Introduction
Honestly I've never gravitated towards Kirby as a game franchise. The niche it occupies as a beginner's platformer series is important for the industry at large but that also tends to make the games really simplistic for anyone with experience in the genre. Most 100% runs that tend to be intended as a way to add challenge for more experienced players also tend to necessitate back tracking with specific powers to complete puzzles. This can get tedious quick as often your opportunities to pick up needed powers for a collectable are few and far between. As someone that has the fast paced and difficult Crash Bandicoot as one of his first exposures to video games this "easy unless you slow down" design always turned me off as a platformer design foundation. I'm happy to say that I think Kirby And The Forgotten Land has tweaked the formula just enough for the puffball to click with me without sacrificing the creative intent of a more casual platformer. In fact, Kirby's 3D Switch outing might dethrone Super Mario Galaxy for the best platformer made by a Nintendo developer.
Story
Kirby isn't know for having a complicated story given its targeted towards kids and this game is no different. Kirby and company end up in a weird alternate dimension where the waddle dees get kidnapped by a mysterious crew of animals. Its up to Kirby to save the day. Simple but it works as baseline motivation and context for the gameplay. I do like having the collectables being depicted as saving waddle dees as it gives you a much more personal motive to take down the "main villain" Leongard . I'm surprised more platformers don't go this route for justifying there collectibles. Outside of that loose narrative thread contextualizing the gameplay of the levels you mainly have quick boss introduction and defeat cutscenes as your main form of story progression. These have some decent cinematic flare to them (truck kirby vs the actual main villain is especially a great sendoff for the main story) and give you a nice bit of characterization for the wacky cast of characters (shout out to incel armadillo). These characters are further fleshed out with hub world dialogue as well as backstory tidbits from figurines that serve as a secondary collectables. As it turns out Kirby apparently has deep lore and some light social commentary on the destructive tendencies of industrialized society going on under the surface if your willing to do some research. It's cool to have that extra layer to things for those willing to explore a bit more.
Gameplay
Kirby is a series best know for two things: a floating based movement option and getting a variety of powers via consumption. The first of these has always been a bit of a sticking point with me in the 2D games. Again, I get why its there but in most cases I feel like it neuters what devs can do with level design. I honestly think this ability works way better here since the cool down effect from excessive floating largely prevents you from just gliding over everything and ignoring copy abilities outside of forced combat encounters. Combine that with the new mouthful items taking away the ability in exchange for different skills in certain instances and you have way more opportunities for interesting level design. There is a section where you dodge around meteors, an auto runner section with some light puzzle elements, and even a outrun style racing level. The amount of variety on display here is really incredible and speaks to how versatile Kirby is as a character. Combine that much more careful copy ability placement and a lot of issues I had were addressed pretty well. Its now a ton of fun to go hunting for the various collectable in each stage. The fact you also effectively have two copy abilities on hand most of the time due to mouth full mode also means you get some really creative puzzles that wouldn't have been possible in prior games. combine this with the money system feeding into power ups for you copy abilities and the backtracking isn't as big of a pill to swallow. This rambling is all to say Kirby And The Forgotten Land did a lot to remove some points of friction for me with this IP that allowed to sit down and fully get the most out of the rock solid conceptual bedrock that has been present since Kirby's Adventure on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Graphics
KIRBY AND HIS WORLD IS SOOO ADORABLE. YES I'M A GROWN ASS MAN BUT I'M NOT MADE OF FUCKING STONE.
Music
Some nice jazzy remixes of King Dedede's theme and Meta Knight's Revenge aside I kinda find quite a bit of the music here forgettable (including the opening and ending theme), It works for the atmosphere the game wants in each level but I couldn't hum anything from the game if you held a gun to my head. Controversial statement I realize.
Conclusion
If you have been reluctant to give this series a try due to its reputation as being a bit too easy for older players I highly recommend giving this a shot. There's currently a free demo on the Nintendo E-Shop at the time of writing. If you are on the fence I recommend giving that a shot as it gives you a good vertical slice of what the game is like.
Honestly I've never gravitated towards Kirby as a game franchise. The niche it occupies as a beginner's platformer series is important for the industry at large but that also tends to make the games really simplistic for anyone with experience in the genre. Most 100% runs that tend to be intended as a way to add challenge for more experienced players also tend to necessitate back tracking with specific powers to complete puzzles. This can get tedious quick as often your opportunities to pick up needed powers for a collectable are few and far between. As someone that has the fast paced and difficult Crash Bandicoot as one of his first exposures to video games this "easy unless you slow down" design always turned me off as a platformer design foundation. I'm happy to say that I think Kirby And The Forgotten Land has tweaked the formula just enough for the puffball to click with me without sacrificing the creative intent of a more casual platformer. In fact, Kirby's 3D Switch outing might dethrone Super Mario Galaxy for the best platformer made by a Nintendo developer.
Story
Kirby isn't know for having a complicated story given its targeted towards kids and this game is no different. Kirby and company end up in a weird alternate dimension where the waddle dees get kidnapped by a mysterious crew of animals. Its up to Kirby to save the day. Simple but it works as baseline motivation and context for the gameplay. I do like having the collectables being depicted as saving waddle dees as it gives you a much more personal motive to take down the "main villain" Leongard . I'm surprised more platformers don't go this route for justifying there collectibles. Outside of that loose narrative thread contextualizing the gameplay of the levels you mainly have quick boss introduction and defeat cutscenes as your main form of story progression. These have some decent cinematic flare to them (truck kirby vs the actual main villain is especially a great sendoff for the main story) and give you a nice bit of characterization for the wacky cast of characters (shout out to incel armadillo). These characters are further fleshed out with hub world dialogue as well as backstory tidbits from figurines that serve as a secondary collectables. As it turns out Kirby apparently has deep lore and some light social commentary on the destructive tendencies of industrialized society going on under the surface if your willing to do some research. It's cool to have that extra layer to things for those willing to explore a bit more.
Gameplay
Kirby is a series best know for two things: a floating based movement option and getting a variety of powers via consumption. The first of these has always been a bit of a sticking point with me in the 2D games. Again, I get why its there but in most cases I feel like it neuters what devs can do with level design. I honestly think this ability works way better here since the cool down effect from excessive floating largely prevents you from just gliding over everything and ignoring copy abilities outside of forced combat encounters. Combine that with the new mouthful items taking away the ability in exchange for different skills in certain instances and you have way more opportunities for interesting level design. There is a section where you dodge around meteors, an auto runner section with some light puzzle elements, and even a outrun style racing level. The amount of variety on display here is really incredible and speaks to how versatile Kirby is as a character. Combine that much more careful copy ability placement and a lot of issues I had were addressed pretty well. Its now a ton of fun to go hunting for the various collectable in each stage. The fact you also effectively have two copy abilities on hand most of the time due to mouth full mode also means you get some really creative puzzles that wouldn't have been possible in prior games. combine this with the money system feeding into power ups for you copy abilities and the backtracking isn't as big of a pill to swallow. This rambling is all to say Kirby And The Forgotten Land did a lot to remove some points of friction for me with this IP that allowed to sit down and fully get the most out of the rock solid conceptual bedrock that has been present since Kirby's Adventure on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Graphics
KIRBY AND HIS WORLD IS SOOO ADORABLE. YES I'M A GROWN ASS MAN BUT I'M NOT MADE OF FUCKING STONE.
Music
Some nice jazzy remixes of King Dedede's theme and Meta Knight's Revenge aside I kinda find quite a bit of the music here forgettable (including the opening and ending theme), It works for the atmosphere the game wants in each level but I couldn't hum anything from the game if you held a gun to my head. Controversial statement I realize.
Conclusion
If you have been reluctant to give this series a try due to its reputation as being a bit too easy for older players I highly recommend giving this a shot. There's currently a free demo on the Nintendo E-Shop at the time of writing. If you are on the fence I recommend giving that a shot as it gives you a good vertical slice of what the game is like.