Out of everything we’ve seen at Summer Game Fest so far, Rusty Rabbit just might be the show’s best (and wackiest) surprise.
My favorite thing about going to an event like Summer Game Fest isn’t playing big-budget titles I’ve been anticipating for years — it’s finding stuff I’ve never heard of. Last year’s show introduced me to Cocoon, which ranked high on my own year-end list for 2023. This year, I once again have found a hidden gem on the Summer Game Fest show floor that’s become my most anticipated game of the fall: Rusty Rabbit.
When I sat down for a meeting with NetEase for a hands-off demo, I knew nothing about the upcoming 2.5D platformer beyond its name. My eyes lit up as soon as the developers on hand began talking about it and showing me gameplay. It’s the most ludicrous elevator pitch I’ve ever heard for a game, one that bursts from the top of the building and keeps going into the stratosphere.
Rusty Rabbit is a Metroidvania set in a postapocalyptic world. It’s not a dystopian game, though. While humans have abandoned Earth, adorable talking rabbits have inherited it. In the years following mankind’s fall, rabbits began to learn about human society through the art and tech they left behind — but they’ve interpreted it all wrong.
