I'm always trying to catch up on my endless backlog.
It's really a first world problem when you have more games than you'll ever have the
time to finish them.
I mean I've just only recently finished the thirty to fourth hour long Horizon Zero
Dawn.
So anyway, I've dabbled with some of the indie games released in 2017 like Hollow Knight
and Cuphead, but I haven't finished either of those yet.
They failed to really grab my attention past the first few hours.
Where those games failed, A Hat in Time succeeds.
It's a real breath of fresh air from what I've been covering so far.
At first I thought I was just burnt out.
But then, I played A Hat in Time and it reminded me the simple joys of gaming.
A Hat in Time stars a young girl called Hat Kid.
On her way home, a member of the Mafia causes her to lose all of her time pieces.
She has to get them back in order to return home.
This is because they act as the fuel source to her spaceship.
I was surprised with just how fun Hat Kid was as a protagonist.
She's a nice mix of cute and charming.
I had a lot of fun seeing her interact with the various non-playable characters.
Sure, there weren't that many moments where she actively changed the direction of the
story, but when she did, it was a real treat.
The game really hones in on the smaller details.
For example, there's a secret diary that holds Hat Kid's thoughts on every level
she progresses through.
I enjoyed reading the diary as I got to see her perspective on the events that took place.
It's a minor to the game that added a lot to the experience as well as an extra dimension
to the silent protagonist formula.
My experience with A Hat in Time was made even better with the game's many creative
levels.
A Hat in Time is a master at keeping things fresh.
The game's scenarios place Hat Kid in many neat situations.
Unfortunately, the scenarios peak a little too early.
Where Chapter 2 and 3 are the highlights, I still had fun in the other, less story heavy
chapters.
This was because of the superb movement mechanics, solid level design, and the abundance of variety.
Every chapter feels unique and I like how the developers kept the game short and sweet.
It's a rare trait to have in today's time sink economy where people value time spent
over the actual quality of a game.
We have these insanely long games that drag on for way more than they're actually worth
rather than focusing on tightly crafted experiences like Portal or the original Hotline Miami.
It just doesn't make any sense to me.
I like my Witchers and Personas, but now that every major triple A game is riding on the
open world train, it's way too much for me to handle.
Personally, it's always been quality over quantity and A Hat in Time manages to make
a huge impact, while not overstaying its welcome.
The game calls back to a bygone era of mascot platformers, while applying its own twists
to the formula.
Hat Kid has access to an assortment of different hats that provide her with a small pool of
abilities.
These include honing in on the current objective, throwing projectiles, and even transforming
into a statue made of ice.
She also has a set of badges that range from allowing her to use a hookshot to reducing
her health to a single point.
In a way, the hat system reminded me of Psychonaut's psychic power system.
Hats are often used in specific situations to progress through the levels or to reach
secret areas.
To obtain new hats, the player must craft them with the yarn they collect while traveling
through levels.
It's one of the ways the game incentivizes exploration.
A Hat in Time also does this through the pons, which act as the game's currency.
They're these green collectibles that can be traded in for new badges from the badge
salesman.
I love the way he twitches.
The developers also made good use of pons as a way to lead players through parts of
the levels.
There's a lot of choice in the game due to both the badge system and the hat system.
I wasn't really fond of the badge system though as some badges were way more useful
than others.
Hat Kid can only equip a maximum of three badges at once.
In order to maintain the flow, it was ideal to keep the hookshot badge over stuff like
the item magnet or the relic radar.
I'd rather have a badge point system like in Paper Mario as there's a genuine lack
of balance between these badges.
Despite my nitpicky gripes, the systems work in the game's favor as I was always eager
to unlock new hats and badges.
Hat Kid plays like a combination of a lot of different characters from 3D platforming
games.
She has a dive and a wall jump like Mario, a homing attack like Sonic, and a double jump
like Raz.
It might sound like just a hodgepodge of mechanics, but it flows surprisingly well.
The developers took these mechanics from other games and used them with their own unique
style.
My favorite movement feature is the additional boost of speed that Hat Kid gets when the
player jumps during a dive at just the right moment.
It blends skill with flow in a rewarding and enjoyable manner.
She can also dive in the air providing additional freedom when compared to the platforming protagonists
of yesteryear.
On the ground, Hat Kid can run when wearing a sprint hat, but I found very little use
of it.
The dive move overshadowed the sprint for me since it didn't force me to wear a specific
hat, it felt more engaging to execute, and when Hat Kid sprints, she loses the ability
to double jump.
A great, yet often overlooked feature is that Hat Kid runs up walls that she jumps towards.
She has the ability to jump over the wall if she reaches the peak.
Often times in platformers, there are those moments where you almost make a jump and miss
by a tiny bit.
In particular, this is more often the case in 3D platformers because of the camera restrictions.
Other games have tried to remedy this like Spyro 2 with the flutter or Super Mario Galaxy
with the star spin.
However, those moves totally kill any momentum that the player had built up.
In A Hat in Time, wall running maintains a sense of movement, while solving this 3D platformer
dilemma.
Combat in A Hat in Time works well with the package as a whole.
Though it's a bit shallow, beating up enemies primarily acts as a means to an end.
The game's approach to combat is very simple as it often was for games like Super Mario
64 and Psychonauts.
The important part is that combat doesn't really slow down the flow of the platforming
like it did in Sonic '06 where Shadow lost all momentum after using his homing attack.
Admittedly, Sonic '06 had way more to worry about than just platforming flow.
Hat Kid can damage enemies in all sorts of ways, though my preferred method was with
her Brewing Hat projectiles.
I also like how the homing attack wasn't as overpowered as it is in Sonic's case.
However, it did feel a bit sluggish and the animation wasn't particularly polished.
For close-quarters ground attacks, Hat Kid can swing her umbrella around like a sword.
It functions well and manages to maintain a decent pace.
Overall, combat serves its purpose well for what it is and doesn't halt movement flow
by much.
The game's boss fights do an excellent job as a sort of test throughout the chapters.
Each area has their own unique mechanics, and I like how the developers incorporated
those mechanics into some of the bosses.
It's a neat detail that managed to impress me.
In particular, it stuck out the most to me in the second chapter.
As a whole, the bosses are an excellent addition to the game.
They provide a high degree of challenge in an otherwise fairly easy adventure.
I was surprised how challenging some bosses were, but it never got overly frustrating.
When factoring in how charming and quirky some of them are, you get an almost unforgettable
experience.
A Hat in Time's presentation is all-around excellent.
Sure, it doesn't blow my socks off as the graphics feel somewhat dated, but it just
works.
The vibrant Wind Waker inspired aesthetics make up for the lack of graphical prowess.
From level to level, it was a joy to look at.
The visuals impressed me with their designs rather than their technical capabilities.
Admittedly, I do value aesthetics over graphics as good aesthetics age far better than good
graphics.
They also take more artistry than simply relying on hardware specs.
The music was fantastic.
I really didn't expect the sheer variety of the game's soundtrack.
For a game filled with so many scenarios, the soundtrack really succeeds in capturing
a dynamic and diverse set of moods and genres.
The music fits with the game so well that it's outright commendable.
However, the voice acting was a bit uneven, but pretty solid overall.
The highlight was easily the Snatcher, though the whole cast was fun to listen to.
The few bits of voice acting that Hat Kid has are subtle, yet very charming.
Unlike Hat Kid, I did find the Conductor to be way too loud at times.
Sure, it worked for the character, but it got on my nerves a couple of times.
Looking at it from the big picture, the presentation really managed to resonate with me.
A Hat in Time takes inspiration from many well-loved games and successfully crafts an
inventive experience.
Unfortunately, it doesn't maintain a consistent level of quality.
I had a blast with the first three chapters and then it suddenly fell into a low point
at the fourth.
It's not an awful chapter, but it lacks the tightly crafted interactions and interesting
characters that the previous chapters had in spades.
This fourth chapter definitely tries something new, but I feel like it could've done that,
while having an enjoyable cast of characters.
The fifth and final chapter is just a single level that brings back a lot of what made
the first three chapters so great, but it's just not as good.
Regardless, the epilogue makes up for that in a strangely endearing way.
The fourth chapter feels woefully unfinished, but it makes sense because it's a Kickstarter
game.
The main highlight for me was Hat Kid and her interactions with the cast.
It was delightful seeing how some of the scenarios played out.
I feel that the gameplay set a new standard for the platforming genre in terms of the
flow in movement.
The presentation synergized superbly with the game's intriguing scenarios.
As a sum of its parts, A Hat in Time is a fantastic experience despite how frontloaded
it turned out to be.
I wholeheartedly recommend the game to anyone interested in a tightly crafted, charming,
and creative 3D platforming adventure.
Thanks for watching the review.
If you enjoyed it, feel free to like the video and consider subscribing to my channel.
If you want more, here are some of my other videos.
Anyway, I'll see you all next time when I review some obscure game you've probably
never heard about.
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