The video game is a medium rarely given to using big names. While cinema and other audiovisual media tend to use authors from inside and outside their medium to sell themselves, this is rarely done in video games. One doesn’t tend to see one’s own name as a selling point, with the honorable exceptions of big name authors like Hideo Kojima. That is why it is so surprising that NetEase has decided to sell its game not only for what it is. But also for who works on it.
During the Tokyo Game Show, which runs from September 21 to 24, NetEase Games has announced a new game called Rusty Rabbit. This is a 2.5D side-scrolling action game where we control a rabbit named Stamp who lives in a post-apocalyptic world. One day, while collecting scrap metal, he falls into some ancient ruins and finds clues to his lost daughter. Something that leads him on a journey in search of his daughter that will lead him to discover the secrets of his world.
With a trailer that is a good mix of gameplay and CGI and an outstanding character design, the game will be released in 2024 on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. But most surprising of all is that this game is being developed by NITRO PLUS. And that the writer is Gen Urobuchi.
For those who don’t know him, Gen Urobuchi is one of the great screenwriters of contemporary anime. Author of works such as Fate/Zero, Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Psycho-Pass, among many others, he is known for his dramatic, dark and violent works, with an adult and philosophical tone. Something that has made his fans affectionately call him Urobutcher. A play on words between his name and butcher. Something that makes us fear for Rusty Rabbit’s bunny, but look forward to this game even more.