A hat in time reminded me of psychonauts mixed with super Mario odyssey. It will be hard not to compare A hat in time to these games. Overall it was an enjoyable platformer, which had neat ideas and very interesting level design. It throws you in the middle of gigantic levels, that are altered in interesting ways each time you visit them. I felt the game did not really make use of all the hats and its powers except to gate you from entering levels/rooms. It is definitely worth playing, for anyone that enjoys platformers, but I was not blown away, lets dive in.
🎮 Platform: Switch OLED
⌚ Time to finish - 14h
🏆Trophy completion - 100% - I would recommend going to for 100%. Majority of the 100% is about collecting all the time pieces and hats. The time pieces are gotten from completing extra levels and i enjoyed some of these levels even more than the main game levels! It reminded me of super Mario Odyssey levels. The game is not overly difficult so 100% never once felt like a chore. For non switch there are other achievements not covered in switch. We have no access to those. Too bad. I wouldn’t have minded in game achievements tracker as a replacement. Also nothing is missable.
🤬Difficulty - easy. There was never anything in this game that gave me trouble, apart from not knowing where to go sometimes. The final boss was definitely a step up in difficulty but its totally doable.
🌄Graphics – On switch the graphics were fine. Nothing that blew me away like first party Nintendo games. Its also clear that because this game is cross platform its not fully optimized for Switch like SM:O was. The draw distance seems too close and the distance blur effect seems too close to my liking. However it never affected the gameplay. I can only imagine on a more powerful machine the amount of draw distance and detail these level designs allow for.
🌦 Atmosphere/Music – Super fun score. I enjoyed it! All the levels are very different and designed creatively.
📚 Main Story / Characters – Story is not the strong point, its just an excuse to collect time pieces. There are some funny and silly characters you meet like in Psychonauts. Mustache girl, mob boss, and others are memorable and silly.
🤺 Combat – Simple. A few punches dashes etc. The boss battles were not hard and all brought in unique mechanics I hadn't seen before. Fighting them was definitely a highlight.
🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – Totally worth exploring and doing the side activities. It is easy to get lost given the size of the levels. When I first launched the game I got lost in the first level because I was expecting a Mario style game. But i went to the wrong part of the map and eventually realized I wasn't suppose to be there. This can happen many many times to you. I wish there was a map and key destination points like in SM:O.
Though the game is called A Hat in Time. I rarely used any of the hats except for when the game gated a level until you got the hat. I thought it was a missed opportunity. Again comparing to SM:O where the hats are integral, or in Kirby you use these abilities to complete challenges, I felt the hats in a hat in time were just a gimmick. too bad.
🚗 Movement/Physics – The game does a great job of allowing you to traverse the level however you want. Its really impressive. You can get from point A to B in whatever set of moves you want. It feels fluid. I will say I missed a varied set of moves like Mario has. I was always using some combo of jump + dash to get around. It kinda got boring to keep repeating this. However, I still recommend everyone experience this for themselves. Its really cool!
📣 Voice acting – Great voice acting.
🥇 Best thing about the game - The level design and traversal was really amazing to see. Every time you revisit a level it changes. Its pretty interesting that an entire level is at your disposal for you to tackle how you see fit. The boss fights were fun.
👎 Worst thing about the game - There is nothing really bad about the game apart from frustration in getting lost in some levels.
[ if you liked the review throw me a like! ❤️ ]
🎮 Platform: Switch OLED
⌚ Time to finish - 14h
🏆Trophy completion - 100% - I would recommend going to for 100%. Majority of the 100% is about collecting all the time pieces and hats. The time pieces are gotten from completing extra levels and i enjoyed some of these levels even more than the main game levels! It reminded me of super Mario Odyssey levels. The game is not overly difficult so 100% never once felt like a chore. For non switch there are other achievements not covered in switch. We have no access to those. Too bad. I wouldn’t have minded in game achievements tracker as a replacement. Also nothing is missable.
🤬Difficulty - easy. There was never anything in this game that gave me trouble, apart from not knowing where to go sometimes. The final boss was definitely a step up in difficulty but its totally doable.
🌄Graphics – On switch the graphics were fine. Nothing that blew me away like first party Nintendo games. Its also clear that because this game is cross platform its not fully optimized for Switch like SM:O was. The draw distance seems too close and the distance blur effect seems too close to my liking. However it never affected the gameplay. I can only imagine on a more powerful machine the amount of draw distance and detail these level designs allow for.
🌦 Atmosphere/Music – Super fun score. I enjoyed it! All the levels are very different and designed creatively.
📚 Main Story / Characters – Story is not the strong point, its just an excuse to collect time pieces. There are some funny and silly characters you meet like in Psychonauts. Mustache girl, mob boss, and others are memorable and silly.
🤺 Combat – Simple. A few punches dashes etc. The boss battles were not hard and all brought in unique mechanics I hadn't seen before. Fighting them was definitely a highlight.
🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – Totally worth exploring and doing the side activities. It is easy to get lost given the size of the levels. When I first launched the game I got lost in the first level because I was expecting a Mario style game. But i went to the wrong part of the map and eventually realized I wasn't suppose to be there. This can happen many many times to you. I wish there was a map and key destination points like in SM:O.
Though the game is called A Hat in Time. I rarely used any of the hats except for when the game gated a level until you got the hat. I thought it was a missed opportunity. Again comparing to SM:O where the hats are integral, or in Kirby you use these abilities to complete challenges, I felt the hats in a hat in time were just a gimmick. too bad.
🚗 Movement/Physics – The game does a great job of allowing you to traverse the level however you want. Its really impressive. You can get from point A to B in whatever set of moves you want. It feels fluid. I will say I missed a varied set of moves like Mario has. I was always using some combo of jump + dash to get around. It kinda got boring to keep repeating this. However, I still recommend everyone experience this for themselves. Its really cool!
📣 Voice acting – Great voice acting.
🥇 Best thing about the game - The level design and traversal was really amazing to see. Every time you revisit a level it changes. Its pretty interesting that an entire level is at your disposal for you to tackle how you see fit. The boss fights were fun.
👎 Worst thing about the game - There is nothing really bad about the game apart from frustration in getting lost in some levels.
[ if you liked the review throw me a like! ❤️ ]