Hat in Time

Release: 2017
Platform: PC
Developer: Gears for Breakfast
Genre: 3D, Collect-a-thon, Platformer
Gameplay Stats: 12 hours, 28/28 Steam Achievements, Penguins ftw

I've got another disclaimer for the start of this one! Why yes, this is another game that I backed on Kickstarter. Good call knowing the literal only reason I've used a disclaimer on these silly review posts! Shall we?

Visuals: This game is not visually stunning by any means. It picked a fairly cute, simple, cell-shaded aesthetic like Windwaker and it follows that style pretty faithfully. The graphics are very functional and cute, no complaints on that front. the characters that you encounter in each region are pretty unique and fit into their respective environs quite well. The bosses are all unique, and are designed and animated well. There wasn't that much variation in enemy design, but to be honest there aren't that many enemies in the game. Maybe I just got sick of seeing the little shadow birds.

Audio: The sounds in this game are cute! The sound effects really stand out here as being appropriate and on point. The music is really great as well. I will definitely revisit certain tracks of the soundtrack beyond just now when I'm writing the review. The world tracks fit each area and capture the respective emotions present. There is a bit of voice acting in the game and what's there is good. occasionally you run across a character that isn't voiced and it kind of sticks out however. I think it was Jon Tron that voiced The Snatcher and he did an excellent job. That voice was spot on and conveyed a lot of emotion. Hope this guy gets more work as a voice actor!

Story: All of your time pieces got knocked out of your ship and you need them to get home! The story really doesn't matter here. There are smaller stories within each world that are way more interesting than the overarching one. There is a small bit of betrayal from a character that you meet at the beginning of the game, but it's not surprising. This game is about exploring and it knows it. Hat in Time doesn't come at you with long cutscenes or anything like that, just enough to give you an objective for the level. Think Super Mario Sunshine levels of story.

Gameplay: Oh my god this game handles like butter! Jumping around and diving arguably feels better here than in Mario games. It's actually incredible to me that the designers put so much love and attention into the game feel in their debut game. I'm certainly very impressed. I never ran into issues trying to get Hat Kid to do what I liked and after watching a speedrun, it looks like the skill ceiling is pretty high up compared with my level of play. I think they could have handled the hat unlocks a bit differently, but that's just quibbling. The value of exploring here is rewarded almost all of the time and the rewards are where they should be in the levels to encourage players to explore.

Overall: I really enjoyed this game! I think one of my only complaints is that there isn't that much here. I know that they are intending to add a couple more worlds with more to collect and do, but the game in and of itself isn't that meaty. There is workshop support, so maybe the community  has added some levels to help extend the length of this game, but as it is I think it might be priced a little high. If you wanted to grab this on sale, I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone that enjoys the genre. [9/10]