Game Review: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kriby is an interesting character when it comes to Nintendo’s many mascots. While he’s not as widely recognised as Mario is for the general audience, I still think Kirby reflects just as much of the Nintendo legacy. I myself have never been an avid fan of his games but I can respect how much appeal the cute pink ball has in order to successfully dish out over thirty titles by this point. His core formula seems to be baked in traditional platformers, mainly of the 2-D variety but that isn’t to say he’s never branched out now and then. There’s always been the odd 3-D spinoff which took Kirby in a different direction, but they never acted as a traditional platformer from start to finish. That was until 2022 however, in which Kirby finally got his first fully fledged 3-D platforming title called Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

Developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo, Kirby and the Forgotten Land serves as Kirby’s first dedicated journey into a fully 3-D platforming adventure. It’s core formula follows that of most platforming titles in which you have a selection of overworld locations and many levels and challenges littered throughout them. Each level offers you a distinctly different set of obstacles to overcome with an additional set of tasks to complete to offer a nice sense of replayability. The core selling point of this game besides it’s 3-D visual style is found in its other main component’ Mouthful Mode. A mode in which you can swallow large objects and take their forms. I’ll break down the fundamentals of these features a bit later in the review.

The storyline for Kirby and the Forgotten Land follows Kirby as he ends up being swallowed into a dark portal above Planet Popstar. Waking up on the other side of the portal, Kirby finds himself in an abandoned world with no sign of civilisation within it.  Despite the absence of any notable civilization Kirby soon allies himself which a cute chinchilla-like creature called Elfilin who explains the Waddle Dees from Kirbys world have been abducted by a villainous group of animals called the Beast Pack. Together with his new found friend, Kirby sets forth to explore this abandoned civilization and free all the Waddle Dees from their captivity and find a means of returning everyone back home to Planet Popstar. 

On the surface this may look like your standard cute platforming game in which the narrative plays a backseat to the gameplay. While that may be true however, I feel there’s a distinctly compelling aspect behind the game’s narrative from a visual and environmental standpoint. There’s very little dialogue utilised in this game for the most part so a lot of the storytelling moments in this game must be visual. As you progress through the games many different locations you are constantly reminded of the fact there used to be a living society here. Objects and environments lay a compelling mystery of what happened to the prior inhabitants and that core question does get answered in a captivating way by the games end I find. I think that’s what really drew me in with the games story is how much it ends up surprising you in the last hour or so. It’s easy to dismiss the narrative as Kirby can’t invoke a complicated story at risk of alienating the wider audience, but I think this game proves the balance can be found. It’s an amicable compromise I feel and it does it’s very best in finding a suitable way to tie you into the worlds overarching story without making ti too complex or overbearing.

On the gameplay end I find I’m of two-minds on the game’s general functionality. The way this game operates from a platforming and world design perspective is fun. I like how each location feels distinct in its own right as there’s enough variety layered into each level in these worlds to make them feel unique all to their own. The overall challenge of each level is to free the golden-caged Waddle Dees at the end of each course, but the game adds a nice sense of depth by offering you a collection of challenges and additional Waddle Dees to save throughout the level itself. I like that each level offers the player more means of exploring and perfecting their completion on it as it adds a nice element of replayability. The inclusion of Mouthful Mode in a lot of these levels helps keep the gameplay even more varied as well. The way Kirby can become the items he swallows adds a great sense of visual flavour as well as some fun gameplay variation to the levels. Whether it’s a car, a vending machine, a pipe or a traffic cone; the game has so many ways to have you play around with this mode and it never falters on fully realising it’s potential throughout the game. There’s even a nice amount of RPG mechanics sprinkled into the game which I can respect too. Waddle Dee town serves as your central HUB in the game and there’s a wonderful sense of progression in the area based on how many Waddle Dees you save throughout your adventure. As the town gains more inhabitants more shops and features become available to you, one of which is an upgrade store in which you can upgrade your copy abilities in more ways than one. These elements are really appreciated and help in adding an additional sense of functionality to the game. 

While there’s a nice sense of depth in the gameplay and its lighter RPG mechanics, I feel the need to call out the game’s repetitive nature at times. I appreciate this game can’t get overly complex in a lot of its areas due to the risk of alienating the younger audience but to me that fear detriments the gameplay somewhat. Kirby’s simplistic controls leave a lot to be desired for in my opinion and his copy abilities while upgradable don’t offer much in the way of fluidity in their actual control scheme. It’s a very generic combat system and you can easily find yourself getting fatigued by the control scheme at times. Another major problem I have in the gameplay is the enemy variety. The game uses up a lot of the same mini-bosses to pad out certain sections of this game and it gets tiring to deal with very quickly. From a major boss perspective there is a nice variety there at least and there’s a nice option to replay the bigger bosses in a tournament mode at Waddle Dee town.

One of the biggest stand outs for me with this game though was its visual style. For a Switch game Kirby and the Forgotten Land looks absolutely incredible. Each level does a fantastic job in showcasing this abandoned world to you with enough variation to suit the theme of the different areas and offer you some stunning vistas at the same time. The use of colour and lighting is especially notable here just for how much it captures a mood or tone within the locations. I consider this game alongside Breath of the Wild as one of the best-looking video games on the system and I was really not expecting to be treated with such visual splendour as I ended up getting.  I even dug a lot of the game’s soundtrack work too; it manages a brilliant mix of charm yet mysterious grandeur. The invincible candy tune is a legit banger too I must point that out.

It all ties back to the overarching theme of this game in taking the player on an inquisitive adventure filled with peril and wonder. The core components of the game work to benefit one another in a way that feels easy to appreciate. It’s a game which manages the perfect blend of approachability and scalability. It’s narrative and visuals stand out as the game’s most remarkable aspects but it’s really nice to see how much effort went into making the gameplay more than your standard affair for a Kirby game. As it’s first venture into a fully 3-D platforming world, I think Kirby and the Forgotten Land comes off as a resounding success. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s hard to ignore the weight of everything else the game gets right. It’s such an easy-going game to get into and it will easily leave you smiling by the time the credits roll.