2024’s weirdest, wildest game was born from COVID boredom

Like many, Gen Urobuchi, the creator of NetEases’s Rusty Rabbit, didn’t have much to do during the COVID-19 lockdown. Rather than binge a new show, pick up a new hobby, or dive deep into a book, he decided to create a 2.5D Metroidvania. This ultimately became a way for Urobuchi to express himself and process his feelings during this time. Some of us made bread during the pandemic; Urobuchi made a game about a race of adorable, gruff-voiced bunnies inheriting the Earth after humans abandoned it.

We were all going through it in our own way.

During Anime Expo 2024, Digital Trends chatted with Urobuchi, game producer Yuichiro Saito, and leading voice actor Takaya Kuroda (Kazuma Kiryu in the Like a Dragon series) about how creating a game with such an out-there premise helped Urobuchi navigate the pandemic and the creative process that helped bring a wacky idea to life.

Rabbit habits

Rusty Rabbit tells the story of rabbits becoming Earth’s dominant species after humans leave due to a new Ice Age. As time progresses, the rabbits discover human tech and greatly misinterpret much of what was left behind. It’s a wacky premise, but one that came from an apocalyptic moment 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 ultimately led Urobuchi to experiment with the Unity Engine.

“I started making the video game in Unity Engine, and there was a free asset robot with a free asset bunny that I put together,” Urobuchi tells Digital Trends. “I started making the story because I like storytelling. So I started adding more and more to the story that way.”

Urobuchi knew from the start thatRusty Rabbit would be a 2.5D Metroidvania because the genre was “the most attractive way of seeing this character was to see their profile.” It wouldn’t have the same appeal if players were “looking at the back of their heads the whole time.” After seeing the picture that