One tweet about a mecha Sylvanian Family doll inspired an acclaimed anime writer to make a Metroidvania starring a "sh**ty father" rabbit

Acclaimed anime and manga writer Gen Urobuchi is tackling something very different for his next project - because eight years ago he saw a tweet about a mecha Sylvanian Family doll.

Urobuchi is famed the world over for manga and anime series like Fate/Zero, Psycho Pass, and the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series. For his next trick, though, Urobuchi is doing something extremely different, and making a platforming video game where you play as a rabbit who's also a bit of a shitty father.

This game is called Rusty Rabbit, and it's split into two parts. In one section, Stamp the bunny chats to villagers in a town aboveground, while chomping on a carrot like it's a cigar. In the second part, our protagonist ventures belowground, where Rusty Rabbit becomes a side-scrolling Metroidvania where you fight machines with your own ever-evolving mech.

The question is: why the sudden change in direction from Urobuchi? "On Twitter, a user called [@]almighty0404 would make different vignettes using Sylvanian Family dolls," Urobuchi explained to PLAY Magazine in the latest issue. You can see the tweet from 2015 which Urobuchi is referencing just below, featuring a Sylvanian Family doll armed to the teeth in a big mech.

"I was so fascinated by it that I made it my wallpaper on my phone. Slowly I began to imagine a backstory for this character and a story and what it would look like in motion, so I ended up creating that myself in Unity," Urobuchi continues. From one Twitter user's experimentation with a doll came about a new game from an acclaimed anime and manga author. Go figure.

"What I think is very important with games is that players have a lot more emotional investment in the characters compared to manga or anime or things like that, taking responsibility for the fate of the character," Urobuchi explains. Because of this, he tries not to make his main characters like Stamp have an unhappy ending, because it then becomes the "responsibility of the player to inflict that unhappiness."

Rusty Rabbit is slated to launch at some point next year in 2024, for PS5 and PC. Given Urobuchi's philosophy and storied writing career, this could well be one game to watch next year.

You can read up on all the other upcoming PS5 games to keep an eye on in 2024 and beyond.