The Night of the Rabbit

The Night of the Rabbit
Studio	Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher	Rondomedia
Senior Developer	Matt Kempke
composer	Tilo Alpermann
Erstveröffent- lichung	May 29, 2013
platform	Mac OS , Windows
Game engine	Visionaire
genre	Point-and-click adventure
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse , keyboard
medium	DVD , download
language	German English
Age rating	USK PEGI

The Night of the Rabbit is a point-and-click adventure game from 2013 that was developed by Daedalic Entertainment . It is based on an idea by Matt Kempke and Sebastian Kempke.

action

The twelve-year-old Jeremias Hazelnut follows a talking white rabbit through a portal into the magical world of Mauswald, where the animals can talk. The white hare, Marquis der Hoto, is a so-called tree runner, a magical being that can jump back and forth between different parallel worlds with the help of portal trees. He makes Jeremias his sorcerer's apprentice. Over time, Jeremias finds out that Mauswald is under the spell of the evil magician Zaroff. He realizes that his own world is also in danger. Jeremias must defeat the magician Zaroff to save the worlds he visits. His journey takes him to different places that he can travel through portal trees. He learns spells, meets interesting and mysterious characters and also finds out a lot about himself.

In addition to the main plot, there are numerous subplots and other bonus games that can be mastered in the course of the game. This also includes a quartet card game, which can be played with almost any of the many characters.

main characters

Jerry Hazelnut

Jerry Hazelnut is the protagonist of the game. He is a twelve year old boy who wants nothing more than to be a magician. Jerry has a keen imagination that repeatedly seduces him into exciting adventures. Two days before the end of the vacation, he unexpectedly stumbles into what is probably the greatest adventure he has ever experienced.

Marquis de Hoto

The Marquis de Hoto is a well-dressed, human-sized, white rabbit with red eyes. Jerry meets the Marquis immediately at the start of the game. The marquis calls himself a treecreeper and has magical abilities. Something mysterious but also unsettling surrounds the big rabbit, but Jerry trusts him. In the course of the game, the Marquis de Hoto is an important character who guides Jerry through the magical world of the tree walkers. Towards the end of the game, Jerry finds out the secret of the Marquis de Hoto.

The magician of Mauswald

The magician of Mauswald lives in an ordinary human house on a train station site. He is a person himself who, however, takes care of Mauswald - in an adapted body size.

The great Zaroff

Zaroff is the mysterious, evil magician. His past is revealed at the end of the game. Zaroff tries to put the world under his spell and also manipulates the mouse forest inhabitants. For a long time Jerry doesn't know what Zaroff is all about. Only the many advertising posters catch his eye again and again. Towards the end of the game, however, Jerry has to deal intensively with Zaroff, which is not that easy. If Jerry doesn't manage to defeat Zaroff, Mouse Forest and all other worlds and times are in great danger.

Waldschrat

The Waldschrat is a wanderer between worlds. He travels to reality and fantasy. One of his favorite pastimes is collecting stories. Jerry occasionally receives interesting stories from him, which can be collected in the game and listened to again and again as an audio book.

The forest dwarfs

The forest dwarfs live just outside of Mauswald. They plant turnips, which they use to make blue juice. Blue juice is very popular with the mouse forest inhabitants. Steinberg is the most important of the three forest dwarfs. Jerry helps him get rid of an annoying dwarf cold. The other two forest dwarfs do not play a role relevant to the game.

The seedy strangers

Four shady characters with wooden masks appear in Mauswald and try to get the Mauswalder to sell their land, indulge in gambling or buy strange tinctures. Evil characters hide behind the masks, which Jerry has to uncover and free Mauswald from them.

Locations

In the game you travel to different locations that are very diverse and full of secrets and puzzles.

Jerry's home;

Jerry lives here with his mother in a nice little house on the edge of the forest. Nothing seems to be able to disturb this idyll. Delicious fruits grow in front of the house and the town is right behind a small wooded area.

Mauswald and surroundings

Mouse forest is the central location of the game. This is where most of the game takes place and most of the tasks have to be mastered here. Mauswald is an idyllic place, covered by a large, old tree, flowed through by a stream. However, mouse forest is threatened by a neighboring garbage dump in a city of people. In addition to mice, the inhabitants also include numerous other species. There is a city council, skilled hedgehogs, a café and much more. Mouse forest is guarded, because crows have been up to mischief for some time and regularly terrorize the mouse forest inhabitants. On the outskirts of Mauswald there are some places, including a swamp, as well as the dwellings of the forest dwarfs.

The green island

Ireland, the Emerald Isle, is home to goblins. Jerry meets one of them and follows him through a tree portal. On the Emerald Isle, it's important to make the goblin a little happier again.

The arctic

In the Arctic, Jerry meets a polar explorer with a big problem. The cold and harsh environment makes it difficult for the researcher to cope with her task. Jerry gives her a clever hand here.

Japan

After passing through a tree portal, Jerry arrives in Japan, where he meets strange fox statues and a depressed poet. He also gets to know Kitsune better here.

The intermediate world

The intermediate world is a kind of dream world with a multitude of confusing paths that do not necessarily lead to the place one expects. Something dark surrounds this place and Jerry has to strive to find the right path here.

The first tree

The first tree is the central point of all tree portals. Its roots go deep through time and space. It is the very first tree that grew in Mauswald. In the last part of the game, this place is very important.

Game principle and technology

The Night of the Rabbit is a classic point-and-click adventure . The player controls the character Jerry Hazelnut by mouse click through different screens and interacts with the environment. You can interact with other game characters as well as with objects. Objects must be used through combination and correct assignment. In this way, puzzles are solved that arise in the course of the game through communication with the characters. Objects are managed in the inventory and can be examined there and - if provided for in the game - used together.

In dialogues there are usually different answer options that influence the course of the game depending on the choice. Tasks and puzzles are very demanding for a game of this genre and require the player to also consider unusual solutions. The control is kept simple according to the genre and can be carried out without time-critical actions. There is only a short real-time sequence at the end of the game. The game can be interrupted at any time. There is also a day and night mode in the game, which includes different actions and interactions. The graphics are hand-drawn and give the game a character similar to a children's book.

The game was created with the help of the game engine Visionaire . The graphics are hand-drawn 2D graphics, which are given a spatial depth effect through movement parallax . Some special effects support the spatial effect.

Production notes

The working title was The Rabbit's Apprentice: Under the Spell of Zaroff . The game is based on the Visionaire Adventure Game Engine . The soundtrack (composed by Tilo Alpermann ) was elaborately produced. It is an orchestral accompaniment, each adapted to the scenes. The dialogues are possible as voice output and as text overlay.

The basic idea of The Night of the Rabbit is based on an idea by Sebastian Kempke. In connection with a story Eight Stories from Mouse Forest written by his brother Matt Kempke in 2005 , the game about Mouse Forest was developed.

Dubbing voices

character	Voice actor
Jerry Hazelnut	René Dawn-Claude
Marquis de Hoto, gambling lizard	Martin Sabel
Waldschrat, Bau-Lizard, Spitzweg, Steinberg	Gunnar Bergmann
The magician of Mauswald	Joscha Fischer-Antze
Mrs. Hazelnut, Guard 1	Cosima Ertl
The great Zaroff	Rudolf Danielewicz
Plato the frog, blue hedgehog, bank lizard	Tim Knauer
Backpack mouse, red hedgehog, shopkeeper lizard, guardian 2, lighting technician	Tobias Diakow
Anja Maus	Jodie Ahlborn
Mr. Church Mouse	Detlef Tams
Konrad Eule, party guest, the stone toad, the polar whale	Jürgen Holdorf
Jonathan Eichhorn, Humbert, night watchman, Fuchs gatekeeper	Andreas Otto
Edith Eichhorn, dancing mouse, Hespera the moth nun, polar explorer	Julia Casper
Ludwig Mole, Japanese poet	Constantin von Westphalen
Garden bunny	Erik Range ( Gronkh )
Gunner mouse	Thomas Padanyi
Phosphera, high moth priestess	Beate Prahl
Grünhut (goblin), memory of a raven	Jens Andresen
Kitsune	Moira May
Mr. Hazelnut	Matt Kempke

reception

reviews publication Rating GameStar 71% Meta-ratings Metacritic 75

The Night of the Rabbit received mostly positive reviews. The Metacritic review database aggregates 45 reviews with an average of 75. The game received strikingly positive reviews abroad, especially from English-language publications. In particular, the dubbing voices, plot and production design were widely praised. Strategy Informer's Chris Capel wrote, " The Night of the Rabbit, whatever it's called or whatever minor ailments I've had, is a triumph ." On the other hand, the unfair puzzles were criticized. Daniel Starkey from Gamespot rated the game with 7 out of 10 points and criticized above all incomprehensible puzzles and the speed of the game, but added: “ The Night of the Rabbit is a very personal story about a boy, his dream and the ominous characters who aim to lead him astray. The game scores not with the cumbersome puzzles, but with its narrative, carefully combining excellent music, solid dubbing voices, great characters and great art direction into something really special. “On average, the game received better ratings in international sales than previous Daedalic Entertainment adventures.

In Germany, the reviewers reacted more cautiously. The imaginative environment, the graphics and the soundtrack as well as the plot were rated very positively. The level of detail and the range of options in the game were also praised. At the same time, however, the abundance of tasks and the sometimes quite high level of difficulty of the puzzles were criticized. Some testers also rated the characters as too superficial. There were also poor ratings for some dubbing voices, while other dubbing voices were particularly positive for the testers. It was often regretted that the game did not reach its full potential. Overall, however, the game was able to convince the testers to a large extent. On average, the game received lower ratings in Germany than previous adventures from Daedalic Entertainment.

Web links

• The Night of the Rabbit at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ adventurefans.net article related to using the Visionaire Adventure Game Engine
2. ↑ adventurecorner.de article with reference to the renaming of the game
3. ↑ DaedalicFans.de: Matt Kempke on The Night of the Rabbit ( Memento from July 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ GameStar.de: To fall asleep. Retrieved October 1, 2016 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} Metacritic.com: The Night of the Rabbit. Retrieved June 19, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Playtest at Strategy Informer
7. ↑ Play test at Gamespot