For this week's #Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Rusty Rabbit.
At first glance, i assumed Rusty Rabbit was another in a long line of shovelware on Switch but after checking out the eShop page and reading that somewhat famous companies Nitroplus and NetEase were behind the game i was really curious to see what they had come up with.
I did go into this demo expecting it to look worse than it actually did. there was something about the screenshots and video on the eShop page that made it look like a lower resolution game and got me thinking that this would be a lesser experience in comparison to the PS5 version of the game. thankfully this is a great demo and that wasn't the case.
this demo makes it clear that it is a demo but more importantly it says that the save file from this demo will work in the retail version of the game, it's something that a lot of demos don't mention. there are also links at the start of the demo to get the game from the eShop and at the end of the demo. as an experience, it's certainly one of the better demos i've played as part of this playlist.
Right from the start, this demo for Rusty Rabbit impresses. the music on the home screen was great and it's great throughout. the main character Rusty is well written and performed. he was surprisingly likeable, more so when the other characters were introduced. the tutorial is good and smartly incorporates mechanics into actual gameplay, dishing them out a little at a time so it's never overwhelming. that approach also works well with the #Metroidvania style of gameplay in Rusty Rabbit. we have more abilities at the start than when the demo ends but it's well written into the story as to why.
The story is teased a little bit more on the eShop page than it was in this demo but the world building and some of the back story revealed do help make it less obvious how little story we're going with at present. i am curious as to where it's going to go and what other characters will be introduced.
If i had to pick a shortcoming after playing this demo it's that i don't know who we, the player, are. at times it feels like Rusty is talking directly to us but because the world is presented so cohesively, it does make me wonder if Rusty is breaking the 4th wall or if there's more to it.
I highly recommend the demo for Rusty Rabbit. it presents a great first hour of the game. if you're interested in a character driven metroidvania with rpg elements, then this is well worth checking out.
