Press release:
The indie games publisher Ratalaika Games, together with indie games developer Sky Bear Games, are today very delighted and thrilled to announce that their adventure/strategy/vn “Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary” (which offers its players a very unique and compelling journey set in the world of Alice in Wonderland) is coming to consoles (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch) on January 27th, 2023, for the price of $6.99 / €6.99.
Assuming the role of the White Rabbit this schedule /diary based visual novel will pull you into a world of make believe.
Setting the Scene…
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).
You are in charge
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.
Features include:
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 artChoose 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
About Ratalaika Games:
Ratalaika Games S.L. is a video game company focused on publishing & porting great games to the console market.
About Sky Bear Games: An indie studio from Auckland, New Zealand, telling stories through video, board and roleplaying games.
About Sky Bear Games:
Kiwi couple Claire and James Dunning love to make and play games. Roleplaying Game Masters, board game and computer game designers, they made games for their friends and each other for a long time before even considering taking their ideas to the world.
Their first game available for retail was Cat Capers, a board game published by Cheeky Parrot Games. Then they broke into the world of PC gaming with The Nine Lives of Nim: Fortune’s Fool, and the following year Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary. Their current major project is the RPG campaign setting Dragons of Tirenia, but there are always many more games in the works! Their inspirations include their toddler Arthur, their cat Nimue, and their bunnies Belladonna and Rudigar. Follow Sky Bear Games’s progress with weekly updates at http://www.skybeargames.wordpress.com/.
Who or what is Sky Bear Games?
Kiwi couple Claire and James Dunning love to make and play games. Roleplaying Game Masters, board game and computer game designers, they made games for their friends and each other for a long time before even considering taking their ideas to the world. Their first game available for retail was Cat Capers, a board game published by Cheeky Parrot Games.
Then they broke into the world of PC gaming with The Nine Lives of Nim: Fortune’s Fool, and the following year Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary. Their current major project is the RPG campaign setting Dragons of Tirenia, but there are always many more games in the works! Their inspirations include their toddler Arthur, their cat Nimue, and their bunnies Belladonna and Rudigar. Follow Sky Bear Games’s progress with weekly updates at http://www.skybeargames.wordpress.com/.
![]()
Jonas “O.J” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
More by Jonas Ek:
Tags: Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Indie games, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Ratalaika Games, Sky Bear Games, Strategy, Visual novel, White Rabbit's Diary, Wonderland Nights, Xbox One, Xbox Series X