affinity and junk, and buy more junk from the Hardware Store to craft new accessories and weapons. Each vendor has a purpose, and the interplay is nicely woven through the entire game.
There’s a fair amount to keep track of, but no character or gameplay element feels wasted. Mercifully, you can also quickly swap between the vendors using 'L' and 'R' like in Splatoon, but talking to them and uncovering this world’s secrets is fun, especially with the stellar voice work. We do wish that the narrative didn’t interrupt the gameplay so often, though; some conversations could be done over a radio to keep you playing.
Thankfully, if you want non-stop action, there are the random dungeons, adding a huge amount of replayability to an already admirably-sized title. These feel well laid out and are really helpful for grabbing resources, building up your weapons, and ticking off quests.
Sadly, we have to end on a down note, as despite the somewhat simplistic gameplay style, it’s very clear that Rusty Rabbit could be better optimised on Switch. While load times are minimal and gameplay still feels somewhat smooth, firing up the Steam Demo (obviously) reveals quite the disparity in both visual clarity and in response time. Whether playing in docked or handheld, Rusty Rabbit on Switch feels slower than its counterparts in both input delay, frame rate, and overall performance.
Our minor gripes with the pace of movement and combat are exacerbated by slowdown, and while we're not Digital Foundry, the Switch version feels in desperate need of a few patches (or a Switch 2 performance bump). Alongside some admittedly impressive graphics and gorgeous art for the cut scenes are some ugly textures, egregious pop-in, and just a generally ‘washed out’ look. It’s definitely not unplayable (we played Grime for Switch at launch, we know the difference), it’s sad that this game wasn’t given the time needed to feel at home on Switch.
Ultimately, Rusty Rabbit’s take on Metroidvania genre mixes mining and combat to great effect, as the gratifying power of Junkster, a bevy of subterranean secrets, and the many well-written peripheral characters all work in tandem to give a gameplay loop almost as satisfying as Moonlighter.
Conclusion
Developer SoFun has crafted an endearing and occasionally hilarious world full of mystery, which even after credits roll feels poised for bigger things. However, at launch, the game feels noticeably slow and the visuals seem compromised on Switch, which brings borderline sluggishness occasionally into frustrating territory. By no means a dealbreaker, and not necessarily a barrier to the dozens of hours of fun gameplay you can find, but we hope to hear of some updates that make exploring Smokestack Mountain as enjoyable as it should be.
