In our preliminary review of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which is also available as a demo for Nintendo Switch, we take a closer look at the details about the game.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a game that has managed to find its place among the games I have been eagerly waiting for this year, such as Elden Ring and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. The game, which will be released for Nintendo Switch this month, seems to be the first Kirby game to take place in a post-apocalyptic world. As a gamer who loves both the concept of a post-apocalyptic world and Kirby, I immediately tried the free demo released on Eshop and will share my first impressions.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land review
Kirby No Cars? Kirby?!
When Kirby and the Forgotten Land was first announced, it gave me the impression of an open-world game set after the apocalypse. After playing the demo, I can easily say that this is not entirely true. The game allows us to navigate through small sections separated under the main sections. We have the opportunity to navigate the 3D world with Super Mario Odyssey-style controls. We can control its fixed camera with analog. In this respect, it is more similar to Super Mario 3D than Odyssey.
Nier Automata, the world that Kirby and his friends are drawn into, Horizon: Forbidden West and many other post-apocalyptic games. On the bright side, there are no machines trying to hunt us in this world, in fact we swallow the machines. Kirby’s famous “consumption” ability has been taken to a whole new level here. We can swallow various machines and objects we see in the world and take on their abilities (and shapes). Thanks to our ability called “Mouthful Mode”, we swallow different objects such as drink machines, traffic cones and cars, and gain powers that will help us solve the puzzles we encounter.
There are 3 different sections in the demo. In the first section, we get used to the gameplay and experience the innovations, while in the second section, we have the chance to try saving our friends with our new abilities. The third section is a big boss fight. The sections presented in the demo were enough to both get used to the game and see the innovations. If you want to play more after finishing, you can go back and complete some side quests. For example, in one section, there are tasks such as making five different flowers bloom and small activities such as finding capsule toys.
The game has two difficulty levels, Spring-Breeze and Wild Mode. Spring-Breeze offers a slightly more relaxed, easy gameplay, while Wild Mode increases the difficulty and the number of stars you earn in return. I wasn’t too bothered by the demo’s Wild Mode difficulty, but I was glad there was a Spring-Breeze option for my nephew, who loves Kirby games.
We’re Ready for a New Adventure with Kirby!
Honestly, when I saw the Kirby and the Forgotten Land videos, I was thinking, “I might not be able to handle another open-world game.” After playing the demo, those concerns disappeared. I think the game will have a good place among the first-party games on the Nintendo Switch, and it seems to have no problems in terms of performance.
I played the demo smoothly without any significant FPS losses. It is possible to play both in handheld mode and connected to the screen, at a visually satisfying level of 30 FPS. Distant enemies move a little more jerkily until you get closer, which I am used to from the Dark Souls games, so it didn’t bother me at all. We’ll see how it performs in larger areas in the following sections when the game is released.
The fixed camera angle of the 3D platform game may upset those expecting a Super Mario Odyssey-style gameplay. From what I experienced in the demo, it didn’t cause any problems, but it seems like it might be a bit difficult to get along when two people are playing. I didn’t get a chance to try the co-op part of the demo, which offers the option to join in with a second controller at any time.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land, on March 25,On the Nintendo Switch platform It will be released. With its colorful 3D world, gameplay that combines the puzzle – platform – action trio, and Kirby swallowing even huge cars in one bite, this game really seems to deserve attention. January and February are going by like a storm with the games released, we will see when it comes out whether Kirby and the Forgotten Land will find a place for itself among such good games.