Kirby and the Forgotten Land is confidently complete

Smiling through the apocalypse

The banner feature of Kirby and the Forgotten Land is that this time Kirby is in 3D. To be fair, it's worth all the lip-service. Kirby's jump to 3D after 30 years is a success on pretty much every front. The mechanics feel like Kirby, the structure feels like Kirby, the abilities and enemies all feel like Kirby. Ironically it might be too Kirby, sometimes it feels less like 'Kirby but in 3D!' and more 'Kirby, but in 3D'. It overcomes this though, through a steady buildup in the back half and into a fully fleshed out postgame.

Series don't make the jump to 3D anymore. This leap was a thing of the past, largely occurring in the late 90s or early 2000s when hardware was finally capable enough for all three dimensions. Seeing a series, especially one as old as Kirby, come over to 3D after decades of the industry learning how to work in the dimension is incredibly interesting. In itself this is reason enough to play Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Simply from a academic standpoint there is a lot to pick apart; but I've become more enamored with just how fully complete of an experience developer HAL has produced in their latest title.

Simply put, Forgotten Land is a confidently complete game. Coming off Kirby Star Allies, a game which was completed post release under the guise of free downloadable content updates, it would be fair to be wary of what exactly you'd be getting with Forgotten Land. It's easy to imagine a world where Kirby's jump to 3D was troubled, as it was for so many characters back in the day, and so Forgotten Land would instead be a short, somewhat interesting but ultimately flawed game. This isn't the case. The main campaign of Forgotten Land has to be among the strongest of not only Kirby, but general first party Nintendo. It starts easy, remember this is a game for kids, but there is a clear point in which the game ratchets up in difficulty and pairs more intensive visuals to go with it. By the end the game is trying it's hardest to do a PlatinumGames climax. It's grand stuff and as a whole will be remembered as a shining star of the Switch's library.

A great deal of this is due to the artistic decision to go full post-post-apocolypse. Kirby is sucked into another universe and whatever lived here before no longer does. Infrastructure has fallen apart, nature has reclaimed the planet, and empowered wildlife roam freely. This style has always been at the edges of previous Kirby games but to see it be placed front and center is incredibly pleasing. The game can have green-grass, blue-oceans, and yellow-deserts and still be visually unique as opposed to 'just more Kirby'. These settings also seem to be nodding to specific instances of post-post-apocolypse. Games like The Last of Us, Nier Automata, and even Doom Eternal are in the running for the biggest influences of Forgotten Land's visual design. It's not what you'd expect from a Kirby game, but it's also exactly what you'd expect from a Kirby game.

Where Forgotten Lands truly starts to feel like the real deal is after the credits. There is a moment where the game plops an unresolved question in your lap then whisks you back to the main menu. You've completed the story, you've had an ending, but there is now this lingering question you've just been presented with. It would be hard to not immediately jump back in to see what happens next. And what happens is that a whole new batch of remixed, harder levels open up. At this point HAL has retargeted Forgotten Land to appeal to the older audience who are drawn to the darker aspects of a series which is on its face bright and cheery. While these levels reuses existing assets and don't directly introduce new mechanics there is a slight reworking of existing mechanics to keep you on your toes. For instance, the shiny spots that Kirby stands on to reveal some bonus coins but now are used to open actual doors you need to progress. A handful of things like this are both clever and really satisfying to work out, making these levels distinct enough from the main campaign.

These levels are good, but they pale in comparison to the bosses of this mode. Every boss from the main game is given a remixed form that is more difficult and which has new moves. This is easily the highlight of the whole postgame. If you give yourself over to what is happening in the story, the context for these new boss battles, it's easy to get playfully hyped when you encounter them. The best part of completing this postgame is the fully new secret boss that appears in place of the original climactic fight. If you've followed this series for the last few games it can be genuinely exciting to see HAL go all in on the insane lore they've built up over the years. What has only been hinted at on the edges of previous games is now fully on display and it's glorious.

It recalls a concept from role playing games called 'the super boss'. These are usually postgame fights that challenge the player to build up a specially designed party and plan a unique strategy in order to beat. They are the ultimate challenge to a game players have already likely spent tens of hours in. As an outsider they are incredibly impressive feats and to hear people talk about them inspires a level of jealousy that someone was able to plumb the depths of a single game for such a long time.

Forgotten Land has these super bosses. Kirby has had these super bosses for a while now, and it's what makes the games so appealing for a completionist playthough. Very few platformers are even set up in such a way that postgame narrative beats tied to secret boss fights could even be a thing. Bringing this type of content to a game that doesn't require 70 hours of investment is a real treat. It's what makes Forgotten Land feel like such a complete experience. You've had your main game, you've had your postgame, and now you'll have new boss battles and lore as a reward. The experience feels like it just keeps going, but in a way that is continually improving and one-upping itself.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land will easily be one of the highlights of the year. It reworks the entire Kirby experience into something recognizable, but still fresh and interesting. It also doesn't feel like a proof of concept or experimental game. This is the full-fat Kirby experience and the game revels in it. HAL may be charting a new future for the franchise with Forgotten Land, and the future looks bright.

Just grand stuff all around, good work everybody.