Review for My Brother Rabbit. Game for Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Steam and Xbox One, the video game was released on 21/09/2018
Point and click graphic adventures have evolved a lot over time. From Monkey Island to Grim Fandango, passing through Indiana Jones and Broken Sword, arriving at the very recent titles of the now sadly defunct Telltale Games (The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us in primis). The evolution has been constant, gradual and has always (or almost) satisfied fans of the genre.
Artifex Mundi, an independent Polish team already author of Path of Sin: Greed, tries with its sweet My Brother Rabbit, now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch. Fairy-tale settings, bright colors and captivating aesthetics, in its simplicity the little graphic adventure seems to have all the credentials to please the little ones, but who knows, maybe even the old ones. As you. And like me.
Imouto-chan
The game begins with the representation of a perfect happy family: mom, dad and two children, a boy and a girl, intent on playing on their own, happy and satisfied. Everything crumbles, however, when the younger sister begins to feel bad, in a continuous worsening of the clinical situation that leads her to undergo numerous tests and medical examinations.
The dream world in which we find ourselves interacting comes from the dreams of the little girl, forced into a hospital bed, and from her deep with her brother. The iconic rabbit, which also gives its name to the title, is in fact the little girl's stuffed companion, whom we must accompany on a long, tedious and dangerous journey in search of a cure.
Our adventures will be narrated not through the use of dialogues or written texts, but with the simple use of images, sounds and expressions. There will be no words, only music, colors and sweetness. Much of the atmosphere of My Brother Rabbit derives from its silence and apparent lack of script. Apparent because, although we cannot hear their voices, the two brothers will seem really alive, real and consistent and our rabbit the real hero and savior of the situation.
Despite the few hours needed to complete, the final feeling will really be that of having faced a journey. The ambienti, all strictly two-dimensional, they are masterfully designed and colored, managing to convey an idea of profound innocence also through the wise use of lights and shadows. An aesthetic designed for younger gamers, of course, but that even the older ones cannot fail to appreciate and praise.
En! Gma
In terms of gameplay, My Brother Rabbit comes across as one simple point and click adventure. In each setting we will have to look for different types of objects until we complete those required, all often interspersed with minigames and puzzles.
Continuing the journey, the level of difficulty increases without ever becoming, however, really difficult. We must always remember that it is a title aimed at the youngest. The problem is, however, that especially in the final schemes it will be difficult to find the various parts not so much for the ingenious positioning, but for the large amount of useless decorations on the screen. A confusion that has managed in some points to generate headaches in the writer, and that has also forced us to spend several minutes on a map to press the X key at random in the hope of finding what was missing. In any case, the title makes it easier by indicating how many elements are missing for completion and above all in which scheme to find them: just arm yourself with a trained thumb.
The various puzzles remain, along the lines of the title in general, rather simple and intuitive, but in the long run they lack originality. Some, especially towards the end, will be really uninspired, fully following games like memory or even Tetris, or going to search for various combinations scattered in the maps in a rather obvious way.
A title certainly suitable for children, both for aesthetics (everything seems really taken and extrapolated from a children's book) and for general complexity, although perhaps the theme of the disease has not been exactly thought out with care and could create some ... question. The grown-ups, on the other hand, will spend a few hours in the sweet company of a stuffed rabbit and will collect plenty of trophies, with a very easy to obtain platinum.
My Brother Rabbit is a title for everyone. Although it is aimed primarily at a young audience, even the older ones will be able to get a few hours of fun. Inspired, aesthetically and technically pleasing, colorful and sweet. Too bad for the lack of originality of the puzzles, which in the long run will be less and less inspired, and of some sections a little too "button mashing" in search of that single missing element. But don't let our rabbit go through this difficult journey alone.
► My Brother Rabbit is an Adventure-indie-Point & Click game developed and published by Artifex Mundi for Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Steam and Xbox One, the video game was released on 21/09/2018
