Dread The Rabbit is an addicting little game (turn based roguelike game with randomly generated maps and permanent death) originally made for the 1.44 Floppy disk event with an interesting premise: YOU are the bad guy!
Uhm yes, and also a rabbit!
Ok, so how?

You are the King of Dread, that rules the world from castle Bloodburg, but one day the captain of the Wolf Knights, Rorick, overthrows and kills you. But the King of Dread is so powerful that can inhabit another body, and in this case he controls a rabbit that instantly becames a humanoid lapinoid thirsty for revenge.

The game is rather simple: we control the Dread Rabbit in his travels, and each level has to traversed to reach the next zone. This means finding a key and opening the exit door (but not always, it happened to find some monster doors that need to be killed like one of the ordinary monsters), but there are several hostile creatures that can hurt our lone protagonist. These go from weak slimes, to wizards, frog necromancers that summon undeads, bandits that can hide in the surroundings, and so on!

The interesting part is that the game is not in real time but turn based: each time you perform an action (but you can also skip a turn pressing the Shift key) the enemies do the same (they move, summon or perform some other action). This makes the game interesting because requires some strategy and planning but also some luck too! Why? Because there are many randomized elements like the layout of the levels, the items found and the creatures encountered.


BUT OF COURSE! I AM NEARLY DEAD LOL!

The Dread Rabbit can attack these hostile beings, but in the beginning the damage caused is only 1 point, so it's a good idea to find some weapon, unfortunately each weapon degrades each time it is used until it's broken. There are different weapons that cause different damage of course, a sword damages more than a rock. But these are just some of the implement of destructions available, since the Dread Rabbit can also use relics. These items are found scattered around and have different effects: some unleash lightnings on the opponents, others will summon a powerful weapon, create carrots that can heal the Dread Rabbit or teleport the enemies randomly. The problem is that the power of each relic is randomized each time you start a new game, so you have to experiment (or pay to identify the relics).

Killing all the enemies in each level does not give experience points, but lets you collect a boon. Boons are used to pay some services at the altars, for example: healing, identifying relics, repair weapons or permanently increase the hitpoints. But as you progress enemies becomes stronger and more numerous, so sometimes it's better leaving the level if you do not have the resources to kill every monster.

Besides relics and weapons you can also find chests containing healing potions and fishes (that only heal one point and you care forced to collect once you walk over them, like the carrots summoned). And do not forget to look around because there are also some secrets that can be found on the various levels, but since they are randomized... good luck finding them in your travels!

Graphics are custom, colorful and cute, I really like expecially the transition scenes between levels that illustrates the progression of the Dread Rabbit's travels as the traverses the different lands (that not only look different, but also have different inhabitants). Likewise music is original and good too.


OK, I AM READY, I HAVE A POWERFUL WEAPON AND A COUPLE OF RELICS... BUT I SHOULD NOT BE TOO COCKY!


Final Verdict
Dread the Rabbit is an addictive little game (made with Rm2k3! No less!) that thanks to the randomization keeps the simple system interesting even after many games. Despite the apparent lack of aggressivenes of the monsters, the difficulty is balanced and engaging, and later levels are very difficult even if you are well equipped (resource management is the most important skill). I like how the game despite being turn based can be played fast and furious (can be played almost in real time, if you really want!).

Original, fun, roguelike complete with randomization and permanent death. If you like what you read be sure to check it since it's a very polished game with lots of character and style!


WHOA! NEW GAME+!!!!
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No sorry, I couldn't help but make this lame joke! Forgive meeee, PLS!