I haven’t played a lot of the Kirby games in my time, mostly some older ones like Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards or the game that started it all, Kirby’s Dreamland. However, when Kirby and the Forgotten Land was announced in September of last year, I knew I’d have to play it eventually. The post-apocalyptic setting instantly made me curious as to how the world would look and how this theme would tie into the visuals and story of the game.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land starts with Kirby (along with his home planet) being sucked away and thrown into a new place, the post-apocalyptic world mentioned above. This world has a hub area inhabited by the Waddle-Dees that you save along your journey, with new shops and minigames getting unlocked at certain Waddle-Dee-thresholds. These range from stat-boosting shops to fishing minigames, as well as an arena that lets you fight the bosses you meet along your journey. There is more, of course.

The levels are distributed over seven worlds, totaling 40 stages. Each stage has the usual “get to the end” objective, which nets you three Waddle-Dees, with several hidden objectives throughout each stage. These objectives range from very obvious things to do, like ability-specific areas to beat and not-so-hidden switches to flick. However, there are also more challenging objectives like doing something within a certain timeframe. You don’t have to get all of the hidden Waddle-Dees in one go. The ones you rescue get saved once you beat the stage, and one hidden objective gets revealed upon beating a stage. This does not mean you have to play a stage five times to fully complete it, since you can get the hidden objectives without knowing what they are, you get a lot by exploring.

Apart from the main stages, there are a lot of challenge stages called Treasure Roads thrown across the entire map of the game. These present you with ability-specific challenges to beat. There’s a bonus for beating them normally and another one for beating them within a specific time limit. The time limits can be really tight, but with a bit of practice, you’ll be able to beat them in no time. For me, there hasn’t been a challenge that took me more than maybe ten tries.

I didn’t discover a single stage or world I disliked. All the worlds are unique in their design such as the cold area of Winter Horns or the wetlands of Everbay Coast. My favorite by far was the third world, Wondaria Remains, which is an abandoned theme park filled with attractions that have gone wild and even rollercoasters you can ride with Kirby’s mouthful mode.

Mouthful mode is the biggest addition to Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I have to say I was skeptical of this mechanic when it was first shown, but it brings an insane amount of variety to the game. These transformations range from the (in-)famous car to vending machines and traffic cones and each of them is unique in the way they play and fit into the gameplay loop of each stage.

All of the twelve copy abilities were fun to use, and all of them can be upgraded at least once. Some can be upgraded twice or three times by finding blueprints scattered throughout the entire world. My favorites were Sword and Fire, whose upgraded abilities made me feel superior to any of the enemies I met apart from one or two post-game bosses.

The story of this game, just like most Kirby games, starts off very simple and goes crazy by the time you beat the main game. I won’t be spoiling anything regarding the end or postgame in this review, but I’ll just say that there are plenty of things to do after the credits roll for the first time. As in any Kirby game, the soundtrack is top tier. There was not a single song on the soundtrack I didn’t like. I’ve actually started listening to it on my downtime, and highly suggest you do the same.

I rarely fully complete games, but with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, this was an incredibly fun experience without any major grind or frustrating stages or mechanics that made me want to throw my Switch against the wall. The Treasure Roads were challenging but not frustrating, and the collectibles were easy to obtain with the amount of coins you’ll rack up by the time you’re finished.

It’s difficult to put into words how much I adore this game. It was fun throughout the entirety of my 20+ hour journey and is now among my all-time favorite games for the Switch. I recommend this game to any and all fans of adventure games, no matter how old and how skilled. In fact, there’s always the option of switching on easy mode, which doesn’t keep you from 100% completing the game as far as I know.

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Kirby and the Forgotten Land

59.99

10

Score

10.0/10

Pros

• Fantastic gameplay
• Interesting world
• Amazing soundtrack
• Fun completion experience
• Plenty of post-game content