It's so fluffy!

"Please, let everything in this game feel as magical and charming as it's visuals", these were some of my first thoughts when I began my fabulous journey into the world of The Night of the Rabbit.
I can say that while playing the beautifully crafted intro sequence I felt pure joy and hoped it would last through the entire game. Now that I have finished experiencing this visual masterpiece I can safely say that while not everything felt as magical as it's visuals, nothing really disappointed, and while the sense of pure magic disappeared, the idea that something really special was created by Daedalic Entertainment remained.

Story
You are Jeremiah Hazelnut, a young boy who has the dream of becoming a magician someday. In the last two days of his summer vacation he receives a strange and mysterious letter containing a very special recipe, after some light exploration through the woods near his house and finally with all the ingredients at hand he "conjures" his first spell which allows him to know Marquis de Hoto, the most elegantly dressed rabbit you will ever lay your eyes upon. He offers the young Hazelnut the opportunity of a lifetime, to train and become one of the best magicians in history (and still arrive in time for lunch).
Being an offer that he cannot refuse, Jeremiah quickly accepts and soon after that they  find themselves travelling to all sorts of enchanted realms, getting to know talking animals and all sorts of mystical creatures along the way.

Through the whole game you will spend a lot of time knowing each and every character in the game, you will really start to like and enjoy their company, so when the story takes a turn for the worse you really feel bad for everyone, you will want to help them as much as you can and as fast as possible, including the young Jeremiah. This is a feat that few games have accomplished, making you really care for their characters.

There is even time for some obscure references (my  interpretation) during these darker times, alcohol, drugs, greed, gambling and people trading some of their most prized possessions to fulfill their addictions are all present here.

Gameplay
Nothing really special here, have of course to point out the one click system, "everything is one click" like the announcer on the radio says in the beginning. This means that the game will choose the correct option for you. Look, pick-up and talk are some of the interactions possible within the world of The Night of the Rabbit, everything pretty standard in the point and click universe.
A magical coin is also introduced that reduces considerably the pixel hunting aspect of the game, this coin will highlight every object that is possible to interact with, exception made for the many collectibles spread throughout Mousewood.
Daedalic even included a somewhat simple, but interesting card game. Of course this mini-game is mostly optional for those of you who are not interested in that sort of thing, which makes it even better.

Unfortunately The Night of the Rabbit gameplay also has a few flaws, specially in the puzzles department. Most of them are fine and while challenging they also feel rewarding, you feel amazing when you can solve a few puzzles in a row without really getting "stuck"! It's such a shame too see some of them not really working as they should though, sometimes being very picky when it comes to the timing of solving them, other times having some frustrating mechanics and the worst of them being the ones that the solutions just don't make that much sense. Trying out every object in your bag until you find the right one for the "game logic" to work it's not very fun.

Graphics & Sound
Easily a contender for best looking game of the year, The Night of the Rabbit hypnotizes the player with stunning 2D hand drawn graphics, very fluid animations and an interface that it's simple, intuitive and does not clutter the screen.
The music and voice acting are also very fitting to the magical feel of the game, you have to congratulate Daedalic for such a good job in the voices department, with such an enormous cast of character it would be easy to oversee a few of them, but they seem to have nailed it just right.
A very weird pirate would describe Night of the Rabbit like this: "an interface of magic, stunning, high resolution, 2D landscapes, sophisticated score and musical effects. Not to mention the detailed animation and special effects".
If you get that reference you will probably enjoy the visuals and sound a lot, if you don't get it... well you should, but you will probably still enjoy them anyway.

Final Thoughts

Just like the main character Jeremiah Hazelnut, The Night of the Rabbit has more spirit and passion imbued in it than most, it presents you with interesting characters, full of life, hopes and dreams. Jeremiah specially is as believable as a character can get, innocent and naive as only children can be and always optimistic about everything. Even though he is only a fictional character, his spirit and passion for life is something we all can appreciate ,enjoy, and maybe, just maybe try to replicate the best we can!

Year of release: 2013
Platforms: PC
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment

9 out of 10
(My thanks to Daedalic Entertainment for providing me with a review copy - http://www.daedalic.de/en/Game/The_Night_of_the_Rabbit)