Kirby: and the Forgotten Land is a bundle of light-hearted fun that I recommend to people to enjoy. Kirby: and the Forgotten Land was developed by HAL Laboratory, who has developed the entire Kirby series, the original Super Smash Bros. game and Melee, Pokémon Stadium and Snap. With this being the thirty fifth Kirby game in 30 years, let’s see how the latest game stacks up to the rest.

Forgotten Land is the first Kirby game on the Nintendo Switch, as well as Kirby’s first take into the 3D platforming, and takes some elements from some more recent Mario games for its platforming. Personally, this is my first time I’ve ever played a Kirby game, so I don’t have much knowledge about the previous entries, only what I’ve heard from different sources. 

While not doing anything innovative it’s just silly fun that I personally enjoyed, especially since I just finished Elden Ring so to have something more silly and less difficult is much needed. 

The art style of the game also helps with this, as everything is being drawn in a cute style that is enjoyable. With the game taking about 15 hours to complete, it’s just a fun joyride that I personally enjoyed. Kirby gets sucked into a dark cloud that consumes him and different characters and puts them into a new world where he tries to save the Waddle Dees from capture from the Awoofy. It’s an inconsequential story but it’s meant to be silly. 

The powers available also changes up gameplay with powers ranging from ice attacks to fire to having a gun each being more upgradeable the more you progress within the game.

My main criticism against the game is its difficulty; there isn’t any. With it being a platformer and it being aimed more towards the younger audience, the difficulty of the game is easy. The game even has an easier mode that can be switched to at any point of the game, with the only consequence for switching to this difficulty is that earning stars is less frequent. 

Overall, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is just an enjoyable platformer that is needed as people finishing more challenging games such as Elden Ring and want an easier and fun platformer they don’t really have to think too much about. 

The fun gameplay loops and cute and silly style of the game helps forgive the few issues I’ve had with the game, and it’s an 8/10 for me.