NetEase
Like many , Gen Urobuchi , the creator of NetEases’sRusty Rabbit , did n’t have much to do during the COVID-19 lockdown . Rather than binge a new show , blame up a new hobby , or dive deep into a Quran , he determine to create a 2.5D Metroidvania . This ultimately became a way for Urobuchi to carry himself and process his feelings during this time . Some of us made bread during the pandemic ; Urobuchi made a secret plan about a race of adorable , gruff - voiced bunny girl inheriting the Earth after humanity abandoned it .
We were all going through it in our own way .
NetEase
During Anime Expo 2024 , Digital Trends chatted with Urobuchi , game manufacturer Yuichiro Saito , and leading voice player Takaya Kuroda ( Kazuma Kiryu in theLike a Dragon series ) about how create a biz with such an out - there assumption helped Urobuchi sail the pandemic and the originative process that helped bring in a wacky idea to life .
Rabbit habits
Rusty Rabbittells the story of rabbits becoming Earth ’s dominant coinage after humans go out due to a new Ice Age . As meter progresses , the rabbits discover human tech and greatly misconceive much of what was will behind . It ’s a whacky premise , but one that number from an revelatory here and now in the real world . Urobuchi explained that he chose rabbits as the game ’s main focus because he came across a rabbit drawing on Twitter during the COVID-19 lockdown . This at last lead Urobuchi to try out with the Unity Engine .
“ I started making the video game in Unity Engine , and there was a spare asset robot with a free plus bunny rabbit that I put together , ” Urobuchi secern Digital Trends . “ I started making the fib because I wish storytelling . So I started adding more and more to the taradiddle that way . ”
Urobuchi knew from the start thatRusty Rabbitwould be a2.5D Metroidvaniabecause the musical style was “ the most attractive means of check this fiber was to see their profile . ” It would n’t have the same charm if players were “ look at the back of their heads the whole fourth dimension . ” After seeing the image that inspired him to makeRusty Rabbit , Urobuchi bang that he want the rabbit and the robot to be visible to players at all time .
The ontogeny process became a way for Urobuchi to express himself and process his feelings during the pandemic;Rusty Rabbitbecame a “ journal ” for Urobuchi . This made the creative process specially unique for him because , for most of his projects , Urobuchi usually come up with an estimation that he writes around . That was n’t the case forRusty Rabbit .
“ I had these daily idea that were like these short little essays , so I kind of pieced them together and made sure that I build moments of surprise . So that the story was engaging to follow , ” Urobuchi enounce .
I guess back in the day , there was this idea that being manly think of being a sufferer .
One of the ideas that made it into the last plot was the use of the beloved real - existence character Peter Rabbit . In the story , the fictional case is worshiped as a idol after Earth ’s rabbits take it a little too literally . It becomes their bible , and a religion forms around it , with the rabbit believe that they are god ’s choose mass and Peter is their rescuer . Urobuchi settled on Peter Rabbit because it cue him of a simpler fourth dimension in his life .
“ I think it was because Peter Rabbit sort of demo the unspoilt old days kind of , ” Urobuchi says . “ There ’s this sorting of old schooltime ‘ back in the day ’ find that I liked . ”
While Peter is a pious hero that the rabbit look up to , the game ’s main fiber , Stamp , almost play as a direct foil to the cartoon prophesier . or else of being friendly and cuddly , he ’s a crabbed old man who loves to drink and chain - grass carrots . The theme of making Stamp a hard - roil bunny girl came from a traditional way of think what a “ man ” should be . “ I cerebrate back in the daytime , there was this idea that being manly stand for being a martyr , ” Urobuchi enjoin . “ So that is emphatically a part that became a part of it . ”
Like a rabbit
Urobuchi wanted players to make love that even though Stamp is adorable and furry , he ’s still meant to symbolise the kind of “ manliness ” thatRusty Rabbitseeks to satirise . To get that across , enlisted the assist of Yong Yea and Takaya Kuroda , who both voice the English and Japanese edition of Kazuma Kiryu in theLike a Dragonseries . After all , if you ’re going to make a commentary on masculinity , why well embodies that in video games than Kiryu ? It ’s an unlikely quislingism , but one that made perfect sense to a vocalisation actor as seasoned as Kuroda . He tells me that he ultimately lent his voice to Stamp because he felt thatRusty Rabbitwas “ very plenteous . ”
“ The playscript for Rusty Rabbit is really howling . It ’s very rich , it ’s long , and stories that are this deep are very rare , ” he says . “ I usually have fewer lines in a game . So , in this plot , it was different in that way . It ’s also very serious , but it ’s a drollery . It ’s hard to secern where the story is go . Really , the wonderful book was what attracted me initially . ”
When Kuroda was in the booth read his lines , one of the things that help him bring Stamp to life was the field of the mind . Once Kuroda finger like he really understand Stamp , he put a picture of him in the booth and visualized what Stamp would be doing as he read the handwriting . Imagine Kuroda in a recording booth contemplate on an anthropomorphous bunny the same way he would the grizzled Kiryu . It ’s a delightful image that embodies what makesRusty Rabbitfeel so special . It ’s a playful project for everyone involved , but one that the squad is treating as badly as they would any other biz .
Rusty Rabbitlaunches on September 24 for PlayStation 5 and microcomputer .
