Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) Review
Updated: May 16
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Platforms: Switch
Overview
Kirby and the Forgotten Land has got to be one of the most charming and strangely addicting games I've played in 2022. A smaller emphasis on narrative put a bigger spotlight on everything else and boy does it deliver. The way gameplay gets broken up keeps players entertained all the way up to the end.
The art, level design, and soundtrack complement each other so well that it's hard not to get immersed. It wasn't too hard to get through as the game was pretty easy throughout. Some of the bosses were difficult to deal with at times, but nothing that will cause you to smash your head into a wall.
Story
We pick up on Planet Popstar where a mysterious vortex suddenly appears over Dreamland and sucks up everything it can. Eventually, everything that was sucked up gets tossed into the New World. This New World contains infrastructure from an abandoned civilization that once inhabited the world. While in this mysterious world, Kirby finds out that the Waddle Dees are being captured by the Beast Pack.
After saving a strange creature named Elfilin, Kirby's new companion explains how he and the Waddle Dee attempted to fight against the Beast Pack but ultimately failed. Resulting in a destroyed Waddle Dee Town that acts as the main hub area for the player to rebuild and take the fight to the Beast Pack!
The story doesn't have much of a narrative, as Kirby and the Forgotten Land is comprised of multiple levels centered around an environmental theme. The small bit of direction the player is given toward the start of the game with the introduction of the Beast Pack. After going through about half the game, another story event occurs that drives the narrative forward.
Before that point, there was very little reason to care about the overall story besides finding out how Kirby will return to Popstar. Once this tipping point is reached, it feels like the game finally has a real purpose. The ending was very enjoyable and many questions the player may have had winded up getting answered satisfactorily.
Gameplay
Kirby continues doing Kirby things even in a brand new world. Sucking up enemies and stealing their abilities is the key to success. Kirby can also suck up certain inanimate objects to use special abilities related to those objects. For example, activating Mouthful Mode by sucking up a car will allow Kirby to move around faster and bash through walls. Sucking up a soda vending machine will have Kirby shooting cans to dispatch enemies at rapid speeds.
Using the objects found in the world helped diversify the gameplay to make nearly every level feel unique and fun to play. After completing a section that required Kirby to suck in an object, the player will have a chance to redo that section if they missed any goodies along the way!
Being in a completely 3D world, Kirby can now dodge enemy attacks and hazards. Perfect dodges will slow down time and give players the chance to reposition or set up their next attack. In 1v1 situations with bosses, Kirby can feel a bit slow. The move speed isn't all that impressive and rushdown attacks felt like they would always inevitably hit.
Another bummer was that after getting into the later portions of the game, it started to get repetitive. No more new toys or abilities to test out and it's the same Mouthful Mode. All of the objects are the same or aren't engaging enough to break up the stagnating gameplay.
Presentation
The Kirby series has always been flush with colors and Forgotten Land is no different. The locales are vibrant and the enemies that populate the areas also add diversity to the scene. Some areas are weaker than others, but each area is impressive in its own way. The visual effects were never a distraction or hindered visual clarity.
The music was cute, cheerful, and pleasant to listen to. Kirby and the Forgotten Land did surprisingly manage to strike emotional tones while still keeping the bouncy rhythms that Kirby games are known for. The Rock tracks in particular had no reason to go as hard as they did.
The performance was great throughout the game. The only noticeable dip was during the final encounter, but it lasted about 2 seconds, so it wasn't the end of the world (unless you let the bad guys win). The camera was never my enemy. The benefits of having a fixed camera are that the developers get to curate what views or locations the player should be focusing on. Boss tracking is made easy and cheeky hidden secrets tease the player to explore.
Final Verdict
8.5/10
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a fun adventure platformer that focuses on its strengths for the majority of the game. The abilities that Kirby can copy are fun, especially when upgraded to bigger, badder forms. Mouthful Mode adds fun little wrinkles to every level they appear in and the collectibles never feel like the player has to work obnoxiously hard to obtain them.
It is a fair and focused approach to the enemy and level design that keeps the player moving, and never stonewalls them. However, the game can only run on charm and whimsy for so long before we start to wonder what our goal in the game really is. The game drags on for a bit too long and doesn't introduce new mechanics to keep things fresh.
If the game wasn't full of surprises already, the difficult post-game will keep players on their toes to reach the coveted "True Ending". Kirby and the Forgotten Land is chock full of content that is rarely seen in video games from this era.
Not enough? Watch 25 minutes of Kirby and the Forgotten Land gameplay below!
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