Visual novel Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary appearing on Switch next week
Publisher Ratalaika Games and developer Sky Bear Games are gearing up for another visual novel on Switch having announced Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary. It’ll be available on January 27, 2023.
Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary is a journey set in the world of Alice in Wonderland. Read more about it in the following overview:
Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary is intended to be a loose sequel to the events of Alice in Wonderland. Alice experienced a catastrophe that happened years ago, and culminated in the death of the previous Queen of Hearts, mother of the current Queen. In the intervening years the story of her brief jaunt through Wonderland has become more scary and elaborate in the telling, to the point where she becomes a boogie man figure.
The four nations of Wonderland meet every year to agree on shared policies and enact their various schemes against each other. There are personal vendettas to resolve and enchantments hidden everywhere, and did someone mention the dreaded Alice? You are the White Rabbit, and your job is to organise the schedule for the annual summit. Every decision you make affects the destiny of Wonderland!
Will the King of the barbaric desert of Clubs declare active war on the pastoral paradise of Hearts? Will Prince John of the psychedelic land of Spades be able to elope with Princess Julie of the wealthy Diamond nation – two nations that are deadly enemies? What’s up with the King and Queen of Spades’ weird marriage? Does the King of Hearts suspect his loyal Duke Jorge of having an affair with his wife? Explore this and much more as you negotiate the likes and dislikes of the twelve guests of the summit.
Is war allowed to take place in the next year? Is magic allowed to be used? Will the nations trade freely, or with taxation? Will the borders between the nations be opened or closed?
There are 16 different political endings to unlock. But on top of that, there are personal plots between all of the characters that can be unlocked using different combinations of pairings (the way to unlock things is hinted at in the Notes section of the in-game menu, and there is an extensive guide published online).
The White Rabbit is in charge of planning the interactions, and is a bit of a meddler. Sometimes they are dragged into the plotlines by other characters, but oftentimes they must sit by helplessly and watch the consequences of their actions unravel. That can be a bit of an unusual experience for players at first, taking on a role that’s a facilitator rather than someone pursuing direct goals. But every action taken leads to the ultimate ending, which does have direct consequences on the life of White Rabbit.
Stories are unlocked over a series of playthroughs, with the in-game Codex magically remembering things from previous playthroughs for White Rabbit to read. For the most part, White Rabbit watches the proceedings as an unobtrusive observer… a spy, perhaps… and while they do not interrupt the royals and nobles during their activity, they get an opportunity to correct the course of events the next day by choosing how they pair people and activities.
Key Features
- Lots of replayability
- 42 achievements, 14 characters
- 25000+ words in almost 3000 lines of dialogue – each playthrough only reveals at most 1/12th of the whole fabric of the story
- Fully voice-acted dialogue
- Gallery with 36 pieces of unlockable art
- Choose between simple choice menu for first time players, and the drag and drop choice menu for the power players, with randomizer, repeat and reset functions
- Player codex containing unlockable information about characters’ relationships, secrets, motivations, and player goals and event history
Take a look at a trailer for the game below.
Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary will cost $6.99 / €6.99 on the Switch eShop.
