My Brother Rabbit – A Beautiful Journey through a Child’s Imagination

“When a loved one is sick, the days are long, but the years are short.” – Lindsay Eagar

Overview

My Brother Rabbit is a charming adventure and puzzle game set in the whimsical imagination of a poorly child and her caring brother. Players explore a remarkable and wondrous world finding hidden objects and using them to solve a host of fun puzzles.

Gameplay

There is a fun combination of point-and-click, puzzle and hidden object style gameplay in My Brother Rabbit. Players explore the wonderful and slightly bizarre landscapes, discovering light challenges that often involve finding multiples of the same object across different scenes and using them to solve puzzles. The puzzles include jigsaws, tangrams and logic-based puzzles amongst others giving a good level of variety throughout the game.

When finding the different objects, the required items are shown in the UI and there is an indication of whether there are any left to find in the present scene which is very helpful and prevents the frustration of looking for things where they cannot be found. Objects cannot be collected until the player has discovered what they are needed for, limiting the number of items in the inventory and preventing clutter. The puzzles have a range of difficulty and there is a low level of challenge which is very satisfying though the experience remains quite casual overall.

Narrative

My Brother Rabbit has an emotional narrative about a young girl who falls ill. She and her brother create an imaginary world in order to cope. The story follows the brother’s toy rabbit and a budding flower on a magical adventure through a surreal world consisting of five wondrous levels filled with cute creatures, robot moose, giant mushrooms and mild peril! Brief static cutscenes between levels tell the story of the young girl’s treatment and show her parents looking after her in a more serious and realistic setting. The narrative is told in a somewhat vague way but the contrast of reality and fantasy emphasises the child’s perspective causing it to be quite impactful and moving.

Styling

The gameplay sections of My Brother Rabbit are depicted in an adorable, hand-drawn visual with a painterly feel and are somewhat reminiscent of modern children’s book illustrations. They are colourful with warm and vibrant lighting for the most part, though can be very atmospheric in the more dramatic and perilous parts. The narrative interludes have a more realistic but sketchy style, with a limited colour palette that helps demonstrate the seriousness of the protagonist’s illness.

The music is beautiful, consisting largely of gentle piano tracks that convey emotions whilst painting the whimsical nature of the imaginary world. The menu and credit music features stunning feminine vocals with a slightly ethereal feel and is incredibly moving. There are also a host of cute sound effects that really help bring the imaginary world and its inhabitants to life.

Summary

My Brother Rabbit is a fantastic game that offers an emotive narrative that is not too overbearing, a gorgeous and varied aesthetic with unique visuals and moving audio, a delightful game world filled with curious beings and fantastical landscapes and fun, satisfying gameplay that combines a number of cohesive genres. It is a wonderful experience overall, taking approximately four hours to complete and is well worth its asking price. I highly recommend it, especially to fans of wholesome and relaxing point-and-click puzzle adventures.

For more emotive puzzle games check out the following reviews:
The Last Campfire – An Endearing Puzzle Adventure – The Almost Gone – Explore Intimate Dioramas in this Emotional Puzzle Game – Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery – Artistic & Emotive Puzzle Game!

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