Platformer · 2022 · HAL Laboratory · local
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
A pink ball vacuums up an abandoned world, with somebody alongside carrying a spear.
What it is about
Kirby lands in a world the people have vanished from: shopping centres, amusement parks and factory halls long since overgrown. Animals roam between the overgrown buildings having abducted the inhabitants, and you get them back.
Kirby's old ability remains: inhale an enemy and take on their power. What is new is that he also swallows objects far too big for him — a car, a vending machine, a flight of stairs. He pulls himself over them and then moves on as that very thing.
As a pair, the second person takes Bandana Waddle Dee with a spear. He cannot copy abilities but can attack, hover and collect everything. You play on one screen from one copy; there is no online mode.
Our verdict for couples
Kirby inhales enemies and takes on their abilities. The second role cannot: Bandana Waddle Dee carries a spear instead, and it deals with anything in the way. As with Yoshi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, that is the lucky part for an uneven pair — nobody can fail at this role, and they are still genuinely playing. The game itself is friendly from the first minute: there is a mode where damage barely counts, a level takes eight minutes, and you cannot get stuck at all. That the press finds it gentle is true, and anyone looking for a challenge is in the wrong place. For an evening where you both stay in a good mood, there is little better.
Pros
- One console and one copy cover you both
- The second role suits a pair with uneven experience
- A level takes eight minutes
Cons
- Only Bandana Waddle Dee cannot copy abilities
- Waddle Dee cannot get far from Kirby
- Anyone wanting a challenge finds it only at the end
Suitable from
Casual
- Conflict potential
- Serene
- Cosiness
- Very cosy
- When you can stop
- After 15 minutes
- How long it lasts
- 5–15 hours
What other co-op fans say
On Metacritic the user score sits at 8.7 from 1,152 votes, and the descriptions are strikingly alike: it gets described as a game that puts you in a good mood, not one that challenges you. A figure of around twenty hours comes up repeatedly, along with the explicit note that nobody should come here looking for difficulty. The recurring objection hangs on exactly that — some who loved Super Mario Bros. Wonder find this one too tame.
- “A game that puts you in a good mood...This game is not for those looking for intense challenge...great if you're looking for around a 20 hour investment.”
- “I went into 'The Forgotten Land' expecting a fun, but easily forgettable cutesy 3D platformer, & I got one of the most polished, colorful, joy-filled, consistent-quality games I've played.”
- “Boring! For context, I gave Super Mario Wonder a 10/10...this game bored me to tears—couldn't go on. It's so painfully average.”
Summarised by machine from 1152 Metacritic user reviews, not written by our editors. The quotes appear verbatim in those reviews.
If you like this one
Runs on the same devices as this game.
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Two wobbly rubber figures solve puzzles in dreamlike landscapes — though the falling off takes up the larger share.
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