You may not be a Rabbid fan at the end of it, but they’re certainly not going to ruin the experience either. But they grow on you! I swear! Their bratty wackiness plays off well against Team Mario, and their tool kits are interesting enough to entice you to use them on your team. Simply put, if you like Mario games, you’ll like this Mario game.Īs for the Rabbids, look, I’m not a huge fan myself. Mario + Rabbids nails the aesthetic, the tone, and the energy of Mario. They reward planning ahead, but they always leave room for surprises and exciting moments, just like any good Mario game. In Mario + Rabbids, battles are short, energetic, and often unpredictable. They may share some core mechanics, but they appeal to completely different audiences. Mario + Rabbids is as much like XCOM as Pokemon Unite is like League of Legends. If you like jumping in pipes, bouncing on bad guys, and doing backflips, Mario + Rabbids lets you do all of that, strategically. Ubisoft Milan found a unique approach to the tactics genre that strips out all of the heavy menu navigation, number crunching, and meticulous unit management, and instead created something that feels as authentic to Mario and his friends as any of their other adventures. The remarkable thing about Mario + Rabbids is that it looks, feels, and even plays like a Mario game. But if you’re imagining X-COM, Fire Emblem, or Divinity: Original Sin, you’re way off. Turn-based tactics, or strategy RPG games, have a reputation for being slow, mechanically dense, lore-heavy, and I’ll say it - boring.

Related: Give Every Nintendo Series A Tactics Spin-Off

I’m here to tell you that’s a mistake, and you need to get your dang thumbs on this puppy while it’s free. From the elevator pitch, it seems like an easy game to ignore if you’re not particularly invested in tactics games and/or Rabbids. It also features those precocious little Rabbids, Ubisoft’s Minion-like party game characters that many, including myself, find insufferable. It takes our most beloved Nintendo platforming characters and puts them in a slow-paced, turn-based tactics RPG, a genre that I have to admit is pretty niche. It’s not a complete mystery why so many people have avoided this game.

Download mario and rabbids for free