Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will make a pretty big change to Ubisoft’s lovable rabbit-esque creatures. Rabbids are an incredibly fascinating species, spawning from the Raymen series. They’re these psychotic rabbits that scream and make strange noises, but they are pretty cute. They essentially have the personality of a less intelligent minion long before the Despicable Me movies came around. Ubisoft eventually decided to spin them off into their own games that don’t fit within one genre. Some of them are party games or adventure titles, but the most interesting one is a real-time strategy game that crosses over with Mario. The first game, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle debuted a few years ago on the Nintendo Switch to no shortage of success and the sequel is looking like it will raise the bar.
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When speaking to IGN, creative director Davide Soliani explained how the team has evolved the characterization of the Rabbids to make them less annoying and more distinct. One of Ubisoft’s ground rules on Kingdom Battle was that they couldn’t talk… but the Soliani found a loophole and made them sing instead. However, due to the success of the first game and the ambition of the sequel, Ubisoft allowed Soliani and the team to make talking Rabbids in Sparks of Hope.
“I gained trust from Ubisoft to venture towards a new horizon…Everything we are doing, it’s part of a process of evolution that will lead us somewhere else,” said Soliani. “I think that as a team, we really love experimenting and we will keep doing it in the DLC. And then, who knows in the future what will happen?”
So yes, expect the Rabbids to speak. It’s unclear exactly how vocal they will be, though it was noted they’d speak as much as the Nintendo characters, if not more. Either way, it should give them more characterization and make them more than just gimmick characters. Only time will tell how effective that actually is, though.
What do you think of this change to the Rabbids? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
[H/T Eurogamer]
