Honest Review Of Kirby And The Forgotten Land

Hello, Gamers! You really are getting spoiled this week because I have yet another game review for you. This time, it is for the newest entry to the Kirby series, Kirby and the Forgotten Land. This game was released on March 25, 2022, and I didn’t want to put off reviewing it any longer. So without further ado, let’s just right into it!

About The Game

The thing about this game that is the most special is the fact that it’s Kirby’s 30th-anniversary game. That means that the round pink puff has been around for 30 years, he’s definitely older than me, and that’s really mind-blowing to think about. Even more so when you think about how far the technology used to create video games has come in those 30 years.

So what’s the breakdown of the game? Well, this is Kirby’s first 3D outing and you can bring a friend along too. P1 plays as Kirby and P2 plays as Bandana Waddle Dee. If you’re playing alone, Bandana Waddle Dee will just hang out in a hammock chair on a rooftop in Waddle Dee Town. 

Regardless of whether or not you play as just Kirby or bring Bandana Waddle Dee along, Kirby is joined on his adventure by a flying blue creature with big ears named Elfilin. Kirby rescues Elfilin at the beginning of the game and is his constant companion throughout. His and Kirby’s interactions with the world around them are cute as heck already, but if you want to up the cuteness level, even more, have a friend join and bring Bandana Waddle Dee along.

The game also has two gameplay modes: Spring-Breeze Mode (Easy Mode) and Wild Mode ( Normal). The game isn’t exactly difficult, especially in Spring-Breeze mode, but what are the main differences? Wild Mode has more enemies and gives you more coins to spend in-game, while Spring-Breeze has fewer enemies. That’s really it. 

So what exactly is Waddle Dee Town? Well, it acts as the hub for this game. It starts out rather small, but as you rescue waddle dees throughout the game, the town will grow. There’s a lot to see and do in Waddle Dee Town so don’t forget to stop by there every so often during your adventure. Key places of interest include:

• Cinema
  • Watch the game’s cutscenes
• Weapon Shop
  • Upgrade Kirby’s copy abilities
• Delivery Service
  • Entering special codes will get special prizes delivered to Kirby’s House
• Restaurant
  • Order food to increase the party’s health or play a fast-paced minigame
• Kirby’s House
  • Sleep, view your figures, look at a photo album, or retrieve your special prizes
• Gacha Machines
  • Beyond finding them throughout the adventure, this is the other way to obtain the game’s figures

Let’s talk about the rest of the game. There are 7 main areas of the game’s world and each area is divided up into different levels, the final level being the boss of that area. There are challenges to complete and waddle dees to find in every zone so make sure you search each area thoroughly before moving on. You’ll also have access to 12 different copy abilities to help you throughout the game, many of them can be enhanced at Waddle Dee’s Weapon Shop to make them more powerful, but you need to find the blueprint for the upgrade first. 

So now that we know what to expect when it comes to beating the game, let’s talk about the requirements needed to 100% the game. In most games, this will usually involve beating and unlocking everything, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land is really no exception so let’s take a look.

• Beat the game
  • This may not come as a surprise but you need to beat the game’s story first before you can 100% it.
• Complete all challenge stages
  • Some of these are quite tricky to beat and find, as not all of them are revealed once you beat a level. Fly around each area on the warp star to find them all.
• Rescue all Waddle Dees
  • There are Waddle Wees in every single level; some are hidden, some are rewarded to you for beating the level, and others require you to perform certain tasks in the level. You will be able to see which ones you missed at the end of each level.
• Collect all figures
  • As mentioned earlier, figures can be found throughout your adventure, but if you want to get a bunch at once, you need to use the gacha machine. There are also 4 volumes of figures to find, so keep that in mind as you travel along during your journey.

My Overall Thoughts

Now let’s go over my overall thoughts on the game. As per usual, I will start off with what I liked most about the game, and then talk about what I didn’t like about it. Then, I’ll finish off the review by giving the game my final rating.

What I Liked About The Game

1. The game is beautiful. Breathtaking environments, great lighting, a nice vibrant color palette, and the game’s water actually makes me want to go for a swim. It’s a nice game to play during the late Spring or Summer.
2. The controls are easy to learn and use, and this is coming from someone who has admittedly never played a Kirby game before this one. My Partner says they’re similar enough to past Kirby games as well, so that makes this game perfect for series newbies and veterans alike. 
3. Levels are designed to be challenging but not overly so. This is great because you may need to replay a level at least twice, maybe even three times to find all of the waddle dees and other secrets. 
4. Speaking of finding all of the secrets, due to how the game controls and the level design, it’s actually fun to go back and find everything. Some games make this feel like a chore, but that isn’t the case here.
5. While not too obvious at first, the story really starts to draw you in the further you go. You start to ask questions like, “Why are things like this?” and you just want to find out more so you delve deeper and before you know it, you’ve beaten the game.
6. Finally, this is a really great anniversary game. There are a lot of references to past games in the series and to the anniversary in general. 

What I Didn’t Like About The Game

I wanna preface by saying that I don’t think that any of these things are massive flaws in the game at all, but they’re more like minor nitpicks I’ve made while playing that I think were either resolved or balanced out would make the experience of the game even better.

1. The gameplay was very P1-centric, even to the point where the camera followed P1 exclusively. If P1 gets too far away from P2, P2 is turned into a bubble and made to follow P1, this may be jarring if P2 is trying to uncover a secret or defeat an enemy and they’re suddenly not in that same area anymore. 
2. Some of the challenge stages are incredibly tedious, which is a completely different feel than the rest of the gameplay. It’s not enough to just get through the stage, you must do so in a certain amount of time as well.
3. So far, they haven’t implemented any way for you to sell or dispose of any extra figures you may have gotten, so once you have the full set, you may have hundreds of dupes burning a hole in your inventory.
   1.  I think it would be nice to see an update that added some special waddle dee that wanted you to sell your dupes to him and in return, you could eventually purchase special figures from him.
4. Finally, unlike in previous Kirby games, Kirby no longer kisses his partners to refill their health. He gives them a hearty high-five instead, which, is still cute but giving them kisses was much cuter. 
   1. I think it would be nice to have it as an option as to whether or not he kisses them or gives them a high-five.

Final Rating

After taking everything into consideration based on my experiences playing this game alone, I’d confidently rate it a 9.5/10. It’s beautiful, it’s adorable, it’s quick and easy to pick up and learn, and finally, it’s a whole lot of fun to play. I think it’s a fantastic entry to the series and serves well as it’s 30th-Anniversary game.

Keep in mind though, that this is the first Kirby game I’ve ever played so I’m not comparing it to any other previous games in the series. I may seem a bit biased because of that, I’m sure a series veteran’s review may seem more reliable, but I have had an absolute blast playing this game and I highly recommend it.

Wrapping Up

That’s it for today’s article, Gamers! I really hope that you enjoyed reading it. I apologize for the long gap between posts recently, had some personal stuff to deal with, but I plan on getting back on track soon.

If you enjoyed today’s article, be sure to share it with your friends and family, as well as following us on social media and Buy Me A Coffee. Your support means a lot to us and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Keep an eye out for the next article, coming soon. That’s all for now, later, Gamers!