Burrow's End: Count Them Home

Dusk at the edge of a building site. The birds stop singing, and a shadow slides across the field. You thump the ground hard and fast, and nine rabbits drop flat and still as the kite passes over. Then you thump once, and they follow you on toward the road.

Count Them Home is set in English chalk country in the spring after the novel. Another warren to the east has just been dug out for houses, and its survivors are walking west. You are a young scout, a wild rabbit in a natural coat: find them, lead them and bring every one home. The land is the danger. A fox works the hedgerow after dark, a kite hunts at dusk and first light, and six lanes of motorway lie between the band and safety. Nothing here is fought.

Every run is one night. You start at the survey flags, hold Listen to find heartbeats hidden in the bramble, and thump to call the band out. Then you choose a way: the slow, covered hedgerow or the fast, open field under the kite. Sniff shows how old a fox's trail is, whiskers steer you through the dark pipe, and at the motorway Listen shows the rhythm of the traffic, clump and gap, so you can save the long gap for the elder. With friends, one scout leads, one watches the sky, one draws the fox away and one goes last in case someone freezes.

The count is the score. Every run opens with "9 set out" and ends with you sitting up at the burrow mouth, hoping for "9 home". There is no combat and no minimap. Your senses are the controls, and two thumps, a single strike for come and a fast burst for danger, are how you lead. Nobody is lost for good. A rabbit the fox lunges at bolts into cover and hides until you find it. One still in a lane when the traffic comes is pushed back to the edge by the rush of air, flat but safe. Any rabbit not home by full light goes to ground and waits for a Fetch run.

The first release has the home warren, Map 1, The Old Lane, with its flags, hedgerow, field, pipe, motorway and stream, Fetch runs, and earned coats and marks. One to four scouts go out together, and a solo player goes out with a partner scout. Bands of five to eleven rabbits mix kits, yearlings, elders and nervous and bold rabbits, each with its own habits. Three more maps are planned: Lower Farm in the rain, the estate at night, and the yellow rapeseed under the kite.

Back home, the story wall gains a verse for every band you bring in, finished only when that band's last rabbit is home. Your rank grows with every rabbit brought home, from Sentinel to Elder Scout. Thyme earned on runs buys knacks such as Long Ears and Keen Nose, each with a drawback, and coats such as silver-grey are earned by feats. A weekly update and monthly events such as Spring Kits and Long Frost, when snow shows every trail, bring new bands. There are no streaks, and nothing is lost by being away.

Based on the novel Burrow's End: the rabbits' senses, the two thumps, the freeze under the kite's shadow, the fox and the pipe, and the rhythm of the motorway all come from the book.

Burrow's End: Count Them Home is a complete game design for Roblox. Development has not started.