Indie developer Rusty Lake is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Since 2015, the studio has been releasing strange, esoteric adventures with a focus on the surreal, inviting players into unique worlds of dark, intertwining lore. The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show, a new, free game released to kick off LudoNarraCon 2025 is a lovely, colourful celebration of this legacy.
For long-time fans of Rusty Lake, it’s also packed with novel easter eggs and nods to the mysteries of past games, with each tale represented in a digital museum of sorts. As with other Rusty Lake games, The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show brims with strange secrets. On the surface, it’s a puzzle game following Mr. Rabbit through various acts of his magic show.
In dialogue-less sequences, you’ll need to solve mind-bending visual puzzles, clicking or dragging on Mr. Rabbit’s hands and other paraphernalia to perform tricks – like disappearing a rabbit, giving a woman flowers, or guessing the correct card in order. But of course, Mr. Rabbit’s magic show is not what it seems at all.
In other parts of the game, Rusty Lake throws back the curtain, revealing much more to Mr. Rabbit’s journey, in an overworld inspired by the offices of Rusty Lake itself. In this office space, which more closely resembles the world of Cube Escape, you must solve a series of puzzles to celebrate Rusty Lake, and to aid Mr. Rabbit.
That goal includes making sandwiches for the team, and purchasing them a cake – in a sequence that’s very fun, strange, and tongue-in-cheek. After all these years of Rusty Lake serving its audience, why shouldn’t they be treated in-game?
Exploring this office space eventually reveals a bounty of knowing nods to the journeys of the past, with this level serving as a loving reminder of the stories of Laura, Dale, Albert, and their relations. What’s most impactful about this chapter is that it’s much lighter in touch, serving as an homage to the studio’s past with a knowing wink and nod, as well as some supernatural asides.
Read: Rusty Lake’s Cube Escape games still haunt me
It doesn’t smash the mystique of the Rusty Lake franchise, but it figuratively (and literally) pulls back the curtain, to reveal more about the team behind the scenes, giving players an opportunity to celebrate alongside developers, while reminiscing about tales of the past.
The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show is a wonder-filled victory lap for Rusty Lake, and one that certainly feels well-earned. Playing inside baseball for one moment, I must say it was a delightful surprise to see this game appear in the lead up to LudoNarraCon 2025.
As a content creator, I get access to the LudoNarraCon demos early, with a single limited-time Steam code providing all the demos in a bulk lot. The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show was listed amongst a host of many other demos, with no images on board, and no indication of who it was developed by. I downloaded the game out of pure curiosity, and as soon as the Rusty Lake logo loaded in, I knew I was in for an absolute treat, particularly as a long-time fan of the series.
Throughout its subsequent run, The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show delighted me to no end. It’s a lovely ode to the history of Rusty Lake, and a very rare treat for fans of the studio’s output. Whether you’re nostalgic for the past, or looking forward to a bright future, make time for this odd and magical little puzzler.
The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show is now available via Steam, as part of LudoNarraCon 2025.
As an added note, those who manage to solve this game’s many puzzles will also find something rather special at its conclusion. If you’d like to stay spoiler-free, you might like to skip this paragraph. If not, it’s worth noting Rusty Lake has slyly announced its next game within The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show, a new title called Servant of the Lake, which “which will explore the early history of the Vanderboom Brothers.” Stay tuned for more on this mystery.
