Down the Rabbit Hole – The Review

There are many stories and fairy tales that have been told. But one that might be very well recognized is Alice in Wonderland. I remember seeing both the Disney animated version as well as the live-action version and thinking the same thing in that there has to be more to this world. A world that is full of fascinating characters each with their personalities that seemed to match the craziness of Wonderland. But does Developer Cortopia Studios give us a deeper look into Wonderland? Let’s find out with Down the Rabbit Hole for the PlayStation VR.

Down the Rabbit Hole is the prequel to Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. So that means that there has not been an Alice as of yet, in fact, you play as a girl that yet has a name, but she cannot remember it. So in this adventure, you will need to use the Dualshock 4 controller as you will need to solve puzzles, find out the secrets, locate the party invitations, and hopefully make the choices that add some wonder to your tale in Wonderland. As the game starts, you are trying to find your pet, and looking all over, you come to an area that allows you to fall down the hole and thus begins the strange and wonderful journey that is Down the Rabbit Hole. It’s when I first came across the rabbit that had this familiarity that I remember, but it’s the magic that Cortopia Studios has made with how you interact with the story. Part of the tale has you controlling this girl using the left analog stick on almost this side scroll adventure and as she goes to the next room, you rotate yourself in the direction to continue the tale with the right analog stick, but when you interact with certain characters such as the rabbit, that you get up close with them that the questions that allow you to select the answer you would like to give. Sometimes the answers will come back with additional questions and sometimes it might be the answer that is needed to move on.

Now, not only are you able to control the main character of the story (she does have a choice between names, so make sure you select one that you feel is best for you), but you do get to swap out and control someone different in a way to help solve the puzzles. The puzzles are not extremely tough, which can be a good thing and not trying to derail you too far off from the actual story in Wonderland, but using the DualShock 4 controller, you will have to also interact with certain objects in order to help solve the puzzles. Just remember that sometimes hearing something is as important as seeing what needs to be solved.

I am not going to spoil the ending, but I will say, that within each room you enter, be on the lookout for the missing invitations as they can be anywhere. By collecting as many as you can, you just might have some different options on the outcome of things and when you meet the Queen, you might appreciate all the hard work you have in searching for those invitations.

There are just some very few things that I would like to see. For one, an option to use the Move controllers and being able to interact with the world of Down the Rabbit Hole. Don’t get me wrong, it does work with the DualShock 4, but when you can grab the world to rotate or interact with certain things, it just almost seems like a perfect fit to be able to grab with the Move controllers. Second, I mentioned that you have to click turn in order to follow along to the next scene. Again, this does work and I didn’t mind the click turning between scenes, but having some type of automatic transition option would be kind of cool. And last, one of the things that I truly enjoyed here is not only the different aspects of view that are used but also bringing some of the classic characters from the story we all know to in new ways, I just would love to be able to interact with the characters in even more of a way and explore even more of Wonderland that I just feel that this is just the tip of the iceberg and I really hope there are more sequels for all to be introduced to. Who knows, maybe an alternative upside down story of Alice in ways that we haven’t thought about.

But not only was the story presented in a way that really captured the feeling of Wonderland with the amount of detail that went into each scene and the animation of the characters, the music by Michael Gordon Shapiro beautifully compliments and helps completes the balance of the story that is being told and is something that I see me listening to for quite some time.

Down the Rabbit Hole allows us to enter the world before of what we knew and give us a different view. It allows us to make certain choices that will hopefully make the outcome a better story than the one that we thought we knew. And with all that is going on right now, couldn’t we all use a different view of things to make the story a better one?

Down the Rabbit Hole is out now on PlayStation VR and is also available on the Oculus Rift/S and Oculus Quest on the Oculus Store, Steam, and on Viveport. A review code was provided.

To learn more about Cortopia Studios, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, follow them on Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.

To learn more about Michael Gordon Shapiro, please visit the site, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Twitter. The Down the Rabbit Hole soundtrack is available on Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, Sound Cloud, and YouTube Music.

Also, check out the Down the Rabbit Hole interview.

In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some more party invitations to try and find.