Kirby and The Forgotten Land Hands On Demo Impressions

Initial release date: March 25, 2022

Developer: HAL Laboratory

Modes: Multiplayer Video Game, Single-player Video Game

Composers: Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa, Yuuta Ogasawara, Yuki Shimooka

Genres: Platform Game, Adventure Game, Shooter Game, Fighting Game

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Publishers: Nintendo, Nintendo of America Inc

As I continue my Nintendo content spree I decided to play the demo for Kirby and The Forgotten Land to write some thoughts about it. I mean, this is what a videogame blog is all about right? Writing your thoughts down etc. I must confess that I haven’t played a Kirby game since the original Gameboy. In other words, I don’t remember much of anything about Kirby other than the guy being a pink puffball that can suck up anything and everything up. Kirby and The Forgotten Land was released just a few months ago making it a new game at this point pretty much. So I gave in and gave it test run.

There is something simple yet artistically addicting about the gameplay in Kirby and The Forgotten Land. After the introduction vortex cutscene that sucks Kirby into an alternate reality I grasped the controls fairly quickly. Early impressions were this game is simple fun. Jumping, sucking and throwing objects came naturally. I told myself within the first five minutes of playing the Point of Arrival level I said outloud “this is fun”.

As a kid during the 80’s I played these types of games all the damn time. It just speaks how certain gameplay elements NEVER get old in gaming. Kirby is simple. You jump, float, attack and platform. Platforming is fun as was when Kirby acquires enemy’s abilities via combat. I couldn’t get enough of the latter during the demo.

Focusing on the visuals/graphics I was surprise at how good this game looks on the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo knows art goes a long way with their first party games and Kirby and the Forgotten Land shows that. The colors, texture work just popped. You get that pleasant fun childhood vibe when looking at the screen while playing. Sound and music was upbeat but honestly didn’t stand out to me. Sound effects pretty much all seemed like I was transported back to 1989 or something.

Kirby and The Forgotten Land snuck by me honestly. I mean can you blame me I was playing Elden Ring when this game released. Anyways, here’s the deal. This game is fun. I’m not a Kirby fan by a long shot but can see myself playing this. If you’re a Kirby fan I am sure you already beaten this game by now. If you’re like me and barely spend time with your Nintendo Switch you should take a serious look at Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Thank you for reading – Jason