|| REVIEW || Radical Rabbit Stew (PC)
Developed By : Pugstorm Published By : Sold Out
Category : Puzzle, Adventure, Indie Release Date : July 16, 2020
A little over a year ago, I got to attend my first "big league" gaming event, PAX East 2019. It was such a great experience being surrounded by so much gaming stuff from the top-tier AAA titles all the way down to the interesting and unique indies. I got to get my hands on a decent amount of games that day, but one of the ones that stuck with me was this one, Radical Rabbit Stew. I had never gotten so immediately sucked into a game as I did this one, and all it took was one level.
Our story takes us to a long time ago in a galaxy far away (not far, far away...that would be copyright infringement). This galaxy was home to the legendary Space Diner, which in turn was home to legendary Space Chefs. Unfortunately for them, there was a jealous rabbit queen who had had enough of her measley worthless vegetables, and decides to kidnap the Space Chefs. You, the diner's cleaning boy, managed to survive and now must head off across the galaxy to rescue your friends.
Armed with some trusty kitchen utensils, you'll be navigating through over five dozen levels with one common goal shared across all of them. You must whack all of the rabbits and cook them into (you guessed it!) stew!! Each level brings you a number of rabbits and an equal number of pots to cook them in. By whacking a rabbit with your spoon you'll send it off flying in the direction that you are facing. Either the rabbits will be flung in the direction of a pot, in which case they will be slammed into it and launched off into space. Otherwise they'll either come to a dead stop if they hit a flat wall, be deflected off if there are any springs in the path, or there can also be rounded corners which will just loop the rabbit around.
The game is split up over four different worlds, each one containing a couple of boss fights. These are single screen stages and will pit you in some interesting fights to say the least. Some will have you facing off against a single, larger bunny and using the stage the best you can to fire back any smaller buns that drop in front of you. Typically, the last boss fight of a world will have you saving one of your companion chefs before moving onto the next world.
As you progress, you'll come across certain points where you get to open a chest for a new item. These occur in an alternating pattern of Chef's Hearts, which allow you to take an extra hit, or a new weapon. You start off with a plain wooden spoon that can do basic attacks, but then will also find a metal one that can be charged up and...well, I don't want to spoil all the fun.
It's safe to say I showed my hand early with this review. Radical Rabbit Stew is a great, fun game. The pixel-style is incredibly beautiful and smooth to look at, throwing you right back to those 16-bit days. I particularly loved the game forcing you to make sure you eliminate the rabbits via stewing them. You're able to whack them endlessly to death, or get them constantly pinging back and forth on a pair of bumpers until they explode, but taking matters into your own hands with these options counts as a stage loss.
If you're a fan of puzzle games, this is one you absolutely can't miss. It's brilliantly done and in such a way that I personally have not seen or encountered before. I've said this many times in past reviews, but finding something new and fresh in a genre that's as old as gaming itself is hard to do, but Radical Rabbit Stew managed to do just that. Don't miss out on this game and an excellent way to cook up some sweet, sweet rabbity revenge.
Game Rating : 9.5 / 10
Pick up the game HERE on Steam
Also available on Xbox One,
Playstatyon 4 and Nintendo Switch
A code for this game was graciously provided
to the site for the purpose of review.
