It’s no secret that I love 3D platformers. Exploring a bunch of large open worlds to find wacky characters and a bunch of collectibles is such a simple concept, but when it’s done just right, it can be magical. The gaming industry has sorely lacked entries in the collect-a-thon genre since the days of Banjo Kazooie and Mario Sunshine, but this year a few games have been released in an attempt to revitalize this style of game. In April there was the mediocre Yooka-Laylee and more recently Nintendo went back to an older style with Super Mario Odyssey which I have yet to play, but between those there was a cute little indie game released called, A Hat In Time.

A Hat In Time is the first game to come from Gears for Breakfast, who successfully funded the game with the help of Kickstarter. The game stars Hat Kid, a cute little girl on her way home in her spaceship. On the way, she’s threatened by the Mafia, who damage her spaceship and send her magical hourglasses, used as fuel, all over the galaxy. Now Hat Kid must go planet to planet fighting bad guys to get her timepieces back and make her way home.

When hearing a plot summary like that, one of two possibilities comes to mind. Either it’s stupid and random like an early 2000s viral video or it’s like a Saturday morning cartoon. And in this game, it’s definitely the latter. Everything in this game has been lovingly crafted to make whoever plays it feel like a kit again. The silly dialogue, the crazy settings, and the optimistic atmosphere never let up. The best way to describe the presentation would be to say it assaults the senses with cuteness.

Hat Kid herself is a great mascot. She’s a typical silent protagonist in a lot of ways, but her facial expressions make her stand out as a real character. There’s even a dedicated button to blow a kiss. Can’t be beat. The other characters are great too. At worst, they’re serviceable enough to keep the story moving, but at their best they’ll have any player laughing out loud at the events unfolding on the screen. Even with the game being more story-driven than other games in the genre, every piece has been made with love and never gets in the way of gameplay.

The graphics are also reminiscent of an old-school platformer. They’re cartoony, unique, and well designed. Each world has been crafted really well, which is only made better by the multiple chapters in which the look or feel of the planets change. While there are occasional camera bugs or graphical glitches, they’re minor flaws in an otherwise excellent presentation.

Part of the reason for that would have to be the music. This is an incredible soundtrack always perfectly appropriate for the events taking place on-screen. The boss battles are intense, the calm moments encourage taking it easy, and the world themes all masterfully suit the environments they represent. Definitely a contender for best soundtrack of the year.

Then there’s the gameplay and it’s actually difficult to describe how good it is. Controls are tight and responsive, and the introduction of the dive jump for course correction is a genius addition to a platformer’s arsenal. When it comes down to it, Hat Kid’s move set is exactly like Mario’s, but with the dive jump thrown in for good measure. 

The goal of the game is to collect Hat Kid’s lost time pieces scattered throughout the 4 worlds. Each mission starts similar to on in Super Mario Sunshine, involving a zoom in on the goal and a unique world setup based on the act chosen. Some missions involve a boss fight, some require collecting items, and others involve performing miscellaneous tasks and playing mini games. With 40 pieces in this game and another 2 worlds to come later as free DLC, A Hat in Time is well worth the asking price.

Some of these levels called time rifts require Hat Kid to find a location on the map going by a picture given before entering the stage. While it would have been nice to be able to see the picture after entering the stage, when found they always lead to special platforming-heavy areas requiring the player to either go through a Mario Sunshine-style secret level or dive into the mind of an NPC and collect fragments of their memories.

Around the map Hat Kid will also find three other kinds of collectables. The first are little green balls that act as a currency to unlock new abilities and levels. Abilities can be purchased from this glitchy looking dude here and they range from the useful ability to prevent fall damage to the challenge-inducing one hit death badge. There’s even a badge that causes all characters to sound like rareware characters from the 90s. If only a certain OTHER game had thought to make that optional as well!

The second type of collectible is balls of yarn. Getting enough of these allows the player to stitch a brand new hat with new abilities. These can open up new areas in previously visited worlds or just make certain acts easier to complete. Each new ability is a welcome addition to the game and fits right in with the rest.

Lastly, there are the relics. Collecting certain relics and placing them on a pedestal unlocks additional time rifts. Relic tokens can also be found and three of these can be exchanged at the gumball machine to get a new bonus item. It could be a remixed track on a particular chapter or a new color palette for Hat Kid. Either way, they’re really cool to find and equip.

However, not all is bright and sunny in this game. While most of the controls are tight, landing on tightropes can be incredibly tricky and frustrating. It normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but there are a lot of sections of the game requiring very precise tightrope jumping that can get annoying pretty quickly. Though even with those parts, the game never really poses much of a challenge. Hopefully the free DLC has a bit more difficulty as the main game rarely felt like it wanted to test the player’s ability.

The lack of polish is surprising for a game delayed as much as this was, but certain bugs and glitches, the game crashing at one point, and the lack of basic functions such as rebindable keys, zoom support when using a controller, and a full list of controls in general definitely show that this is a company’s first outing in game development. 

Finally, it would have been nice to know just how many collectables are left to find in specific chapters and acts. I’d love to scour the levels to find everything the game has to offer, but the game has no checklist of any kind to show where to look. I’m all for searching through a level for everything, but not if it’s a blind hunt for fool’s gold.

Even after obtaining the map that shows where hidden collectables can be found in a level, it doesn’t tell you which acts the collectables can be found in nor does it show collectables within an area behind a loading screen.

Even with all these flaws, the game is an achievement. Fun to a fault and adorable to boot, A Hat In Time absolutely accomplishes its task of revitalizing the 3D platformer genre with tight gameplay, mindblowing boss fights, and a wholly unique and original personality which is why it gets a 9 out of 10. And despite how new it is, I’m also putting it on the Mighty Nifty Must Play Games List for no other reason than because anyone who doesn’t play this game is doing themself a disservice. I’m looking forward to the DLC packs and can’t wait to see what Gears for Breakfast does in the future. That being said I hope you enjoyed this review. If you did, be sure to like and subscribe to see more mighty reviews, dissections, and other gaming content. And as always, have a mighty nifty day today!