The Night of the Rabbit

The Night of the Rabbit is Daedalic Entertainment's beloved adventure game conceived, written and designed by Matthias Kempke, who frames game design as the creation of new worlds for players to inhabit. The story follows young Jerry, a boy who's been waiting all summer for his real life to begin — and who one day follows a peculiar white rabbit into the wondrous realm of Mousewood. Mousewood is a land where critters can speak and mystery abounds, and where Jerry's dream of becoming a magician finally comes true.

A haunting, sinister force shadows the forest. Someone has offered the residents of Mousewood a deal that sounds too good to refuse — tickets to the greatest magic show the world has ever seen, in exchange for their most precious possessions and their lives. As the shadows grow deeper across Mousewood, the residents have only Jerry to turn to. The young boy faces the ultimate trial, leaving behind the world he once knew, and his childhood becomes part of the past.

The game is a multi-layered story-driven adventure with around 20 hours of gameplay. It starts in a light-hearted and funny register before shifting to a dramatic and thought-provoking tone as the central threat reveals itself. The animal characters that populate Mousewood were originally developed in short stories Kempke wrote before designing the game, and those stories are included as in-game bonuses. Original character and world design, hand-drawn art and a story-driven structure built around exploration and discovery give the project a distinct identity within the adventure-game canon.