Hidden object games have never particularly appealed to me, but after having played through and thoroughly enjoyed My Brother Rabbit (MBR), my perception of these is shifting (granted, MBR blends hidden object with some light elements of traditional point-and-click adventuring). Drawn in by the colorful artwork and bizarre universe that I witnessed in the press materials, not to mention the potentially heartwarming story, I decided to give My Brother Rabbit a chance; I’m glad I did.
The story of MBR is told in hand drawn sketches that do not contain words, yet there is no mistaking what is happening. We see a happy family of four that are challenged when their youngest, a little girl, is stricken with some kind of severe illness. The game world itself is born out of the imagination of her brother, who takes this very serious and “grown-up” situation into the land of imagination, with himself as a rabbit and his ill sister as a flower. While you don’t control the rabbit directly, you are searching the environment and solving puzzles on his behalf in order that he can help his sister reach healing. For a cast of characters with no names nor voice, or even really any animation, I was surprised at how invested I felt in seeing the story through, hopefully culminating in the healing of the young girl.
Each chapter, there are five, is comprised of several screens that you have to look closely through to discover the hidden objects that are needed to solve a particular puzzle. These screens change as you progress, in other words, items you need for a puzzle later in that chapter are not always shown up front. However, there are times where some of the final objects you have to find are visible right from the start, even if they’re not yet obtainable. Objects become available to find and pick up once you have a purpose for them, such as discovering some task that needs to be completed. For example, early in the adventure there is a metal rail, a locking mechanism, that you must remove. To do so, you have to find ten butterflies that, together, can lift this mechanism up and out of the way. Later, you need to find spiders so that you can complete a concentric rings puzzle, requiring you to stagger the different colored spiders around three rings, with each color within its own ring. I forgot what solving this puzzle specifically accomplished in the flow of the story, but it made sense, relative to the dreamy, bizarre nature of the game-world. Anyhow, as you probably surmised from these two examples, the objects you find are sometimes applied directly to something in the game, and other times they prepare a puzzle for you to solve.
Anyone that has played old school point and click adventure games knows that sometimes just finding those hidden objects can be a pain, so I liked that MBR gives players a subtle notice that the object they’re looking for is on the current screen. Better said, any objects that you’re currently looking for are represented by an icon on the top right corner of the screen. If the object is somewhere in the current screen, the icon will be colored; if not, it’s grayed out. That’s as much of a hint as you get, which some would say is more than enough. I feel it’s just the right amount to balance the joy of the hunt without it ever getting frustrating.
As mentioned earlier, one of the most compelling reasons to play MBR was its beautiful presentation, both in imagery and sound. It’s a gorgeous game and with a beautiful, atmosphere-complimenting soundtrack by Arkadiusz Reikowski. I really liked the strange ideas of the game world too, beyond just the appearance and sound, the sum of which just made for a really creative and thought-provoking world. That all of this is tied to a relatable, real-world, heart-warming story makes it all the better and something you shouldn’t miss.
My Brother Rabbit is a pleasant surprise, a welcomed departure from the norm (for me), and a game I’m happy to recommend.
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