Rusty Rabbit Review (PS5)
Summary: Rusty Rabbit is a side-scrolling action-adventure game that follows Stamp, a tough, aging rabbit who uses his mech to dig, fight, and explore a sprawling underground world. While it overall mostly feels watered-down with elements of it's gameplay being underutilized and everything being a bit too simple, the game blends fast-paced combat, customizable mech upgrades, and intriguing storytelling in a successful way, creating a rich experience about family, resilience, and rediscovery.
3.6
Pillaged Pilgrimage
Burrow deep into the unknown for miraculous treasures, but the further down the rabbit hole you go, the more feral the danger. Rusty Rabbit is a Metroidvania action platforming game developed by Nitroplus, published by NetEase, and was released on April 17th of 2025 for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Rusty Rabbit drops players into a colorful yet crumbling world of mechanical ruins and forgotten histories that offers an oddball but heartfelt adventure that’s greater than the sum of its sometimes confusing parts.
You play as Stamp, better known to the folks of Smokestack Mountain as Rusty, a gruff old rabbit with a tragic past and a serious attitude problem. Piloting his trusty mech, the Junkster, Rusty scavenges for junk in the depths of the mountain to scrape by. His life is repetitive, bleak, and stuck in neutral until a group of young, disorderly scavengers show up, poking their noses into places even Rusty has never dared to dig. Reluctantly pulled along, Rusty’s adventure gradually becomes about more than just scrap metal when he ends up unearthing painful pieces of his past and uncovering the forgotten history of the world itself. While Rusty’s personal journey is fairly by-the-numbers, it’s the sincerity of the storytelling, the detailed lore you uncover in town locations like the church, and the rich voice acting that make the narrative unexpectedly one of the stronger points of the game.
After slogging through a somewhat long and boring tutorial, Rusty Rabbit starts to find its footing. You control the Junkster to dig through debris, battle junk monsters, and navigate the increasingly hazardous guts of Smokestack Mountain. Early on, movement is stiff and combat options are few, but you steadily unlock new abilities like sliding, a hookshot, and new weapons that double for both digging and fighting. Your Junkster isn’t invincible; fall too far or get hit by certain attacks, and you’ll suffer from leaks, stalls, and other mechanical failures that add tension to exploration.
Traps, locked doors, among other platforming challenges will test your skills and you’ll have to slide down walls, bypass hazards, and fight enemies if you want to stand a chance up against the formidable mountain side. While basic enemies are easy enough to deal with, boss battles demand far more attention, with unpredictable patterns and heavy hits keeping you on your toes. Through destroying blocks and defeating junk monsters, you gain experience points and in turn skill points to level up a variety of things like health, defense, increasing weapon slots, upgrading abilities, and other things that impact combat, exploration, and the economics of the game.
Through your ventures into the unknown, you will find materials and other collectibles that can be used back in town. The town has a church where you can listen to lore, a shop to buy items, a diner to talk to other characters, Rusty’s garage to craft new weapons and items and a bar to take up quests, among other things. You can craft new items to attach to the Junkster and new weapons after finding the correct blueprints and materials. You can buy some items and materials outright from the stores after making money from completing quests or you can go out on digs to find materials yourself.
Rusty Rabbit throws a lot of systems at you: crafting, scavenging, shopping, skill trees, procedural dungeons, and town upgrades. And yet, ironically, none of it feels particularly necessary. You can largely brute-force your way through the main story path without dipping deeply into side systems. The procedural dungeons, where you fight powered-up bosses and farm materials to your heart’s content, offer a more meaningful gameplay loop, but even those feel optional for players simply chasing the credits.
The Metroidvania aspects are present, but very straightforward. Unlocking new abilities lets you revisit old areas to find shortcuts or hidden collectibles, but there’s usually only one real path forward. Sometimes you’ll need to bounce between maps to fetch keys or new tools, but exploration is a bit more scripted than it first appears. Still, despite the simplicity, the game is deeply addicting. Digging through new areas, uncovering every last breakable block, crafting new gear, and leveling up Rusty’s abilities hits that sweet spot of progression and discovery that makes you lose track of time. Rusty Rabbit doesn’t innovate, but it’s a master class in scratching the basic human itch to explore and conquer.
Visually, Rusty Rabbit is a real gem. From the painted backdrops of lore scenes to the richly textured fur of the rabbits and the gritty-yet-colorful biomes you explore, everything has a distinct, cold whimsicality. It’s a world you want to stay lost in, even if the gameplay sometimes urges you to rush through. Sound design is equally excellent. Drilling, hammering, block-breaking, every action is paired with satisfying sound effects that make even simple tasks feel rewarding. The voice acting is a highlight. Rusty’s curmudgeonly grumbles, the lively chatter of townsfolk, and even the exaggerated archetypes of minor characters help the world feel alive and bustling.
Final Thoughts?
Rusty Rabbit isn’t a groundbreaking Metroidvania, nor is it trying to be. It’s a game that stacks tons of mechanics and options on top of each other, some of which you’ll barely need, but through it all, it remains charming, engaging, and highly playable. If you’re looking for a deeply customizable experience or open-ended exploration, you might leave Smokestack Mountain feeling a little short-changed. But if you’re chasing that pure, childlike joy of digging into the unknown, upgrading your ride, and uncovering hidden stories in a world that oozes atmosphere, Rusty Rabbit is a journey worth taking.
About the Author
Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.
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