Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Everyone’s favorite pink ball golden ball is back in a new game. From what I’ve experienced, I find peace and quiet in Kirby’s world, although the length of the game could have been somewhat shorter

It is very difficult to describe the Kirby series as an understatement. Since 1992, our cute pink main character has become a beloved Nintendo mascot and his popularity continues to grow. Through all these games, we have become familiar with many characters like Meta Knight and King Dedede to name a few. But the show had to put up with the most, ending up with bigger games including Donkey Kong or Mario. Admittedly, the Kirby series isn’t as diverse as the others, but there’s plenty of fun to be had. That’s exactly what Hal Laboratory is trying to achieve by focusing so much on sheer fun, rhythm, and super cool Kirby action.

From the start, you will be thrown straight into the adventure. No complicated dialogues or lengthy scenes that really extend to what I came for: seeing Kirby again. It won’t take many seconds before you start hitting things, jumping, eating everything and floating towards your target. All levels in themselves are less explorable compared to giant titles like Odyssey, but the more information you get, the more bosses and secrets you can discover.

The courses look very compact and educational, which means you can pass them in about a quarter of an hour if you just want to drive straight without exploring. The variety of assignments you receive means you always end up in a number of different places, everything from ramshackle malls to sun-kissed sandy beaches. You’ll always find something in The Forgotten Land, everything from secret passages to treasures, so you have plenty of gaming fun to pick up here. But in addition to the main tasks, you always have additional ones that allow you to get some additional rewards. Some of them require different special abilities to crack different puzzles. The rewards usually consist of coins and stars, which you can use to upgrade your abilities into stronger and stronger variants.

Everything you do happens in the Waddle Dee Village where in many cases you have to free the so-called “trouble” and the more you save, the more shops, houses and people in the village. There are also smaller side trails to explore. It might not be a big deal to leave Kirby the bartender at a local sweet shop, but it does give you a few minutes of peace and quiet away from the main adventure which works just fine for me.

Another piece of news is that nowadays Kirby can sniff out things that are usually pretty big. Then we talk about planes, cars, roller coasters, etc. and you can control them according to your own desires. This again adds tremendous variety in all the different tasks you take on.

If we talk on the graphic side, there’s really not much to say. It’s not a graphic masterpiece, but on the Switch the colors are incredibly vivid, especially when driving in portable mode. In many cases, the game may look a little low-res on TV, but there is nothing to bother you. However, the soundtrack is a bonus, and there are a couple of songs that provide a kind of sleepy calm while others are more intense. Then I can say that the length as a whole lowers my grade a bit. The game starts in about 10 hours plus some extras if you explore.

My final review on the whole to keep me short is that The Forgotten Land is like a cute little cupcake baked with extra love. For younger players, there is a lot to prevent, but for older players, there is a kind of therapeutic calm to be able to play like Kirby again. This series has a long way to go on the same level as Mario or Metroid, but during a bleak time like ours, it might be nice to see Kirby do ugly things. If you have a key (of course you do), this is a nice title to look at a bit.