It's closing in on six months since we got our first look at Kirby's upcoming 3D adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and the reaction to the initial Nintendo Direct teaser back in September last year was certainly a positive one. Here's a game that gives the impression it isn't resting on the series' laurels, a charge often levied at the somewhat safe Kirby Star Allies, instead marching the pink puffball and his pals into a fully 3D world for the very first time.
We've been lucky enough to sit down and blast through the entire first region of Kirby's latest outing over the past week and we can confirm that there's definitely plenty to get excited about here. However, if you're expecting a fully open world affair, or something along the lines of Super Mario Odyssey's object occupation — and there's been plenty of speculation and comparisons made over the past few months in this regard — you'd do well to adjust your expectations slightly.
Yes, Kirby and the Forgotten Land may share the look and general vibe of Mario's most recent epic outing; it's got that all-new Mouthful Mode ability that immediately brings to mind Odyssey's Cappy antics, shares a familiar graphical style, and the whole thing is set to a similarly stirring and triumphant orchestral score, but the gameplay here is actually much more in line with that found in Super Mario 3D World. Not exactly a bad thing, we're sure you'll agree.
After an entertaining pre-credits sequence that sees Kirby discover his ability to swallow an entire car — amongst many other things — Kirby and the Forgotten Land transports us to its very first playable area, Natural Plains, a lush, overgrown environment composed of ruined urban locales that are being slowly reclaimed by nature. It's got a little bit of The Last of Us about its aesthetic vibe but, fortunately for everyone involved, Kirby isn't gonna have to violently batter the life out of any Clickers here, instead being tasked with rescuing his cute Waddle Dee pals, who've been trapped and hidden around the area's stages, by using his trademark copy abilities.
the gameplay here is actually much more in line with that found in Super Mario 3D World. Not exactly a bad thing, we're sure you'll agree
Did we just say stages? Yes we did. This absolutely isn't the free-roaming open world experience that some had hoped it might be, with each region of the game's beautiful world map an entirely separate location with a different theme to it that's been divided up into wonderful little 3D stages. Jump into one of these stages and the links to Super Mario Odyssey become even more tenuous, as the camera here is completely fixed, framing the action for you rather than giving you full freedom to look in any direction you please. Yes, you can shuffle it a little to the left and right, or up and down to see a little more of the periphery, but this is very much more in line with Super Mario 3D World's style of action, albeit with slightly larger stages to mill around in.
Would we have preferred to see a fully controllable camera here? Well, yes, but once you get to grips with the game and start knocking around within its gorgeous environments it's not something that sticks in the mind for very long as what's here is an absolute delight to get to grips with regardless. HAL Laboratory has done a fantastic job in transporting the look and feel of classic Kirby, with all the copy abilities and moves that we've come to know and love from the cheeky little scamp, into a three-dimensional space. It's a shift that gives you far more opportunity to tool about and use your powers to deal with enemies and platform around, uncovering secrets, hoovering up stars of various colours and saving Waddle Dees from captivity as you make your way across the opening world's five stages to a big, hairy ape-shaped showdown.
We've already seen the all-new Mouthful Mode in hilarious/shocking effect in the game's trailers, with Kirby managing to jam a car into his mouth, and in reality it's just as much fun as it looks, enabling our hero to blast along sections of highway, speeding through roadblocks and flattening enemies, as well as using a jump function to get to grips with some vehicle-based platforming.
Alongside a car, we also got to morph into a bunch of other bits and pieces in our time in the game's first region, with Kirby wrapping his gums (and entire body) around traffic cones, a set of stairs, lockers and a vending machine, all of which are used to solve a bunch of environmental puzzles and pummel hapless baddies — we particularly enjoyed viciously blasting cans of juice at foes in vending machine form.
we also got to morph into a bunch of other bits and pieces in our time in the game's first region, with Kirby wrapping his gums (and entire body) around traffic cones, a set of stairs, lockers and a vending machine
Copy abilities, as expected, play a big part here too and each level has a few different enemy types that you can suck into your face in time-honoured fashion, absorbing their skillset — as well as their fashion sense — in order to dish out damage to anyone silly enough to stand in your way, and early stages saw us get to grips with swords, bombs, a spikeball ability and fire and ice forms. When mixed with the various Mouthful Mode abilities on offer, there's certainly plenty of flexibility and variety in how you choose to go about dispatching your foes and making your way around areas in search of hidden wonders.
Further to all of this, Kirby's abilities can now be upgraded, giving you access to sweet new variations on his base powers. Yes, as you blast through levels and save Waddle Dees you'll gain access to facilities back in the game's hub village area, one of the most useful of which is Waddle Dee's Weapons shop, where you can swap out your abilities and use stars and rare stones that you've collected to upgrade them. Take your base level Cutter ability as an example here, Kirby's bog-standard sword swipes and charged sword spin can be enhanced into a Chakram variant that sees him fling metal discs around and dish out more damage than usual. We also upgraded his basic fire form into a volcano option that brings significantly more heat to his attacks.
Elsewhere in Waddle Dee Village, and at this very early stage in the game, you can jump down Gotcha Machine Alley to spend your stars on collectibles to fill out your compendium of figurines — these can also be found in and around the game's stages — visit Kirby's house, Waddle Dee café, Waddle Dee liveries and even take part in a flash fishing minigame. The town hub will continue to grow as you play through later areas and accrue more Waddle Dees, and we can already see some half-erected mystery buildings under construction in ours. We can't wait to find out what they are!
There is, in short, already plenty to take in here and all of these extras are backed up by core gameplay that's been a delight to blast through so far with tight 3D traversal, puzzles and platforming mixed with a sprinkling of more traditional side-scrolling segments to please old-school fans. Across the five stages that make up Natural Plains, we've sped along highways in car form, plugged holes and battered gigantic turtles as a traffic cone, taken a trip to an overgrown shopping mall full of baddies and jumped into the game's unlockable side missions which see you take part in a host of minigames based around your various copy abilities in return for rare rewards.
Each and every level can be played in its entirety in drop-in co-op mode, with the second player assuming the role of Bandana Waddle Dee, Kirby's spear-wielding pal who has a variety of attacks and full freedom of movement — so there's no worries about the second player having a diluted role to fill here. Each stage also comes with a bunch of objectives to complete for extra Waddle Dees. Your main objectives are outlined as you begin, but the rest will reveal themselves on-the-fly as you happen to perform a move that relates to them. Nab a piece of fruit to refill your health bar from a bench, for example, and you'll be tasked with grabbing four more. It's a nice little added layer that gives each stage a little more in the way of replayability.
Everything the game has to offer can also be taken on in a choice of two difficulty modes. We spent our time playing on the default "Wild" mode, described as a tougher and more challenging affair that rewards you with more star coins for your efforts. However, there's also a "Spring-Breeze" mode which gives you a ton more health and makes things even easier, so you can relax and just enjoy the ride.
With a great big boss battle against a very angry gorilla rounding out our time with Kirby and the Forgotten Land's first area, we're more than just a little bit excited to see what else is in store for us as we continue our adventures through this one. With a slick mix of 3D and side-scrolling puzzles, platforming and combat action that looks great and performs perfectly in both docked and handheld modes, tons of collectibles and a wonderfully colourful and enthusiastic vibe to the entire affair, this feels like a bit of a much-needed rejuvenation for the Kirby franchise and a great big juicy adventure to dive into come 25th March.
We'll see you back here with our full review of the pink puffball's latest escapades a little nearer the end of the month.
- Further reading: Best Kirby Games Of All Time
Comments 106
I'm generally not a big fan of big, open areas in platformers so that's fine by me. I much prefer having linear stages with well-crafted level design and fun mechanics.
Spoiler alert: Kirby does mouthful Mode on the entire galaxy and accidentally destroys it.
Looking forward to playing this one. Kind of glad it's not open world like Mario Odessy.
Open world means very little when the primary objective becomes a ubiquitous filler accomplishment like in Mario Odyssey, so that alone isn't a deal breaker.
I'm not a Kirby fan at all, but I'm huge into corridor/linear 3D platformers so it may be one to check out.
To be fair, it looks like it's made with the Super Mario 3D World engine, or at least I got those vibes from the trailer and I'm very much okay with that. Can't wait to dig in!
I-is that... post-apocalyptic Coconut Mall?!
It all just looks a little inconsequential. Not the big step forward that Kirby could do with, and instead just transplanting Kirby as we already know it into a sort-of not really 3D environment.
As if I wasn't already hyped enough for this game. It sounds great!
I prefer free Roaming style.
It's like open world style but in smaller space, just like Sly Cooper or Ratchet & Clank games.
Really rooting for this game to be a hit. I like Kirby more than I like the Kirby games I've played recently, and this seems like the first time they've really pushed the boundaries since Crystal Shards on N64
Glad to see there are difficulty modes in this one!
Dang this is a shame. Full 3D platformers are definitely my favorite. Looks like I have to wait for Yooka-Laylee 2 or a new Spyro game.
Oh god this is going to be the same as 3d world as well where everyone hates it at first before realising it's amazing, isn't it?
Can't wait for the critical second looks to pop up 4 years from now.
One of the ways this looks like it improves on 3d world is in its environments, everything has so much detail and character to it and it feels like they went out of their way to make these feel like actual locations.
i can understand why it was the way it was in 3d world since the game needed to be able to run at a good framerate with 4 players at once so that sacrifice had to be made but its nice to see kirby offering its own take on the linear 3d platformer.
Ok, I need this game now please
@Fizza I hope we don't have the hate phase, this game looks absolutely amazing!
My most anticipated game so far this year, I can't wait!
Only 2 player co-op?
@HotGoomba I legit want a Portal 2 ending
i find fixed perspective 3d a bit stressful tbh (sonic blast flashbacks incoming...) but i cant wait to give this one a shot. we had a blast with 3d world on U so this should be fun, too!
and, i have high expectations for the music. if they get that right thats half the battle for me.
Honestly didn't really click with Mario Odyssey but I absolutely love 3D World (the only Mario I ever 100%ed) so this sounds right up my alley! I've never played a Kirby game before but this one definitely has my attention.
I was going to say...that The Forgotten Land is linear like 3D Land & 3D World is. I did enjoy those two games.
That said, I hope that collectibles are hidden cleverly. It would give you the need to explore thoroughly in each level.
A bit disappointed that instead of normal and hard difficulties, we seemingly only have easy and normal. But the game is still shaping up to be great. Really intrigued by how there's apparently still some side scrolling sections
@HotGoomba I fully expect Kirby to use mouthful mode on a planet or a space station at least. These games always get big in scope by the end.
@RadioShadow I don't think Odyssey is open world, sure the stages are big, but they aren't connected with themselves.
I figured as much when the last major trailer showed off stages and more linear level design.
That's fine. I'm not one of those people who thinks every series needs to transition to open world/sandbox-style level design. If it's as fun as Super Mario 3D World was, it'll be one of the best games released this year.
this will be my first kirby.. I've already pre ordered.. but the only thing I want (and i don't thin i'll have) is the game to be hard.. at least mario style, to beat, very easy but after you beat the game, it becomes very hard... finger crossed!
Oh man, excellent news!
So it's basically a regular Kirby game but in 3D. I'm 100% okay with that.
@TheBigK Same, can't wait! 😍
I really don't care if it isn't open world. Not every game needs to be open world, and a linear 3D game can be just as good, if not better, than an open world one.
Not like Odyssey? Phew! This game will be the greatest!
That's not a bad thing. 3D World is one of my favorite Mario games.
@k4mik4z3 The cake is a lie...Kirby inhailed it 🎂
God I'm so hyped. I wish I wasn't at work to have more time to play it 😢 I will play the demo on my break and afterwards. I pretty much expected it would be more like 3D Land and I have no problem with that at all.
This is looking fantastic. Will be my first Switch game of the year, probably.
I love open world platformers but this seems like a perfect fit for Kirby. Really excited for this game!
A little saddened it’s not Odyssey-style open world. But I did/do love 3d world…
I like open world, Odyssey style.
I also like stages, 3D World style.
Both are valid, and I'll enjoy it regardless of which particular approach the devs have chosen to take. For Kirby's first big 3D adventure, I'd say they nailed it.
I know i will enjoy this but this article got me thinking, for me its not about an open world game for kirby since those have done nothing for Mario lore-wise. i want an RPG that expands on the characters mythos, i want to understand whats meta knight problem with kirby, were does he comes from, if they are related and so on, whatever gameplay style they choose im fine with it, same thing with other Nintendo ip's
Are you serious? You tell by the first gameplay trailer it was more like 3D World than Odyssey.
Did you guys try out the dodging at all? It honestly feels amazing to do and has more control than previous Kirby games :>
@Silly_G They didn't survive the pandemic
3D World is better than Odyssey. Fight me.
I'm hyped for this even more now.
And in come people crying that it’s not open world and refuse to get it and Nintendo lied even though there was nothing that implied that it was open world. God botw may look fun and I might enjoy it but ever since that game came out people now want everything in a open world fashion even if it won’t work well.
(Sonic frontiers I’m looking at you.)
Kirbex.
Apparently I can't respond with such a short post, so here is some extra text.
@Fizza I loved 3D World to bits when it released and I'm very smug about it.
I felt a real disconnect with the true 3D Mario games. After growing up with the 2D games I felt the move to 3D changed it so much that they weren't Mario games to me anymore.
This was the perfect blend of both styles and an amazing game as well.
I still remember the salt when Eurogamer gave it game of the year over the Last of Us.
Good Times
@steizgr8 'I still remember the salt when Eurogamer gave it game of the year over the Last of Us'
AS THEY SHOULD.
@Fizza absolutely agree
I personally think the game looks charming and will be picking it up when I'm ready for it. Not everything needs to be an open world affair, and if I recall some earlier impressions of the game found it to be more akin to Super Mario 3D World (which is also quite enjoyable).
Can't wait for this, glad Kirby has finally made it to 3D finally.
To be fair, calling Odyssey open world is a stretch. It is also segmented into levels, albeit larger ones than a traditional Mario game.
A true open world game generally has one contiguous world, like Breath of the Wild.
Super Mario Odyssey isn't really open-world. Bowser's Fury is, though Lake Lapcat isn't that big.
Anyways, glad to hear that Kirby is looking good.
I personally am a big fan of more linear 3D platformer design. love 3D World / Land, the Crash Bandicoot games, and many 3D Sonics. More open design can be fun too, but I generally prefer more thoughtful, meaningful and contracted level design - something that is more often done is more linear platformers, I find. This linear nature of the game is something appealing, not a deterrent, in my eyes.
Game still looks so great. Kirby games are always a blast. I'm glad they've implemented difficulty levels (still expecting the game to be on the easy side either way).
And it sounds like the Mouthful Modes can combine with copy abilities? Either way, Kirby abilities are always what I enjoy about this series.
Of course 2-player co-op is really exciting! I know we'll be playing thru the game together on my channel.
@nessisonett "sort-of not really 3D"? If it's not 3D, then what is it? Because it's not 2D
I just have a feeling that this Kirby will be scoring a good 7 or a NL 8. And with a high price tag.
Platform games for the most part have been single player adventures. When thay are designed to accommodate more that one player the one player mode suffers. The previous Kirby Switch game is a good example.
Trying to kill two birds with one stone and make a game that is both an excellent single player and and excellent multi player game is doomed to fail.
This looks like the single player mode is the weaker of the two, yet again. One for families with young kids. So much for the big open world.
Kirby Demo is fun so far...not bad not being able to rotate 360 makes it tricky...or lookup and lookdown....is challenge.
Looking good!
Being more of a linear 3D game won't bother me or my kids at all. We enjoyed SM3DW on the Wii U - it's one of the first games I co-op'ed with them, so a similar game in the Kirby universe sounds great!
@zool It doesn’t seem that way at all, it’s only two players max here, and the other player has to be Bandana Waddle Dee so it’s not at all like Star Allies did.
Glad to hear it because Super Mario Odyssey was one of the worst games I ever played.
I spent 5 hours wandering a desert for the 1st level and all I did was find an apparel hut, a place to save my non existent progress, a camera 100 times worse than Super Mario Sunshine, and an environment full of just walking among emptiness for minutes at a time.
If the game was Super X Odysey, it would have been reviewed a 2/10 instead of a 10/10. What a joke!
hyped to play the first 3D mainline Kirby game, it was not obvious Kirby and the Forgotten Land would play simiraly to Super Mario 3D World.
@SportyMarioSonicMix
The desert isn’t the first level, and there no “place” to save progress because it’s a menu option.
Maybe you should try giving it more of a chance? You might end up enjoying it more than you did last time.
@ArchRex it just seems that since it's first announcement, and the open world hype and Odyssey comparisons, it going downhill. But I'll give the demo a go.
For me Kirby was better on the 3ds.
"unlockable side missions which see you take part in a host of minigames based around your various copy abilities"
YEAAAAAA if this anything like the Challenge Stages for each ability in Return to Dream Land, this is absolutely my jam. Those were such a highlight of that game.
I'll take either open or linear world as long as the game ends up good in the end and going by the demo, I had a decent time with it.
The Copy Ability movesets felt incredibly stripped down from the Super Star and Return to Dream Land games (Star Allies included) and it doesn't really standout much from the other 3D platformers I played, but it's the only March game I'm interested in and I still want to show my support for the series, so I'll buy it when it releases.
Just played the demo available on Eshop, it's fantastic can't wait for the full experience at the end of the month:)
@SportyMarioSonicMix so you didn’t have much fun on the first level then? (Ignoring the tutorial level of course). Turning into a t-Rex wearing a little Mario hat and moustache wasn’t charming enough? Oh, and the desert level really isn’t that big…so there’s plenty to do. But any who it’s your opinion. And the Kirby demo was brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. Made me laugh out loud at the transformations.
I'm confused how anyone thought it was like Odyssey. I got a very strong 3D World vibe from "go". That said, a true open world Mario game like BOTW would be slick.
@Fizza I thought it was the other way around. I remember everyone, including the reviewers, saying 3D World was like the most fun they'd ever had and then a few years later everyone started acting like they never said that and that it was the worst Mario game ever.
@Oish Ignore him, he's just our resident depressive who feels obliged to let everyone know how terrible everything about this existence, including everything Nintendo ever does, is.
Wait what there is a demo already got this with game vouchers but can cancel but won't as I am looking forward to it. Downloading demo as soon as.
@BAN I'm talking about the more recent perception where everyone hated it but then came around to it again (Scott the Woz is a powerful influence you know).
While this is no doubt disappointing, this is still a huge step for the Kirby series.
This is definitely not open world. The demo is great fun and it will be a good game but the camera. Ffs the camera. Hopefully they will fix that as it has a mind of its own. Also some of the blurring of the scenery is painful on the eyes.
Definitely needs tweaking before release.
Nintendo design is beaultiful, but when i play kirby games i feel vored, cause the game is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy. It´s not fun to me. I´ll never buy a kirby game because that. Nintendo needs to put hard mode on principal game mode, not "boss rush" kind of game.
Not like Odyssey? Eh, I don't mind it.The fact we're getting an open-world Pokémon game and that the Mario team is likely still working on a Mario Odyssey successor means this is more to appreciate.
You can BE the vending machine from Maximum Overdrive. That's badass.
I'm actually happy they didn't make it a pure open world, its fine like this.
This demo put a HUGE smile on my face!!!
This makes me even more excited for it as 3D World is WAAAYYY better than Odyssey!
Meh, Kirby lost me a long time ago. If this is just Kirby done up in a following way behind Mario's footsteps, I'll pass. Sure the game will be great for those a fan of the series, looks like it will be. Series just never captured me after Superstar showed how different an approach the games could take, then never ever glanced back at it. Every Kirby since has felt like regression inside progression, and this is an extension of that. It's not a "won't buy", it's a, "buy in a few years when Nintendo finally gives it its first sale" situation.
sounds fun! I was going to buy it anyways but I'll try the demo.
Open worlds are ok but I get lost easily so I don't mind it being more linear.
@Munchlax: I spent a solid 5 hours with it and the camera was so horrendous that I broke down and agreed to open the online instructional manual (I typically boycott these, as it irritates me there is no options for a physical version anymore.) to see what I was doing wrong, but yet still could not figure it out.
After hours of experimentation, I figured out that if you kept the camera as loose as possible, for some reason, that made it better, even though the default option was way too loose to start with.
I still never found a level to play though.
I feel like Super Mario Odyssey is Super Mario in The Legend of Zelda franchise and that warp alone should doom the game to a 5/10 or worse.
If I wanted a Zelda type game, I would buy them. It should at least be clear in the title if they are going to do that. For example, "Super Mario's Open World Odyssey Adventure."
@ghostsoundjosh: I walked every inch of the desert level looking for an actual level to play, but never found one.
I think I even walked every inch twice to make sure I did not miss anything, but never found anything when I turned it off.
And I play almost every game if it even has Mario in it. So disappointing.
The only Mario games released since I started playing video games that I did not buy was the Dance Dance Revolution game because I had no idea it came out at the time and it is super expensive online to get both the game and the mat and Super Mario Party because it cannot be played in portable mode.
@Rykdrew Even on the harder difficulty available I almost fell asleep it was that easy although visually it was very impressive so I would say this is a must for young children maybe
I'm not a fan of 3D World, the lack of camera control made it very awkward for me to play. That said, Kirby isn't Mario, and it doesn't require the more precision jumping and moving that Mario requires. I had a lot of fun with the demo, it was extremely easy, but hunting for the collectibles and completing the side missions meant it kept me engaged. I'll definitely by buying the full game.
This looks like Nintendo on autopilot. What happened to the spark of the earlier Switch titles? Other than Dread, haven’t played my Switch since Animal Crossing. Low effort title after low effort title.
@Smug43 Me too! 😊
It seemed fairly obvious from the 2nd trailer that this was going to be the case.
@luckiernut yes. It´s great for children. But me and my wife don´t want to have children! Even so, I think the game should have different difficulty levels to allow both audiences to have fun! Kids and adults.
I was hesitant, but the demo was good. My only concern is paying full price for this game. I just must wait for reviews.
I don’t care about open world, graphics, frame rate, length of game, cost, online play, radiation seeping from the cartridge etc says many of people.
I played the demo last night, and it looks beautiful and plays smooth (for Kirby at least). Car-by is super fun to control. I love that there is a difficulty choice....hopefully there is a super hard / difficult mode to unlock.
Played the demo last night and it looks stunning. When the actual gameplay started I didn't realise it for a few seconds cos I thought I was watching a cut-scene. Kids will love it and Kirby fans too. Probably a day one if I can find a decent deal
The demo was great fun!
@Ejadaddy Glad you enjoyed it! 😊
@Fizza Yeah, they liked it at first, then hated it, then came back around when it got re-released with Bowser’s Fury. Personally I’ve always liked it.
@SportyMarioSonicMix
I just wanted you to know that I can't post where you asked me a question. (Not that i would've had a satisfactory answer anyway.)
I just played the demo. It’s kinda like Knack. I hope there will be an option to turn off the background music in the full game. It’s calling for some vintage AC/DC.
I have enjoyed the demo but not sure if I will be able to put rune factory and triangle strategy down long enough this month.
@rolLTheDice: Oh, why does it not let you ask a question where we were having an exchange?
And are you saying you do not remember what types of Nintendo games you used to play?
@SportyMarioSonicMix not sure if you are trolling or just didn’t get the concept of odyssey. The whole desert area is one level. Your goal is to collect moons. Similar to the older 3D games where you collect stars. With the exception that you don’t have to reload the level to find the next one.
Back to Kirby: loving the demo so far. And was sure to buy the game after the first presentation. I also hope that we get crystal shards this month. This was my only Kirby game I played (before NSO) and I loved it.
No, designing the game like this around fixed camera angles is much preferable to camera control as long as Nintendo continues to stupidly use completely manual cameras over good automatic cameras in its 3D third person first party games. (Monolith Soft is second party and the only Nintendo studio who does it right.)
@SportyMarioSonicMix
I don't know and no, i'm not saying that.
I just don't wanna talk offtopic and i don't see why it would be hard to respect that.
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