DISCLAIMER: This review is not a review, it's a bumbling, messy rant I wrote at 2 AM. I apologize in advance for any grammar and spelling errors, as well as the occasional nonsensical sentence.

It has truly been some time since a game has so fully captured me to the degree that Little Big Planet has. There is something truly special about this game that is only shared with some of the best I’ve ever played, in fact, the last time a game was able to make me feel anything like this would have been my first playthrough of Super Mario Galaxy. I don’t Think I can ever truly, properly put it into words, but I'll certainly give it a try.

Before the actual review I’ll start by saying that I don’t have any nostalgia for this game, In fact, my first time ever playing would’ve been the day before writing this review. All of my opinions stem from very freshly playing through the game and experiencing everything it had to offer for myself.


This may be a fairly generic statement, but I think everyone can agree that today’s world has more than its fair share of misery. These past few months for me it's felt like on a global level there have been historical levels of suffering and wrongdoing happening all at once, and there is nothing I can do about it. When combined with the smaller stresses of simply living your life, it can be easy to accidentally start to live with a dark cloud over your head. This is not to say that I’m a miserable person or anything, It's just that I feel we sometimes forget how important it is to smile. I am of the opinion that we need more ways to spread positivity and happiness in the world, and that is exactly what Little Big Planet is. Little Big Planet completely counteracts everything negative I just mentioned on a personal level in nearly every way. It feels so purely created with the sole intention of bringing childlike joy and wonder to the faces of all who play it. From the animation to the music to the gameplay, everything feels so lovingly, passionately created to be the absolute best it can be. One of my favourite things about all forms of media, be it traditional books, comics, movies, tv, or games, is that they can give you such intense emotions that you would normally be unable to experience in ordinary life. Through Seething anger or incredible sadness, I’ve been affected by many of the things that I have watched, read, and played, but there is one thing even the best of movies and games are often not capable of, something that makes them truly stand out above the rest if they can accomplish it, and that's them being capable of transmitting pure, unfiltered joy to the same degree that they can other emotions. Throughout my whole playthrough, Little Big Planet had me grinning ear to ear. It's the first time in so long that I’ve been so completely invested in a game, that I’ve spent so much time in a game all at once, that I’ve been willing to give up doing anything else to actually find time to play, and since I’ve had my love for video games so overwhelmingly re-ignited like this. For all that alone, I will likely forever remember Little Big Planet and consider it one of the all time greats that I’ve played, But there is still so much more to discuss here.

Before even discussing the gameplay, there is so much to appreciate about Little Big Planet. Everything feels meticulously handcrafted, because it literally is. This game at its core is a level editor that all players have the ability to use, and the developers truly mastered everything about that level editor and managed to produce levels for the story mode that wouldn't feel out of place if they were found within a real, purely 2D triple A platformer. Within these levels there are representations of cultures from all over the world that are so obviously lovingly represented, and they have great humor to go along with them. This game genuinely made me laugh a few more times than I would have expected. The sackboy that you explore the Levels with is also an incredible addition to this game. Each sackboy exhibits so much personality and is so excellently animated. Something about their expressions just makes their emotions feel so real. The Developers really went above and beyond when it came to allowing players to fully express themselves without even speaking.

Speaking of player expression, the one part of this game that I’m really devastated I’ll never get to experience is the online. Exploring an infinite amount of community made levels with my friends and other people while being able to fully express myself and have fun at the same time seems like it would have been an absolute dream. I get hit by a little wave of sadness everytime see the crossed out online buttons on my screen, but even without them I had plenty to love about the game.

The campaign mode is spent helping numerous troubled characters throughout the earth in any way you can. Often just seeing how the developers had crafted characters and made them feel so alive through the crude level editor was enough to make me laugh, but it was also very charming. Every step of the way you are offered encouragement and witness so much creativity it's hard to not just constantly smile. Alongside just being fun to play through, these levels feel like they would be excellent inspiration for anyone who would have tried to truly dedicate themselves to the level creator as well.

In terms of actual gameplay, this is definitely the weakest part of the game, but still fun. It controls like a standard 2D platformer, with the sole issue being that sometimes sackboy feels a little bit slippery to control, putting you in the occasional situation that will feel a little unfair. Otherwise though the level design is so clever that the game never gets old. There are so many gameplay concepts and ideas featured within them I almost wish there were more levels so I could have seen them more fully explored. The game does get more difficult towards the end, but even with the slightly awkward controls I never felt it was too unfair, despite having to redo some levels a fair few times. What it really shows is that this game's potential for level design is more or less unlimited, something that would have made it all the more amazing when the servers were still up and running.

The music (partially composed by the guy who did spiderverse btw) was also a key factor to my enjoyment of this game. Almost every track is so uplifting and happy it felt like it was directly planting energy into my soul. Somehow these songs make me feel nostalgic despite having literally never heard them before yesterday. There are just so many different instruments and styles of music that all collide together in this game, making it one of my favourite gaming soundtracks of all time. Maybe I’m just weird but there were even 1 or 2 very oddly nice tracks that even made me tear up a bit.

In conclusion, Little Big Planet is just kind of a perfect video game to me. The combination of its endless creativity, interactive community, fun gameplay, and amazing music gives me the impression that it was lovingly created with the sole purpose of spreading Joy throughout the world, something we can always use more of. It's very rare that something is able to make me feel the childlike wonder I experienced while playing this game, and I'm so grateful I just randomly happened to check it out. Everything about it feels so human; you can clearly see the overwhelming passion behind the game poured into every nook and cranny within it, something I’ve only really been able to notice in a very small few of the best games I’ve played. In my opinion, more games should strive to be as joyous and as pleasant an experience as Little Big Planet. I definitely feel like this is a game everyone should try playing at least once in their lives, because if for some reason it strikes the same chord with you as it did with me, you’ll never regret it.

I'm marking this as Mastered because fuck the figures, I literally did everything else, and I really don't feel like sitting by those stupid gotcha machines for a couple hours just to get some baubles. It counts, I swear (don't hate me).

I've loved Kirby since I was young. Nightmare in Dreamland on the GBA was my jam, and I think I must've beat it over a dozen times over the years. The novelty of the copy abilities when I was little slowly evolved into an appreciation for the game's design and the fun I had finding all its hidden secrets and beating its final secret boss.

So it's no surprise that I really liked Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It takes so many elements from Nightmare in Dreamland that weren't always greatly executed in later entries, and beautifully realizes them in a full 3D game. Like Nightmare in Dreamland, I had a blast combing every level for its secrets, finding all the hidden goodies, and rescuing all the imprisoned Waddle Dees while also just enjoying the main content as well (fuck the figures though).

It helps too that the game does an excellent job making all this feel rewarding. The Waddle Dee town that serves as your home base becomes frequently more populated as you rescue more Waddle Dees and reach certain points in the story. I loved being able to hop back to town (which the game makes very easy to do anytime and anywhere in the overworld) to see what new stand or minigame had been stood up. The variety of side activities to do here was surprisingly varied as well, and I had fun with most of them (Tilt and Roll can tilt and roll itself off a bridge with those motion controls). The development of the town alongside other goodies like pictures on the walls of Kirby's home and special figures (fuck the regular ones though) really made me feel like I was doing something relatively productive with all the different optional content I was completing.

What this game also excels at is utilizing the full novelty of Kirby's copy ability. Yes, there are less regular abilities overall than in most Kirby games, but the devs got around this by adding the ability to upgrade your abilities! Now your Sword ability can be upgraded to add more combos, Cutter can have its projectiles bounce off walls, Fire has a longer range and further burn status effects, etc. These abilities in their base state are already well utilized in how they interact with puzzles, the environment, and combat, but these upgrades add further utility, variety, and just fun by expanding Kirby's arsenal as you acquire these upgrades.

In addition to the regular abilities though, are special Bigmouth abilities. Kirby can now stretch himself real wide to partially suck up things like Cars, vending machines, traffic cones, and more! These abilities, which are usually relegated to limited parts of the levels added even more variety to what you'll be doing just within the levels. Some of these are a bit one note, but are still fun to use regardless. Others get much more varied use, and the team got really creative later on (without spoiling anything, the "shape" of the object becomes important which was a super cool twist I wasn't expecting).

Where these abilities shined the most though, were the boss battles. The bosses in these games are seriously excellent. They're not all difficult (though they get MUCH harder in the post game content), they are consistently fun. Now in full 3D, I love how the developers gave each boss varied movesets that force the player to really learn each boss and dodge, run, or block accordingly before taking advantage of openings to attack. As memey as it is to say these days, it feels slightly Dark Soulsian though it really is just a 3D implementation and evolution of elements already present in the 2D Kirby games. In 3D though, it feels so much more dynamic. Bosses have wonderful designs, excellent animations that look cool while also properly communicating to the player, and each one has a great toolset to deal with the variety of abilities you the player could possibly bring. I loved replaying and rematching the bosses with different abilities as I tried to go for their optional missions and seeing how I had to change my strategy for each boss based on if I was using a short-range ability like Sword, Hammer, or Needle versus using longer range options like Fire, Ranger, or Cutter. As I alluded to above as well, the post-game bosses, which I won't spoil here, do actually get to a fairly challenging level. I died a few times on a secret boss in particular, and being able to learn, strategize, and overcome these tougher challenges was all the more rewarding.

This curve of difficulty can be applied to the main levels as well. Most in the main game won't be much of a challenge for anyone experienced with games, though that doesn't hinder the fun of exploring and conquering each level for the aforementioned awards. These do ramp up in the post-game but still aren't anything ridiculously formidable. The biggest challenges I found in the level design came from Treasure Roads, side levels that give you a specific, time-gated challenge with a single ability. A few of these gave me quite the run for my money, requiring me to try multiple times to hit that Target Time for an extra 50 coins. A couple were just annoying (anything Bomb related was a pain to get through as the implementation of that ability's moveset doesn't really allow for clean, consistent use for a speed run style challenge) and the combat trials particularly got a bit stale (oh boyo, beat these enemies and mini-bosses in a strict amount of time), but most were very creative and fun to beat.

All of this is wrapped up in a presentation that overall can be summarized as fine. The graphics are inoffensive if unexceptional, and they're mostly helped along by the bizarre but engaging post-apocalyptic theme running throughout the game. The game runs very smoothly, so technically it's sound outside of a bit of a short draw distance which sees enemies off in the distance looking a little low fps in their movements. The UI and art design is expectedly well done with simple, colorful designs that match perfectly with the vibe of a Kirby game while providing a mostly smooth user experience. My only UX gripe would be with the item shops, where you have to restart the dialogue every time you buy a single item. This makes buying multiple items at a time, like say buying a Maxim Tomato to heal now and one to use later, a bit tedious, but it's a minor complaint. Animations are charming and lively, giving a comforting warmth to the game as a whole, and music is well done, even if the main theme motif is a bit overused with not enough variation. There isn't much of a story though you can find some interesting lore in the figures (but really, fuck the figures), and without spoiling anything, this game does the usual Kirby twist very very well and even carries it over nicely into the post-game content.

Overall, this game isn't anything revolutionary. It doesn't necessarily do anything particularly inspired for an action platformer. However, what it does do well is execute on what a Kirby game should be. This is easily one of the best Kirby games, at least from what I've played, and if you're a fan or just interested in the series, I highly recommend it. It's very short if you just blast through the main story, but if you go for even some of the additional content, it really does provided a full, rewarding experience.

Chants of Sennaar is a creative, inventive, and beautiful game all about translating "languages" and using them to solve puzzles. It provides a fun, cerebral experience that challenges the player while staying logical and reasonable in its puzzles all while providing an exquisite audiovisual experience on top of this.

You play as an unnamed, red cloaked translator who wakes up at the bottom of a tower and must make there way to the top. As you climb, you'll encounter multiple peoples who speak different "languages" you must learn to progress.

I put quotes around "languages" because you're really more learning the scripts or alphabets of these "languages" as well as a couple grammatical quirks. It's about as close as you can get without having full voice acting and actually creating multiple fully spoken conlangs. That's not a knock against the game, just a technical caveat. That being said, how the game tasks you with learning these scripts is incredibly captivating and fun.

You'll learn each "language" by speaking to locals and observing what's around you, whether that's signs, murals, games, books, drawings, etc. Every "language" is hieroglyphic based, so you'll eventually be able to parse out what each character means. This all comes with a handy journal menu that adds any characters you see and allows you to guess at each one's meaning before you've confirmed what they mean. This way, you can get a step ahead and figure out parts of the "language" before the game has confirmed anything. Once you reach a point where the game believes you have enough context clues, the journal will add two new pages of sketches where you can mark what characters mean. You have to get them all correct though or you won't be able to confirm any characters on this set of pages.

This is where my only real nitpick of the game comes in. Sometimes these pages can feel a bit obtuse. I was able to figure out everything by the end, but some sections of each "language" took me a bit longer as there'd be one or two sketches that I wasn't sure what they were. A couple of these I even just got past by trial and error, which is frustrating. For the most part though, rundisc did a good job at making each part understandable. It was far more often that I would have an ah ha moment with some of these sketches rather than be frustrated by them. This is also just a super subjective part of "languages" that you're never going to fully get around. What I think of as "fear," for example, may not be exactly how the developers portray it in that character's sketch.

The best part about this game though, is it doesn't stop at its "languages." Learning each script enables you to progress through the OTHER puzzles that are more adventure style. Getting different items and keys, figuring out recipes or formulas, learning how to navigate certain areas. All of this is enabled by learning each "language," and it feels really fun to become fully "fluent" in each level, allowing you to pass through with ease. It leads really to one of the most satisfying feelings I've had playing a puzzle/adventure like this in a long time. Even more so than my recent playthrough of the masterful Cocoon! I think the reason why is because you have to put in the work not just to solve each puzzle, but also to learn the "language" that allows you even to engage in the first place. It felt like I was really exploring these cultures and immersing myself in them.

The other major gameplay element is the stealth. Some sections have hostile enemies or will just present areas you're not supposed to be. Here, you'll be challenged to navigate rather simple areas with some cover walls, patrolling guards, and the odd pile of rocks to throw to distract said guards. It's all quite simple but elegantly done. The cover system sometimes acted a bit goofy in terms of me "aiming" to where I wanted to go next, but this was a small issue that didn't matter much as I never felt in a rush to navigate these. I will also mention, this is probably only an issue if playing with controller like I was. With mouse and keyboard, you control the character point-and-click style, so you can just click the next cover to go to.

I will say though, gamepad controls work excellently otherwise. There are definite benefits to mouse and keyboard, particularly being able to type in your guesses in your journal with an actual keyboard, but if you're like me and like the immersion brought by "walking" the character around yourself, a controller still works great.

As I mentioned above, this is all wrapped in a wonderful presentation package. The graphics, while technically simple, are beautiful, largely due to some excellent art design. It reminds me of a comic, like an avant garde French comic or something. Maybe I'm a bit off there in terms of actual influences, but the result is simply beautiful. Bright colors and cel shading make each level stand out, and the designs of characters are wonderful as well. The score here is beautiful too, adding needed atmosphere to the different areas effectively while giving some memorable themes at key moments. It's definitely a soundtrack I want to revisit on its own.

There is a story as well, but predictably, it is pretty subtle. That's not to knock its quality though, as themes I won't spoil here become very apparent as you progress and tackle some other optional puzzles and quests. By the end, and especially if you go for both endings, the picture becomes pretty clear, and I have to say it ended up being pretty satisfactory.

All in all, Chants of Sennaar is a fantastic game that I think really should be praised more. I remember first hearing about this game through some YouTube videos and the odd Polygon best of 2023 article, but this really deserves to be a more highly touted indie release from last year. Highly recommend this, especially for other linguistics nerds like me.

I loved this game from beginning to end. It has a great battle system and unique enemies. First time completing, i only tried the original. One huge thing i can’t ignore tho is the completion length, VERY short. I understand this was a first for Mario and they probably tried to make it easily digestible but it’s just so great i wish it had more, especially on the Switch version for the price. Some levels and stars just flew by, even as i was defeating every enemy i saw on screen. Difficulty is flexible, as with other Mario RPGs you can put “limiters” on yourself, adjust party, don’t use new special moves and that is needed for a challenge up until after star 5. That’s when the game really gets good and you can go all out as i did. I’m impressed matey!

-Jonathan Jones