There’s a new Game of the Year contender and its name is Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The new Nintendo Switch game sees the loveable pink hero sucked into a vortex and dropped into a world overrun by nature, where he must rescue the Waddle Dees from the Beast Gang pack with the help of his mystical new friend Elfilin. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a 3D platformer with multiple regions, each with their own levels, challenges and objectives to complete. Explore the Forgotten Lands by running, jumping and climbing, and use Kirby’s unique abilities to inhale enemies and either copy their moves or spit them back out as projectiles.
You’ll have to use Kirby’s abilities to search for hidden areas and treasure, and to help you win fights against the Beast Pack gang. The Drill ability, for instance, lets Kirby copy a power drill to dig down into the ground and surprise enemies from above, while the Sword ability gives Kirby a weapon and a little hat similar to Link’s in The Legend of Zelda. You’ll also be able to upgrade your Copy Abilities as you progress through the game to make them more powerful than ever.
But the feature that’s been talked about the most so far is the new Mouthful Mode. When Kirby inhales a sparkling object he won’t gain its powers — instead, he’ll swallow the object whole and gain its special abilities. Using Mouthful Mode, Kirby can essentially turn into a car to travel at high speeds and boost over ramps, a traffic cone to smash through terrain, a light bulb to illuminate dark areas, a vending machine to launch cans at enemies and more.
It’s the biggest Kirby game ever made, and reviewers are calling it a must-play Switch title. Of course, when Nintendo makes a new game about one of their most famous characters — who’s also appeared in every Super Smash Bros. game to date — the memes are going to be excellent.
