‘Escaping Wonderland’ Releases Today, Sending You Back Down the Rabbit Hole

Today is, you might say, a very important date. Today sees the release of Escaping Wonderland, developer Cortopia’s standalone follow-up to acclaimed adventure Down the Rabbit Hole.

Down the Rabbit Hole captivated players with its unique structure, literally taking players “down” a tunnel of dioramas depicting Lewis Carroll’s iconic world of Wonderland and its accompanying cast of colorful characters. The sequel revisits this concept with Molly, a new protagonist, as she explores new and enchanting landscapes, solves brain-teasers, and (ultimately) tries to escape from Wonderland—though sometimes the best way out is further in.

We sat down with Michael Nordström, Game Director for Escaping Wonderland, to discuss how this new game improves on Down the Rabbit Hole, Lewis Carroll’s storytelling strengths, and plans for the future.

Read on for the full interview, or head over to the Meta Horizon Store to pick up Escaping Wonderland!

Michael Nordström: Escaping Wonderland takes place in the same Lewis Carroll-inspired game universe as Down the Rabbit Hole, but it’s not a direct sequel. It’s an all-new story with a new protagonist that takes place in the same fantasy world.

Like any good book, we wanted to make sure that all of the games in the Down the Rabbit Hole Saga can be enjoyed without the need for previous knowledge. This is a game that stands on its own, and can be played just as easily by newcomers to the series as it can by those who’ve been eagerly awaiting its second entry.

MN: What makes Escaping Wonderland so appealing isn’t what’s changed so much as what’s stayed the same. We’ve aimed to keep the elements that everyone loved in Down the Rabbit Hole—from the humor and storytelling right through to the point-and-click inspired puzzling—and applied those to an all-new story set in the same universe, with new puzzles that rely on all-new mechanics.

Escaping Wonderland takes advantage of advances in Quest hardware over the last few years, letting us add things like better lighting and more detailed character models. But in the big picture, Escaping Wonderland promises to deliver more of what fans of Down the Rabbit Hole are hoping for over several hours.

We’ve also considered all of the casual, cozy gamer fans we know have played Down the Rabbit Hole. Story and setting might be more in focus here, so we’ve listened to feedback from the original and implemented hints for each puzzle, as well as an integrated way to check solutions to a single puzzle without further spoilers using a curated Youtube playlist, right in-headset! This works particularly well with the experimental feature of overlaying windows released as part of the Meta Quest v69 update.

MN: Despite the brevity of the overall text, Lewis Carroll was a master worldbuilder. Wonderland is a narrative playground that’s rife with possibilities for new stories and characters. Once Molly’s story began to reveal itself to us, it wasn’t hard to follow that through to identify the logical parts of this illogical world to incorporate to create a tale that’s entirely her own.

MN: When building a narrative puzzle game, having learnings from a previous game can prove invaluable. Knowing which puzzles our players liked best and why helps us to create new puzzles that strike a similar chord despite taking an entirely new approach.

One of the biggest lessons we learned from Down the Rabbit Hole is that, while people really enjoyed it, they were often left wishing there was more to experience after the credits rolled. In Escaping Wonderland, one of our main goals was to increase the playtime to give a fuller experience, but in such a way that it didn’t feel like it was taking away from the core of the game. We did this by making sure the puzzle gameplay remained varied throughout, and by including narrative payoffs for things like collectibles.

Down the Rabbit Hole also taught us that not everyone will enjoy the game based on the gameplay and challenge of the puzzles, but rather the world, characters and narrative. We put a lot of energy towards building out our story even more, and making sure that players would enjoy exploring every environment, taking time to find the various secrets we’ve left for them.

MN: Is it bad of me to claim one of our own contributions to the Wonderland mythos? Because I really love Mr. Mole. He’s compassionate and helpful, but doesn’t have tolerance for the kinds of people who’ll throw a wrench into the works.

Everybody should be more like Mr. Mole.

MN: Hands! Coming in the first patch right after launch, we’ll replace the glowing pointers that players use when solving puzzles in first-person as Molly, helping elevate the game’s sense of immersion.

Beyond that, the main thing we’re focused on post-launch is paying attention to player reactions. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve created with Escaping Wonderland, and we’re eager to see if Quest owners enjoy it as much as we do!

MN: Whether sitting or standing, Escaping Wonderland is a comfortable experience that puts players (quite literally) in the middle of a world that unfolds around them. We’ve aimed to make Escaping Wonderland the perfect on-boarding VR experience for anyone—and with a story that delivers a powerful, emotional ending, we believe it’s equally as good as a showcase of the power of immersive play.

VR really is magic, and it’s great to share a fairy tale that can show off so much of the magic that VR as a medium has to offer!

Escaping Wonderland is available now on Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro for $19.99 USD.