A Hat in Time Review

Jump & Run featuring hats, umbrellas and a lot of charme

With A Hat in Time, Danish development studio "Gears for Breakfast" has significantly contributed to the rebirth of the almost extinct jump & run genre ala Banjo Kazooie in 2017 and as a small independent studio has proven that it can keep up with veterans such as Playtonic Games, consisting of the former team members of the now defunct Rare, as well as Nintendo's own favourite plumber himself.

A Hat in Time was successfully financed on Kickstarter beforehand. So successfully, in fact, that the donation goal was doubled after only two days. In the meantime A Hat in Time has been released for every known console and PC and has received brilliant reviews. Metacritic gave a 79, IGN an 8 and Gamespot a 7. These are just a few examples of the thirst for this renewed Revival. An old concept in a new coat, or should I rather say "in a new hat."

I will focus my attention on the PC Version in this Review.

The storyline is, as with many Jump & Runs, only an excuse for the gameplay. Nevertheless A Hat in Time gives us a very good excuse.

Our protagonist Hat Kid travels through space with her starship on her way home. Unfortunately, she is stopped halfway along the way by the Mafia, who demand a toll for flying over Mafia Town. Hat Kid, with her stubborn attitude, refuses and entices the mafiosos to punch a hole into her starship. This leads to a chain reaction in which the starship loses all of its fuel in the form of hourglasses, and Hat Kid now has to travel through different countries and continents to collect all her hourglasses to get home.

On her adventure Hat Kid meets many colourful characters and has to face many challenges: Fighting the Mafia, reclaiming her soul from an evil demon, making a movie and climbing the high peaks of the Alps. And all this to get to her hourglasses.

Due to the nature of the Jump & Runs of the 90's, which A Hat in Time emulates, the game is suitable for the whole family and can be enjoyed by both children and parents.

Gameplay

Anyone who has ever held a Jump & Run in their hands knows what is in store for them. All tasks are mastered by jumping, running, balancing and pushing. If somebody is after Hat Kid, you hit the culprit on the head with your umbrella of choice.

Occasionally there are boss fights that put the learned skills to the test. Even if you have to defeat a demon-possessed toilet, it never becomes impossible and always stays fair.

In addition to Hat Kid's umbrella, her cylinder, which can be transformed into different shapes with different abilities, is a great help.

Besides a hat that increases your speed and one that makes you fall down trapdoors as an ice statue, there are also many stickers that give the hats extra abilities.

These can be glued to the hat in any combination and as many as three pieces can be applied at once. Would you like to magically summon a scooter? Shoot a laser out of the umbrella? Maybe a grappling hook?

There are many possibilities here to master any challenge, no matter how difficult.

Controller optimization is terrific and precise, which is of course important for platformers.

With a quick push on the control pads and the shoulder buttons, the hats can be exchanged in the heat of the moment.

Hat Kid has to use all these techniques to get to the hourglasses that are either scattered throughout the levels or can be obtained through tasks.

Level design

The level design is very creative and adapts smoothly to the gameplay. Just discovering all the secrets and rifts in time, through which more hourglasses or coins can be obtained, is a lot of fun and, due to the level structures, never monotonous.

If you don't find your way around, Hat Kid's hat will help, showing her the way in times of confusion.

This way the game avoids long and unnecessary walking distances.

The size of the levels allows for a lot of exploration and takes full advantage of Hat Kid's abilities. To solve some problems, you sometimes have to come back later when you have learned new skills.

All of course in typical Jump & Run style, which focuses on athletic jumps during the roaming of the levels.

Boss battles are structured slightly differently and take place in smaller areas. There you have to jump, swing and dodge while waiting for the perfect moment to strike the boss (usually indicated by a blue glow).

Although the bosses can be a bit difficult to beat at times, the game always gives helpful tips that point you in the right direction to defeat the villain.

It can happen that you have to face knife-wielding penguins, evil mafia godfathers who shoot at you with electric waves, terrible ghosts and Little Red Riding Hood with a beard.

Nobody said that space adventures were boring.

Music

The music fits the scenario and is lighthearted and cheerful. With rocky interludes during the boss fights.

It is noticeable that the N64 forefathers were brought in here as inspiration.

Each stage (level) has its own well composed track, which invites you to rock along and underlines the action.

The soundtrack is even available separately. This speaks for the quality and attention that has gone into it.

Want a taste?

The main musical theme of A Hat in Time evokes memories of Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, especially because the Kid encounters many strange things and gets into extraordinary situations on her space adventure, like Arthur Dent in Adam's novel.

Graphics

The graphics are in an updated style of the old platform forefathers. And is cute and colorful. The design of the world and the personalities found in it could easily be the product of a child's imagination. This makes sense, of course, because you're also placed in the role of a child (the Hat Kid) and we look at events through her eyes.

The textures strongly resemble cartoons, only the A Hat in Time transfers them into the third dimension.

Therefore, the graphics are simple, but suitable for the genre and keep up well with the competitor, Yooka Laylee.

DLCs

The game is now awaiting you with two extensions and a fully functional workshop where users can upload their own self-created content.

The "Seal the Deal" and "Nyakuza Metro" expansions offer new explorable levels, new skins for Hat Kid's hats and clothes, and new gameplay features as well as a new hard mode for the toughest guys who weren't challenged by the original game experience.

The two DLCs are affordable and offer a lot of new content for Jump & Run enthusiasts.

Many thanks to the developers for the strictly enforced zero lootbox policy so far.

Online Mode

With the second DLC, online mode was also introduced. There, up to 50 players can play online at the same time in one level, throw themselves around, play ball or race.

You can also create private lobbies if you only want to play with friends.

Increases the replay value immensely and leads to funny encounters, full of fooling around with the built-in gestures and emoticons.

Conclusion

A Hat in Time is a worthy descendant of the old Jump & Runs and comes with many gameplay features, a cute and family-friendly story and playful graphics.

The refusal of Gears for Breakfast to incorpoate microtransactions and instead provide us with big DLCs, as well as the modification options that open up an endless supply of input and user-generated content make A Hat in Time a diamond in a lake of greedy rip-offs that charge full price for half-finished games.

A diamond to be proud of.

10/10

Convince yourself of the quality and check out the trailer for the newly released digital Switch version:

Special Thanks to motherofgu on Fiverr for giving my Review that special something.