Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby FUCKS

While I still wish this was open world, the inventiveness of the levels (and how they do branch off slightly and invite exploration within them) is really intriguing. This game just oozes charm. The progression system was a nice little bonus, being able to update your abilities is cool. And of course, seeing some of the silly things you can suck up is always fun. It's near impossible to really die here most of the time but that's okay, I like the casualness in this context.

Ultimately slight experience that only gets even marginally tough on the last boss or two (I think I died maybe ten times total throughout the whole game), but colorful and keeps the attention. Some annoying things (did we need THIS many Treasure Roads? And why keep the Waddle Dee missions secret until each level has been completed?), but it's cute and the mouthful mode mixes up the Kirby formula just enough. Pretty robust postgame with the Isolated Isles, Ultimate Arena etc.

Fire ability OP