I had been meaning to find more games to play since my time was spent going through my daily mobile game logins. Watching YouTube personality Jirard the Completionist, I saw he reviewed a game called A Hat In Time. There was only the previous mentions I'd see on the websites I would go on, other than that I paid no attention to it. However, this Review on the game sold me on it, so I purchased it at around my birthday and just now got around to finishing it. Funded on Kickstarter, A Hat in Time was done by a team of developers called Gears For Breakfast. Full blown nostalgia is what I got from playing this game. The platformers of yesterday were the sole inspirations to this charming game. Mainly titles like Banjo & Kazooie and Super Mario Sunshine. There's various collectibles to be found as you go after the main items needed. You play as Hat Kid who's this adorable little girl traveling back home from a recent trip. Passing through an area known as Mafia Town, she refuses to pay the so-called toll and mischief happens with the greedy thug.
Time Pieces which were powering your ship end up spilling out and crashing on the aforementioned planet along with several others. Your job is to recover them so you can head back on your ship and travel home. As I mentioned before, this is hugely inspired by the platformers we've grown up with in the past. Definitely had moments of frustration as I usually do when it comes to this genre of games XD. A Hat in Time is broken up into several Chapters/Worlds that are traveled through your main spaceship. Similar to the hub worlds in games like Mario 64 and Sunshine. From the seedy yet cheery area of Mafia Town to the spooky woods of Subcon Forest, the locales vary greatly and offer new things to discover.
As Hat Kid, you're armed with diving capabilities, a mighty umbrella and umm...hats! The hats are gathered by collecting specific types of yarn which soon don't really matter as yarn for a specific hat you already made is just added to your total. The hats themselves give a variety of abilities such as enhanced speed, transform into a block of ice, finding your current objective and more! The hats can then be outfitted with badges sold by an odd fellow that's seen just about everywhere in this game. Some of these badges include the usage of a hookshot, transforming your Sprint Hat ability into a scooter and much more!
After you collect each Time Piece, you're sent back to your ship and set out to collect the next available one. Some levels require Orbs to unlock, others a key item to have a solid chance in completing it. All in all, each "Act" further helps in unlocking the chapter's Finale. Not only that, but there are Time Rifts which pop up in each Chapter. These can be found given the snapshot clue in any act. That's one thing I enjoyed about A Hat in Time. You can do pretty much whatever before completing the Time Piece objective. The Time Rifts transport you to a platforming course that's very reminiscent of ones found in extra stages from Super Mario Sunshine and even Galaxy.
Another form of collectibles are Relics. These are real life objects yet foreign to Hat Kid since she's never seen anything like them before. Not many exist total and are mainly used to create certain creations which unlock a special kind of Time Rift. Customization is found in the form of changing the look of your hat along with the color combination of your outfit and hair. These are obtained through slot like mini games found at the end of every Time Rift. Audio wise, the music is absolutely delightful as is the full on Voice Acting done by a multitude of characters. The controls were incredibly tight and well responsive on my end. Many freak-outs did happen on my part with the uncertainty of making a specific jump onto a small platform. Oh and the boss fights were quite inventive and definitely will take several tries as you learn their patterns, which in itself is quite rewarding when you beat them!
Should you Play this Game?
Yes! A Hat in Time is a wonderful adventure for those who have had memories of the types of games they've grown up with. Beautiful, cartoonish scenery, a solid gameplay mechanic, fantastic music and various other charms will have you hooked into playing this!
