Veredito: Mais um coletaton delícia.

A Hat in Time é mais um daqueles jogos super maneiros que não são MEU DEUS DO CÉU QUE PUTA OBRA FODONA, VENHA COMER MEU CU mas tudo bem, não precisa ser. Ele é só um jogo bastante delicinha e feito com muito carinho. E isso basta.

É bem óbvia a inspiração nos coletatons do N64, Cube, PS1 e PS2: um plataforma de explorar a fase e caçar colecionáveis. Os mundos são coloridos, a exploração é recompensadora, as habilidades fluem bem e são bem utilizadas nas fases e nas missões (muito gostoso correr na parede e mergulhar no meio do pulo), e os personagens são bastante caricatos, hilários e expressivos. Não é perfeito, mas de novo: tudo bem, não precisa ser.

Já vi gente reclamando da curta duração. Pra mim ele tem o tempo exato que é pra ter: o tempo de explorar todas as mecânicas e ser gostoso do começo ao fim. Ele poderia ser maior? Poderia. Mas se for pra esticar artificialmente um jogo, com gordura mal feita só pra dizer que é longo... Deixa o jogo ser curto mesmo. Fica mais rejogável assim.

Aliás, parabéns pra Gears for Breakfast pelo EXCELENTE suporte a mods. Nada de ficar instalando eles no braço lá da oficina da Steam, ou pior: baixando de um Nexus da vida e procurando online guias complicados de instalação. Você entra na sala do hub dedicada a isso, fala com o personagem de lá e pronto: é só escolher o mod que você quer jogar.

Dito e feito: depois de zerar, perdi várias horas me divertindo com o que a comunidade já criou. Joguei dois time rifts, uma fase super caprichadíssima baseada em Celeste, e um projeto ambicioso que por enquanto só tem a 1ª fase com uma área secreta. E isso não foi praticamente nada, é só a ponta do iceberg, se eu quisesse tava jogando mod até agora e ainda por muitos dias a fio.

E pessoal ainda vem reclamar que o jogo devia ter mais conteúdo?

É definitivamente um dos jogos mais fofos que eu já tive a oportunidade de jogar.

Por mais que grande parte da sua base tenha sido inspirada em jogos como Super Mario 64 ou até mesmo Psychonauts, o jogo transmite uma personalidade única muito bonita de se acompanhar e experienciar.

Alinhado a uma trilha sonora maravilhosa, fases e chefes extremamente divertidos de se jogar e diálogos muito bem escritos, com uma dose certa de humor, emoção e até mesmo mensagens importantes sobre autoestima e autoafirmação, A Hat In Time é um jogo para todas as pessoas, de todas as idades.

simplesmente o jogo mais fofo e de boa que já joguei

eu amo o jeito que esse jogo funciona, desde a primeira vez que eu joguei eu já sabia que ele seria especial

eu gosto de cada fase desse jogo e gosto das musicas delas

eu gosto dos chapéus que são cheios de personalidade e gosto do uso que eles tem

quem fala mal desse jogo não tem caráter, simplesmente perfeito, 10/10

A Hat in time is a good time
Often considered one of the best indies, the hype for this title is more than justified. It's an amazing 3D platformer, incredibly polished and able to offer a really nice experience from start to finish.

Hat Kid is one of the best controlling platforming heroes: the ability to keep going, jumping dashing around and maintaining a constant bubbly momentum makes the simple ability to run around so fluind and fun that it alone will sell you on the game.

But a Hat in Time doesn't stop there: the game presents such creative maps, so charming, wide and full of secrets that are able to compete with the Kingdoms of Mario Odyssey in terms of creativity and replayability. There is not a huge amount of world to explore, but what is there it's totally worth the hype: all immensely creative and able to always offer new gimmicks and challenges, that go toe to toe with the really funny and adorable tone of the game (except for a certain manor that.... if you know you know).

Not my favorite indie game or my favorite 3D platformer, but for sure a title that will stand the test of time both on the pantheon of indie titles, and in the great general gaming catalogue.

as a child, 3d platformers comprised some of my most formative gaming experiences. their sprawling worlds, eccentric characters, and seemingly endless secrets were a refuge for a quiet, geeky kid like myself. now an adult loser, i was excited to play a game that attempts to recapture both the style and substance of these iconic games of my youth, but unfortunately a hat in time misses the mark on both fronts for me.

mechanically, i actually really like how it feels controlling hat kid. in particular, the 4-part jump, double jump, dash, dash cancel allows for a lot of variety while traversing and leads to some pretty exhilarating "oh shit oh shit am i going to make it" leap-of-faith style gambits. where ahit stumbles is how this toolkit interacts with the world around it. the game is plagued with odd nooks and crannies that cause the camera to get stuck at frustrating angles, geometry that arbitrarily doesn't obey the same rules as the things around it, invisible walls for any player who dares to try and open her up a bit (often requiring a reset to get unstuck), and a generally muddled sense of conveyance (find me a mario game where there are some lanterns that you can grapple and some that you can't and also they look the same). all the sharp edges sanded off by overworked japanese programmers who now have very wrought relationships with their adult children in the 3d platformers of yore are still present here and they're poking me in the eye.

the titular hat mechanic is also a bit of a letdown. none of the hats alter gameplay in as exciting a way as a mumbo transformation or a cappy capture and most boil down to a bad metroidvania's "now i can open the doors that are green". i spent the vast majority of the game with the hat that makes you move fast equipped, only switching when i came across an obstacle that required another specific hat.

(also, the title "a hat in time". it has always sounded to me like this is supposed to be a pun or something, but thinking about it now what is it a pun of? a stitch in time? a wrinkle in time? i don't get it. [docking one full star for this point])

ahit attempts to recreate the overall vibe of older 3d platformers to similarly mixed effect. the developers clearly wanted to conjure the same feeling these games gave when entering a new location or meeting a new character, but in an effort to plant their flag in entirely virgin ground have resorted to making EVERYTHING really weird. but when everything is weird, nothing is weird. the reason things like il piantissimo or cloud cuckooland stick out in my mind is because they "broke the rules" of an otherwise grounded game. ahit's world of beachside greco-russo-italian gangsters and funky penguin dj movie directors, while certainly unique, feels like a bit of a mishmash absent any more familiar landmarks of the genre (jungle level).

the game feels simultaneously too big for what the developers could handle polishing to a mirror sheen (oh you're telling me the project unexpectedly made 10x what it was asking for in its kickstarter campaign wow i didn't know that i just- you're telling me now for the first time) and too small to really evoke the same feelings as the games it attempts to mimic (only 4 real-ass full-ass levels and 40 of the main collectible [not to mention one sub collectible that becomes pointless after you collect slightly over half of them and another that unlocks purely cosmetic items and whose collection progress isn't even tracked anywhere in the UI???? {i know things with collectibles got a little out of hand towards the end of the 3d platformer's heyday, but undeniably part of the draw of these games has always been collecting a bunch of fucking schtuff. give me, like, at least 100 stuff to collect, please}])

this game makes an interesting companion to yooka-laylee. both released around the same time, had wildly successful kickstarter campaigns, and attempted to resurrect the glory days of games where one of the characters in the 6th level was a chair that had a face and was named like "chairbo" or something. they are also both not very good, but the sliders for why that is are in totally different places for each game.

Ultimately, though I wouldn't use one of A Hat in Time's shiny Time Pieces to roll back the over 10 hours I spent completing it, I find myself wondering wistfully what might have been done differently to achieve a truly tidafjkl;sdfna;sdf whatever

Fiquei maravilhado como uma criança fantasiosa ao mergulhar nesse collectathon de primeira categoria e explorar seus mundos criativos.

Eu tenho uma pequena resistência a jogar jogos antigos do gênero. Quando criança eu amava muitos, mas hoje em dia me dá um pouco de preguiça pensar em ficar voltando pro mesmo hub pra voltar pras mesmas fases com objetivos não muito diferentes. A Hat in Time não me deu essa sensação nenhuma vez, e talvez tenha se tornado o meu favorito do gênero.

A coisa principal que eu quero destacar aqui são seus mundos: são 5 + 2 de DLC.
Ao invés de se apoiar na clássica base de apenas mudar de bioma e tacar algo relacionado a mecânica em cima, esse jogo esbanja criatividade e cria fases únicas que eu nunca teria imaginado. Uma ilha vulcânica dominada por homens da máfia caricatos, um estúdio de cinema dividido entre um filme dançante e um de assassinato no trem, uma floresta assombrada por um demônio engraçado, um hub world enorme com diversas montanhas exploráveis em qualquer ordem, um cruzeiro de focas e uma cidade noturna futurista comandada por uma Yakuza felina. Onde já se viu isso?
Lembro de ter ficado impressionado com Mario Odyssey ao perceber que eles estavam se desprendendo de temas clássicos e sendo mais criativos, mas com A Hat in Time eu era surpreendido a todo momento pelos mundos e personagens ultra carismáticos e muito bem dublados em cada um deles, e como a presença deles fazia com que cada um fosse diferente na gameplay, sendo um misto de Mario 64 e Psychonauts 2.

Os controles são muito precisos, e é divertido superar os desafios extras que lembram muito Mario Sunshine, e os que nos recompensam com histórias idênticas aos cofres do Psychonauts. Mesmo assim, acho que ela tem una problemas e poderia ser melhor.
A Garota se prende muito em paredes esperando o comando de wall jump, mesmo quando não estamos apertando pra ir naquela direção, e o wall jump em si é meio fraco. Isso atrapalha em muitos momentos, combinado com a péssima câmera que se aproxima facilmente ao colidir com objetos, mas demora um século pra se afastar, fazendo com que muitas vezes seja difícil enxergar os seus arredores.

Ao meu ver, o verdadeiro maior problema do jogo está em seu nome.

Os chapéus são desbloqueáveis através de colecionáveis que achamos, e cada um deles tem um poder específico que só pode ser usado em lugares específicos, e fora eles, não tem uso.
Alguns, como o chapéu de corrida, parecem que deveriam ser habilidades desbloqueadas para sempre e fazerem parte do personagem, mas estão ali pra ter mais deles. O de gelo também, que tem usos ultra pontuais, e poderiam ser facilmente atribuídos a botões. O fato da roda de seleção de chapéus ser meio travada agrava o problema. As Badges, habilidades adicionais que podemos equipar até 3, passam pelo mesmo problema. O jogo é recheado de pontos para grudar nosso gancho e nos balançarmos. Todas as fases tem isso. Mesmo assim, o desbloqueio dele não é feito como uma habilidade que fica na personagem a todo momento, mas algo opcional. Mas não é nem um pouco opcional, já que você vai sempre ter que ocupar um dos espaços de badge pra usar em tudo quanto é lugar.
Não sei se me expressei bem, mas o que eu tô querendo dizer é que vários chapéus e habilidades poderiam ser desbloqueadas como evoluções da personagem, e não equipáveis que vamos equipar o tempo inteiro.

Os chapéus não são um destaque do jogo, mas a temática de tempo mal tá presente.
As "estrelas" do jogo são as ampulhetas, que serviam de combustível pra nave da garota, que as recolhe pra poder continuar sua viagem. É estabelecido no final do primeiro mundo que elas tem o poder da viagem no tempo, mas fica por aí. Os mundos e a história não são sobre isso, e a única vez que os artefatos são utilizados é no último mundo, que infelizmente surpreende negativamente por ser um castelo de lava genérico, e o que acontece poderia ter sido feito de muitas outras maneiras. As ampulhetas poderiam ser substituídas por qualquer outra coisa que não faria diferença, e juntando isso com a falta de um uso realmente interessante dos chapéus, fico pensando o porquê escolheram esse título se não seguiriam a temática.

Esses problemas não são nada comparado a como essa é uma experiência maravilhosa, muito bem pensada e criativa. O mundo do estúdio ficará pra sempre marcado, e a personalidade da história e todos os envolvidos é adorável. Existe uma comunidade de mods enorme que mostram como esse jogo tem potencial pra todo tipo de coisa, e eles são facilmente acessíveis e incentivados pelo jogo. Coletei todas as ampulhetas, que infelizmente te jogam pra fora da fase, e completei todos os desafios com muito prazer, o que é raro pra mim.

Esse estúdio independente põe a indústria AAA no chinelo, mostrando que as possibilidades de inovação temática ainda estão muito longe de acabar. Há alguns defeitos e uma certa confusão na realização das ideias centrais apresentadas no título, mas esperarei ansiosamente pra uma sequência desse jogo maravilhoso!


Obrigado por me emprestar mais uma vez, Jojo ;)

I have exactly one criticism for this game, and it's quite the nitpick: A Hat in Time feels a little too cynical for the genre style it's going for. It's not much, and it's really only in a handful of places - for example, that throwaway line about Hat Kid's soul feeling "the normal amount of empty". It's a really funny line! But it does take me out of things just a little bit.

Everything else, though? Some of the most fun I've had in what's easily my most comfortable type of video game. 3D platformers are comfort food for me, so I was quite excited when this game's Kickstarter was announced. A modern 3D platformer, deliberately evocative of GameCube titles I'd grown up on like Super Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker? I didn't kick in, since admittedly there have been very few games I've backed on Kickstarter, but I was very excited to follow the game's progress.

Then it came out, and it was even better than I could have imagined.

There's an immediate joy to this game. Hat Kid has to be one of the most likable protagonists - cute and fun-loving, but impulsive, rude, and little concerned with the troubles she finds herself drawn into. There are all these hints at the world being fairly dark, what with those character vaults hinting at all the major players' tragic backstories, but this almost never intersects with the actual narrative of the adventure. Hat Kid almost feels like Kirby in this regard: an adorable hero in a sweet world with dark overtones. Only Kirby himself is not wired to interface with tragedy, just friends and foes, while Hat Kid is kinda annoyed by everyone (besides Bow Kid) and is content to cavalierly do her own thing.

Which makes for a great complement to the game's "anything goes" approach to level design! This is one of those games where there isn't really a "tutorial" world, nor is there any point in having one, since what every level asks ends up being so unique. This isn't to say that the game leaves the player in the lurch; "Mafia Town" very naturally shows off what Hat Kid can do and gives the player a ton of space to explore. And then every other world does something wildly different.

"Battle of the Birds" is quite simply one of the most fun and engaging video game worlds, period. What a fun way to bring together wildly divergent ideas! I'm curious about the original "science owls" concept mentioned in the Kickstarter, but I honestly can't imagine preferring it to what we got: two inexplicable rivals, a funky penguin and a train conductor... thing... trying to win an annual film director award. Dead Bird Studios and the respective train/moon film sets make for cool, divergent environments with their own challenges, and while I have a definite favorite (The Conductor), the whole thing's great.

Since I'm going through all the different worlds anyway - "Subcon Forest" is probably the other easy candidate for someone's favorite world. Having Super Mario Bros. 2 in my foundational gaming background, I went in expecting a very dreamlike world (i.e. Subconscious). And while that is the case, it's a dual meaning, since you spend the whole world Subcon-tracting. The Snatcher is suuuuuuch a fun villain, adding a ton of loud personality to what's otherwise a very melancholy, quiet world. I love the scattershot flow that comes from this world, where you can get saddled with contracts in one level that won't even be addressed for another level or two. Makes the whole thing feel way more sprawling than you'd expect.

Speaking of sprawling, there's Alpine Skyline! I've heard it called the also-ran world of this game, and it's hard to argue with that. I do still think it's quite good, though! A big world of pure platforming challenges makes for a fun counter-offer to the game's usual character-driven design. Like you definitely miss the presence of other characters, but there's something nice and silently contemplative to all the obstacle courses that characterize this place.

...other levels I'll cover if/when I get around to doing reviews for the DLC. This write-up just covers the base game.

But, like, I've spent a lot of words articulating a simple point - A Hat in Time is a wonderful, wonderful game. One of those where everything, from the cast to the level design to the writing to the MUSIC, contributes to one of the most enjoyable games I can think of. An easy personal recommendation for anyone.

Se irrompe de carisma e alegria, sendo uma festa eclética do começo ao fim. A Hat in Time entende de todos os fundamentos do scrimblo bimblo-like, e tem suas cartas na manga para se diferenciar - para mim, foram seu tom mais afiado e as boss fights que vão além do padrão deste tipo de jogo. Infelizmente, no quesito platformer, não soube ultrapassar o básico: alguns estágios começaram a me cobrar mais conhecimento do kit da Hat Kid pro final, mas a própria natureza do jogo impede que consigam requerer muito de você; caso queira fazer sua própria diversão, tanto o moveset da protagonista quanto o level design se comprometem o máximo o possível para te travar num caminho único - a única escapatória que achei foi através de um equipável opcional que adiciona uma mecânica bugadinha que te permite quebrar um pouco mais as sequências quase-lineares do jogo.

Não que não tenha me divertido com A Hat in Time - sua energia é contagiante - só me senti muito mais restrito do que gostaria em um jogo desse gênero, em que tanto depende da capacidade de movimento e expressão de seu personagem e de como o jogo te permite exercê-la. Senti que faltou da parte deles o intuito de provocar o jogador a ousar, e de dá-lo as ferramentas para exercer a rebeldia festiva que a nata dos platformers permite. Agora avante aos DLCs.

Why yes, I know of A Hat in Time, also known as the second-best Hat based 3D platformer released on October of 2017 ever made!

In spite of my repeated claims of love towards the 3D platforming genre, I would lie if I said I played every single one of the so called classics—I’ve yet to touch a single one released on the PSX that isn’t Medievil and play any of the 3D Rayman games—, but beyond that lack of experience with older titles on my end, the main reason I haven’t actually sat down and played more regularly newly released 3D platformers is because… there aren’t many to choose from. It's a game landscape somewhat rejected by most bigger studios, which tend to see the concept of platforming in a 3D space the concept or base for a bigger game in another genre rather that it’s own, and at this point, it has become somewhat of a special occurrence when two major titles of the genre release withing the same yea, hell, we are already lucky if at least one does.

With all that said, it’d be impossible to categorize the genre as as ‘’dead’’, not by a long shot; the indie scene is doing gods-work for that to be a remote possibility, and now-a-days, I kinda associate it with that scene, not that I think of it as a smaller or more niche genre than what it once was, on contraire, it’s a vibrant, more personal and passionate landscape, the ‘’people’s games’’ so to speak, and I think that particular spark that each developer both what makes so many people feel like they are gambling

A Hat in Time released on a very interesting year for the genre, not necessarily the best or worst, but it certainly had variety, with released from big publishers and small teams, of majestic quality and of pretty big disappointments, and it’s in this year which was probably the most full the genre ever had during the past decade, in the month where the band new 3D Mario game released, it’s where despite it all, A Hat in Time shines.

I can’t really tell what the game is going for exactly visually and tonally, but whatever it is, keep it coming ‘cause it works. If I had to compare it to something, I guess the best thing would be the sometimes referred as ‘’double A’’ games of the sixth and seventh generation. Those character models than can look rough and sometimes even clipping into each other but are so cartoony and full of life that is more than worth it, that humor that should tonally clash with the cutesy vibe but instead it works to a tea, the incredibly silly storyline that finds ways to be memorable… It’s not the prettiest nor the the funniest game out there, but it still exceeds at those areas, with some parts and scenarios looking kind of beautiful or selling completely the spooky or silly vibe, and with jokes that in any other context would make you wonder ‘’how did they get away with this?’’ with how deranged and good they can get.

It can sometimes feel all over the place, like pieces of different puzzles that somehow fit, which I’m inclined to believe it was intentional with how the rest of the is. There are four different worlds divided in four chapters, and when playing through ‘’Mafia Town’’—ignore for a moment that is quite possibly the singles best idea for a first world to ever be thought of— I thought I knew what this was going for, a Sungine/64 like game, with big open levels you can explore that change a little bit every time you go to a different mission, or ‘’act’’ as they are known in this game. And I mean, yeah, all worlds are divided into acts you must beat before facing the final boss of each world, and there are some extra challenges you can find that reward you with a Time Piece that are VERY Sunshine inspired with what quite possibly is one of the most relaxing tunes I’ve ever heard, but aside of that… you better be prepared from some chaos!

You got everything you could possibly dream of: two birds (one of whom may or may not be racist towards penguins) competing to get a movie award once again after years of rivalry and you being thrown into the mix to help both and give the victory to one of them, a spirit infested contract based spooky forest that has both one of the most intense moments I’ve lived in any 3D Platformer ever and a fight against a haunted toilet, and a free roam mountain top stage that is the only of its kind in the base game. There ain’t much consistency here, and that can actually work; it made each of this random ass places and these weird mafia mobs, birds, ghosts and goats that inhabit it all the more endearing. Everything that has to do with Snatcher or the Conductor and DJ Groove is gold I swear to god, their whole chapters being centered around them and the movie sets or deals they out Hat Kit through made them even more memorable than they would already have been… AND IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH THEY GOT SICK AS HELL THEMES WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

The music in this game also doesn’t make any sense, but not because it’s absurd or inconsistent, but because it’s too fire; it’s a constant blessing to the ears, with either bombastic and exhilarating themes or the most calming and fitting sounds to ever be thought while jumping and diving. I already linked two completely different yet amazing songs, and I could fill this review with even more, this is one of my favorite overall OSTs I’ve heard in a while, there’s a reason so many people use all the Chapter 2 songs to put in the background and Your Contract has Expired blew up years back, it’s too good to pass up.

The lands of A Hat in Time are plagued by charisma and charm, the only thing that would make them better would be being able to traverse th- OH WAIT YEAH! Hat Kid’s move set is actually pretty deceiving; it seems pretty in both theory and practice, it’s just a double jump, a dive and an attack button, but it actually that allow for super fluid and creative movement, and that make it even more rewarding to pull it off. Even when you are not tested with a mini challenge to earn an item or pons, it’s always a fun time to bring the movement to tis limits; you are almost invited to skip sections and reach certain parts in a way the game didn’t plan to, either through pure movement prowess or intelligent use of the hats (Fast hat and Fox-mask my beloveds…).

Getting any kind of reward, be it a Time Piece or something like a Badge or cosmetic change, feels fulfilling not only because the process of getting it is fun and unique, but also you most likely gained something else along the way, like reading a fun story as it unfolds… if that story had a bit of an annoying camera.

As much as I love how A Hat in Time nails the creativity and fun actor, there’s always a thing or two that puts a sour taste in my mouth. At best they are annoying decisions that really don’t make much sense, like blocking certain acts behind a pong-wall or making the grappling hook a badge instead of a direct upgrade, they both don’t seem like that big of a deals, but the former is incredibly inconsistent (and this time not a good way) and it only serves to take away your pongs at random intervals, which is something I simply do not understand when it’s limited to the first two chapters and when there’s already so many stuff to spend off and losing that money on something because the game said feels unwarranted; and the latter is… it’s just a bit dumb I think? The grappling hook becomes an integral part of your set once you get it, and practically all of the following challenges require you to use it or, at the very least, make traversal much more natural and fun, so from that point on you’ll essentially only have two badge slots since one will always be dedicated to it, and I personally think that incorporating to the roster of Hat Kid’s permanent tools would have made MUCH more sense.

But still, those things don’t necessarily worsen the experience… others very much do tho! You are never in full control of the camera, which is fine since it has clearly been thought out to work better in more open spaces and in those instances is buttery smooth, but then there are moments like Chapter 2’s Act 2, which is a super fun stealth mission focused on gathering clues while exploring a train, that I’s absolutely true, but is in those moments where the camera’s weaknesses shine bright, making it impossible to really know what’s ahead or even where you need to go, since your main hat will always point to your final current objective and nor the place you need to go first (which is another can of worms of its own), and moments like this are scattered through the game and make me wish they did something similar to how it is in Vanessa’s Manor or Chapter 4’s windmill. As it stands, is a looming annoyance that pops out here and there, just how the attacking dive can be a pain in the ass to know at which height you need to be for it to work, or how the checkpoint system can screw you off at a moment’s notice if you fall in the wrong place, or how the can get surprisingly buggy or sometimes say ‘’NO’’ to the strategy you wanted to do with random invisible walls, or how- I think I’m gonna leave it there to be honest…

It's a congregation of decisions and dumb mistakes that pile up and can sometimes make segments feel a lil’ bit like you are doing a to-do-list, which is funny ‘cause in Chapter 3 you do exactly that except it really doesn’t feel like it! It was during Subcon Forest that I begin to get suspicious but in Alpine Skyline I felt it was confirmed; most of these problems were most likely originated in early development, ‘cause A Hat in Time, even with this mistakes on its back, just keeps getting a better. Mafia Town is not a bad introduction and I do like it in some ways, but also presents some problems and structure the other chapters don’t have, like incredibly simplistic boss fights, having to repeat some sections or getting lost through the map to find sometimes, or secrets that aren’t that fun to get; it works but it’s hard not to look at it as the weakest of the bunch, and hell, I’d say the Mafia are funnier in the following chapters and on the ship than in their own town!

It's certainly a humble beginning, a charming onje no doubt, but one that pales in every department with what come next; Battle of the Birds is a super cool set of more linear challenges with and creative sets that gets brought down a bit by some strange decisions (needing to go Chapter 3 before being able to finish breaks the pace completely for me) and the fact that main point of the whole chapter doesn’t really play into much with the final fight except for some model swapping, which doesn’t change the fact that the Conductor/DJ Groove fight is incredible, I just wish it had a little bit more meaning beside DJ Groove getting too cocky or the Conductor being a petty bastard. Subcon Forest is where the true magic happens, the contract system doesn’t really play into much, but it justifies the act system way more, and the area itself hits the spot with its spooky looks as different sections, and has my two favorite fights in the entire game and my favorite level, so yeah, hard not to love it. And then… there’s Alpine Skyline, I’ll say right now that I thing its finale its pretty annoying and doesn’t really play into the potential of the area, but aside from that, this is the highest peak of the game for me, there’s no contest. Maybe I like too much this style of semi open world divided into more linear challenges, but I’m sorry, this area has it all; a killer setting and design, the most fun platforming obstacle courses in the game, a completely free roam experience that feels open even when you are following a set path, and the lighting system to mark you finished treasure hunting in a certain sections it’s a simple yet genius touch I wished other parts of the game had.

A Hat in Time is a testament to improvement, at how a game can get even better as it goes along and end on a higher note than it ended with, but even more than that… is an ode to fun. You can sit down in a ton of places just to admire the scenery, you can do certain emotes that don’t affect the game at all but are just fun to use, you can screw around the main space ship and find random secrets like Hat Kid’s hideout and learn about her thoughts after each completed act. Things that if they weren’t there I wouldn’t have complained, but now I can’t imagine the game without them, and it’s filled to the brim. It’s an experience made out of love that ‘s hidden even in the most obscure corner, a love visible even in he rougher edges, a love that’s shared by so, so many.

A Hat in Time is ‘’the people’s game’’, the workshop is put at the front of the main menu and mods and the community work are baked into the game itself, a celebrated effort that’s only there because the has managed to inspire even 6 years later, and I can sit all day and complain all I want, but that’s always gonna be there, and people finding ways to be in this crazy-ass mafia filled world just a little longer is wonderful to see, and understandable; A Hat in Time is charming, it’s fun, to point of being contagious, you could even say it made me feel the normal amount of empty inside, maybe even less.

It's a game that says ‘’Get lost!’’ to grumpiness, and I for one join it in its chant! I’ll be back real soon to seal more deals and explore the metro, that’s for sure, how could I say no to more of this kind of 3D platforming playfulness?

It's a subpar platformer propped up by about a dozen coats of polish. After thinking about it, my main issue is with the game's moveset which, although it may seem to be the opposite at a surface level, is actually pretty restrictive. Let me put it this way. In the air, you have three options: a double jump, a dive, and a flip. However, the flip can only be done directly after a dive, and the double jump can't be done if you've already used a dive. What this means is that if you want to use all of your moves in a single jump, there's only one order you can do them in: double jump -> dive -> flip. This ends up making it so that jumps can't be designed in a way that would require you to use your moves in a different order, leading to just the same set of inputs over and over again for the entire game. What's more inexcusable is the fact that it doesn't even attempt any original mechanics, it's all just so basic. Moving platforms, springs, ropes to swing on, there's nothing new here to figure out. Combine this with the poor moveset and it creates a perfect storm of frustratingly low difficulty. I'd have a hard time believing anyone who has played a 3D platformer before would struggle with any part of this game, and it's not like it even punishes you for dying in the first place. To top it off there's also the badge and yarn systems. Neither of them are well-thought-out at all and their usefulness as collectables ends after about a fifth of the game, which ends up making them feel like huge misses in an understanding of what makes these types of games good.

The counterargument to my thoughts here would be that the game isn't supposed to be a platformer first and foremost and instead an adventure game where the main appeal is reaching varied environments and meeting a unique cast of characters, but I'd disagree with this as well. Something like Psychonauts or Super Mario Galaxy puts the actual platforming in the backseat in favor of interesting experiences, which I'm fine with, but A Hat in Time goes even further and ends up crossing a line. The platforming here feels like a formality, like the sequence of events was thought up first and the platforming is just there to fill in the gaps. Pyschonauts has unique mechanics depending on whose brain you're currently occupying, and Super Mario Galaxy consistently uses its outer space setting to vary up the gameplay. Take away the presentation from A Hat in Time and every world is the exact same, and that's my bottom line. The particle effects, the loading screen art and other 2D assets, the soundtrack, the UI. It's all fantastic but none of it works in service of the goal of creating a good platformer.

Gears for Breakfast’s first game, A Hat in Time, is simply one of the best 3D platformers of all time.

With flawless controls you move Hat Girl seamlessly through varied beautiful worlds that get more creative and more well crafted the further you go. Your different abilities you earn along the way are equally diverse, useful, and fun to use. It fair to say the controls and gameplay are near flawless. The game is pretty easy until the DLC. The DLC isn’t the hardest platforming in the world but there is a noticeable spike in difficulty which for me was appreciated. Another thing I really enjoyed is not just the level themselves being diverse but so is the way you play them. There are a lot of chapter based levels where you just finish the objective but they also throw in some free roam open world sections.

The cast is charming and completely over the top. The game never takes itself too seriously and it keeps it fun and funny from beginning to the end. There are many laughs to have and so many off the wall moments.

The music and art is top notch. The art is like a Saturday morning cartoon and every single track is catchy and memorable.I spent a lot of time just taking in the worlds and nodding my head along with the great tracks.

I cannot recommend this game enough. It’s a great game that anyone can pick up and play. It’s going to be a good time regardless of skill level or if you are a new gamer or someone who has been playing for years. If you are a 3D platformer fan this game absolutely needs to be played as I personally believe this is one of the greatest 3D platformers of all time. Not bad for a first game ever, Gears for Breakfast.

Kinda disappointing.

The moveset here for me is the only thing really keeping me from calling this a bad game, it all controls pretty well and feels great.

the game other than that does nothing for me, it's hard to care about any of the characters for me, they don't really change or stick with me to create any sort of emotion, especially in the final boss I wanted to laugh, but they never sort of created that much of a connection. almost all of the guys told me to get lost by the end of their chapters why should I care about them helping me now? why would they do that sort of thing?

My biggest issue is the levels themselves though, they feel big and open, begging to be explored, but the actual missions for the hourglass feel small and linear. Nothing ever motivated me to explore, other than that I should for more hourglasses. Except the Alpine skylines, but that level is so disjointed and TOO big. Chapter 2 was my favorite because it actually benefited from the linear missions and made more small linear areas, it was tons of fun, but that was the only chapter I really enjoyed.

None of the mechanics ever feel to fleshed out either, I only ever felt the need to use 2 badges (the Hookshot and magnet). and the games combat never gets experimental with it or more advanced.


Also I don't like the look of the game that much, I know it tries to have that same charm as the N64/GameCube look but it falls flat for me, I don't like how people's facial features are 2d and floating of their face it doesn't look that appealing.

I hope there's a sequel or another game that this studio makes that can further these mechanics or make them a bit better designed because as is, this game is sort of bleh to me. Good music and controls, but that's it for me.

Goofy little fun 3D platformer! The ones you barely see nowdays, and it's really good.

It takes the best aspects of certain games that have been established in the genre for a long while by now. Super Mario Galaxy hub area, Sunshine level selection and the special slide movement, Banjo Kazooie progression system and some collectathon elements scattered around some levels just to give some examples.

Felt a little too short, or maybe it because I was having such a really good time with it! Levels were varied and really fun to complete and don't take your controller for any sort of weird special gimmick just to add forced variety into a level, you know. You're in control all the time which is a relief.

If I had to critique something it might be that the hats didn't add much to the gameplay itself outside of the one that let's you run and ride a scooter. Were situational and pretty much useless outside it's main function. That's pretty much it.

Aims just to be a happy jolly good 3D platformer, it's a fun time. Wishing for sequel, there is serious untapped potential here.

Hat Kid's bodycount is at least in the hundreds.

You know its funny, I look over my notes and I see a lot more negative then positive comments. Yet when I reread them they were mostly very menial complaints. Character mouths don't animate, text crops out text bubbles sometimes, models clipping into each other is frequent, there was some awkward collision here or there; man who cares? It's an ambitious indie project by a small team, not made by some titanic monolith of a company.
Not to say I don't have genuine complaints, nor does that mean the ones previously mentioned can't affect others enjoyment, but moving in this game, as well as the game itself, is fun. That's nothing new, yet it takes full advantage of its movement. There's a variety of highly-explorative levels and creative linear obstacle courses. Platforming is not especially challenging since you can cancel out of your dive whenever, and you also have a generous double jump. Having a platforming moveset where you have near full control of your aerial positioning gives a very zen feeling to movement. At most, you'll have to time dive cancels to not bump off walls, yet the dive cancel also provides a slight upwards boost and you can use this to act as a (tiny) triple jump. The DLC does give a lot of challenges with difficult restrictions on existing missions, but I was strangely not enticed by them. I'm trying to be better about not exhausting myself when playing games. I don't need to fully complete a game to give my final thoughts on it (FYI, I got 50/56 time pieces. Didn't go for a lot of time rifts). And when I started to struggle with Snatcher's Challenges, I made the decision to not push myself and potentially taint my impressions on this game that is trying its damnest throughout this whole time to make the player smile.
The game wants to elicited joy and laughter in the player. So many gags both obvious and hidden. Many moments of "Oh, they thought of that" that'll catch you off guard. A main character whose a selfish brat, but rarely does bad for no reason (I do push the mafias off the cliffs all the time admittedly). You have an insane amount of cosmetics, both for color schemes and alternative hat models for all six of your main hats; so everyone's Hat Kid will be unique. On PC, mods are pushed to the forefront. They absolutely want you to experience what the community has created for this game, which is a very wholesome attitude honestly. Oh, and nearly every mission has its own unique illustration, which is just brimming with character.
I don't know, it's hard for me to be cynical on A Hat In Time. I guess in terms of things that were hard to ignore, the voice acting is rough... well some of it. The voice direction on some characters push the boundaries from charming to annoying. But even with the characters that it does happen with, there are times where they're just fine, so it's more of a consistency issue. The hookshot being exclusive to a equippable badge, which you only have three slots for, gets old quick. It doesn't kill my flow playing this game as I have to pause and keep swapping badges, rather halts the fun more then I'd like. It's like kicking the ball out of bounds, your mindset is out of the game as you have to go get the ball yourself. And I guess I'd prefer more movement based hats. The sprinter is fun not just to move way faster but to also leap across wide gaps. Nothing else gives this kind of extension to your movement; maybe the ice hat with its ground pound but I'd also would want that ability on command whenever, like my ideal hookshot.
Despite all that, A Hat In Time excels in creativity. Almost every seemingly tropey level has a unique spin. I feel no world, including the DLC, felt like filler. This game really should be experienced by all who enjoy a good 3D platformer.



Confession: I enjoyed Arctic Cruise more then Nyakuza Metro....

A game whose primary concern is reminding me of better GameCube games that I’ve already played. From Super Mario Sunshine to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, A Hat in Time is somehow lesser in every way than the sum of all its parts. It's the perfect example of a game made by somebody whose only life experience they have to draw upon for their art is that they played other videogames.
How very sad.

In every discipline, A Hat in Time is wildly unfocused. Each world having different rules for doling out its missions does not suit its own Act structure. Quantity of ideas does not equal the quality of them. The same goes for its moveset. Traversal options as wide as an ocean but shallow as a puddle. This game would’ve been tremendously improved without the badge system in order to better hone the level design to certain flavors of movement. But of course, Paper Mario did it, so I guess this has to too for some reason.

There's an obsessive devotion on display here to replicating its own influences with no cohesive reasoning besides them being things that Jonas Kaerlev personally liked.
This is not how games should be made.

Each world is profoundly unmemorable and uninteresting.
Mafia Town is way too big and samey-looking for an introductory area to acquaint players with. Of course, the developers didn't care, because like with everything about this game, they mistook the fact that they could make every aspect of it "the most", they should make it "the most." Clearly nobody at Gears for Breakfast is familiar with the term "too much."
Dead Bird Studios is severely hampered by having little shared space between its individual Acts. These are spaces that at first look like they're designed for multiple objectives, but are thrown away too quickly to do anything with. Because of that, they fail to work as purely linear stages either. However, I'll admit that Train Rush is a decent linear setpiece.
Subcon Forest is another casualty of the terminal too-big-for-its-own-good disease that this entire game suffers from... but this time with lots of fog and invisible walls so it's even harder to tell where you're going! The massive tree you have to climb is an absolute nightmare of camera control. I'm shocked that it made it into the finished product. I immediately rolled my eyes whenever The Snatcher came on screen. Yes, the curses in The Thousand-Year Door were cute. Why should I care exactly that you're doing the same routine?
Alpine Skyline is where all of these problems come to a head and where the game just completely stops caring. You can tell this game went through absolute development hell because this is where they put all their assets for previously-scrapped ideas that had no place of their own. Unbelievably messy. Having 30-second sequences where you have to watch Hat Kid travel along the ziplines is ridiculously tedious. It's like they looked at the Launch Stars from Super Mario Galaxy and conspired to make the worst version of it that they possibly could.

Also was I the only one who raised an eyebrow at this plot?
"Hairy woman who wants to tell everybody what to do; led on by a misguided belief that she’s carrying out justice, takes things too far and starts hurting innocent people for minor offences, and is ultimately defeated by everybody yelling at her and telling her to go away." This reads to me like an anti-SJW parable that a Redditor wrote in 2013…
Oh wait, this game IS from 2013! Hmm…
Considering that JonTron is literally in this game I suspect that the right-wing messaging is not unintentional. People who complain about cancel culture will love this game.

Disappointingly, many will overlook A Hat in Time's numerous flaws because they think it’s funny that Hat Kid says “boop” and they mistake appreciation for its influences as appreciation for the game itself. One of the most frustratingly overrated games I've come across in recent years.

Play literally any other video game that this claims to be inspired by and you’ll have a much better time.

one of my favorite platformers of all time. the amount of charm that shove into the 4 worlds of this game is incredible and every new world is like its own adventure. the movement is also incredible and moving hat kid around the levels is super fun especially after you perfect it trying to get all the stamps in death wish. the bosses are cool and the music is amazing. the dlc is also wonderful and while im not the biggest fan of arctic cruise, death wish and nyakuza metro have a lot of quality elements. play this game its a masterpiece and in my opinion the best 3d platformer to come out since mario galaxy 2

Super Mario 64 mas se fosse lançado hoje em dia e sem ser pela Nintendo

O joguinho conta a historia de uma extraterrestre (que no caso é uma humana) que no caminho de sua casa um cidadão de Mafia Town vem cobrar a taxa do "barco" e nessa discurssão ele abre a porta da espaçonave e nisso perdendo TODOS as ampulhetas do tempo caindo em um planeta totalmente desconhecido e agora a protagonista tem que ir atrás das mesmas estilo Mario 64.

A gameplay como eu já disse durante a analise é idêntica ao Mario 64 e até mesmo na ambientação os caras conseguem manter o estilo do jogo que serviu de inspiração, também não posso deixar de citar as músicas que são uma delícia de boas, um obvio 10/10. (KKKKK faz tanto tempo que não faço uma analise, tive que trocar de pc e também que recentemente estou sem tempo e acabei pegando um jogo que já tinha jogado e também bem curtinho)

I certainly did not expect this to be one of the best puzzle platformers I’ve ever played.
It has a fun art style with wonderful environments and colors.
Each level had amazing atmosphere and was designed very well.
All the different hat powers played well for every part they were needed in every level.
Great storytelling and characters.
Surprisingly good boss battles.
The soundtrack is great. (The Snatcher boss battle music had no right to slap as hard as it did)
Funny writing with great interactions.
Dare I say this is on level with Nintendo made platformers.

This game is incredible but the switch version sucks dick. If you haven't played this game yet and love 3d platformers I cannot recommend it enough. It's tons of fun, has fun characters, a memorable ost, and great platforming. However, the switch version isn't good at all. Poor framerate, tons of pop in, the worst load times you'll see in a game that border on Sonic 06, and unfortunately a ton of jank. This game is amazing and would easily be one of my favorites if I could play it on a different platform.