A Hat in Time

A Hat in Time proudly doesn’t shy from showing its inspirations from the 3D platform classics while radiating its own unique personality thanks to charmingly designed worlds (although we could do with a bit more of them!). It is unfortunate then that precise jumping is never as… precise as it should be. Even though it may not hinder the enjoyment by much it is nevertheless a shortcoming in an otherwise especially enjoyable experience.

A great game from a genre that we see so rarely on PC. It’s not too demanding, but it’s pure joy to play, as it’s charming, cheerful, full of stuff to gather and uncover and does a lot to keep you engaged all the time. Not all levels were designed to the same high standard, but even in its weaker moments A Hat in Time is still good. At its best it really shines. [13/2017, p.60]

Like Hat Girl herself, A Hat in Time excels in this unapologetically confident stride it takes and is tonally all the better for it. With some interesting (at times funny) set-pieces thrown in for good measure, A Hat in Time is one of the better examples of the genre’s recent revival.

Sickly sweet and sophisticated 3D platformer, which is close to best titles of the genre and offers lots of creativity and great level design.

The title of Miss Video Games in 2017 goes to… no, not to Billy Lurk, Chloe Frazer, or Itō Ayami, but to a tomboy with no name from A Hat in Time.

Suffice to say, A Hat in Time won’t waste your time. It has put you in the paint program for the same reason it does everything else: because whereas most games are content to occupy your time, A Hat in Time has something it wants to show you. Now get busy with the virtual crayons. It’ll be worth it.

A Hat in Time lacks polish, but it makes up for its shortcomings with excellent platforming and a universe I was happy to be part of. The whole experience is adorable, and in many ways it improves on the very platformers it uses as inspiration.

The game is in fact a little delicious.

A Hat in Time has certainly been well worth the wait, and is easily recommended to platformer fans across all formats. It sits nicely alongside Yooka-Laylee and offers a different take on the N64 nostalgia that both titles share. It’s unlikely to knock Mario off his perch as king of the 3D platformers, but it is a more than acceptable pretender to the crown. It also has a central antagonist called Moustache Girl who is a girl with a bushy moustache. A Hat in Time opens up to be a real standout in the recent renaissance of the 3D platform game.

A Hat in Time is a short but great spiritual successor to Super Mario 64 and the best 3D platformer released on PC this year.

The playful childishness of the experience is really what pulls it all together and even though it’s by no means a bad game – it was definitely the angle it needed to hold together all the loose parts. After all, nostalgia can only do so much before players realise that games have moved on and evolved for a reason, especially when an absolute titan like Super Mario Odyssey was released almost besides it and flawlessly shows how to truly mix the old and new into something else entirely. In all I’d recommend A Hat in Time as a quick pick up game when there’s a lull in the market (which 2017 definitely hasn’t had), but not at it’s current price of £22.99, especially with the amount of irritating bugs I encountered throughout.

A Hat in Time doesn’t reinvent the 3D platforming wheel, but it walks it with such confidence and panache that it would be criminal to overlook this game.

A Hat in Time is that rare Kickstarted game that had a lofty goal and succeeded. Not only does the game live up to the 64-bit collectathon nostalgia that so many of us have been craving, but it also revamps the standard formula. Every level feels completely different from the last, and a diverse mission structure keeps the adventure from growing stale. It’s a wholly charming experience that made me smile silly. Hat Kid controls like a dream and is also a ridiculously cute mascot whom I’d like to see more of, along with more adorable hats. Anyone who has fond memories of the 3D platforming genre would do well to check out A Hat in Time.

I never got a sense that I knew what A Hat in Time was about either as a story or as a game. Its various worlds don’t cohere, its plot doesn’t exist, and its systems never really play off each other in an interesting way. No single aspect of the experience is terrible, but the good bits never build to anything. Consequently, A Hat in Time is a cute, breezy little thing that rolls off the mind as soon as it’s completed.

Wonderful in every aspect, Gears for Breakfast's first title.

The origins as a hobby project are too visible from the get-go. Clumsy controls and problematic camera are not up to par - but unfortunately these are the cornerstone of any decent platformer.

Charming, playful, and scrappy as a sweep’s stovepipe, A Hat in Time has its ups and downs, but if it can win your heart, it’s well worth the ride. A modern platformer that can truly hold its own.

Most of A Hat in Time feels like a modge podge of creative ideas only amateurly stitched together. The game teeters between delightful charm (like the time I encountered a Mafiosa who wanted to play patty-cake then deceptively punched me across Mafia Town) and blatant lack of polish (like a cutscene where certain characters’ limbs seemed paralyzed in a T position.) If a lighthearted, collect-a-thon platformer is your jam, A Hat in Time will constantly please you with its fun platforming and nuanced, cartoony world, but don’t go in expecting the finish and cohesion of the classic platformers it takes its inspiration from.

A Hat in Time was presented to me by the developers as a "GameCube love-letter, cute-as-heck 3D platformer". Well, it is indeed a very nice 3D platform with a nice level design and some good platforming phases inspired by Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, mostly. I enjoyed playing it very much.

A Hat In Time has grasped the title of the highest-earning 3D indie platformer ever funded on Kickstarter, and it’s no stretch of the imagination to see why. The story, the play, the graphics, everything it has instills in gamers one of the most comforting and thrilling nostalgic experiences in recent game development history. This platformer is itself a perfect modern game, with all of the classic staples players know and love, rather than being just an old game made in the present day; in a world of constant evolution and innovation, few things are as comforting as a nice easy blast from the past.

A Hat In Time is a charming adventure filled with personality. It has some truly unique moments and varied locations, putting its own spin on the foundation of 3D platformers from the past. Although it’s not very challenging, the platforming is solid, and its worlds and stages are imaginative wonderlands that make for a satisfying journey.

A Hat in Time is a 3d platformer that offers unadulterated enjoyment, marred only by some slight technical issues, such as camera hiccups and occasional clipping. After the credits have rolled you' ll be craving for more, so some additional content in the form of extra chapters and power ups would be welcomed. On the whole, a great game and a worthy contender for the throne of the genre, on PCs at least.

When a game can bring about those kinds of emotions but also stay fun and enjoyable, that’s how you know it’s really good in my book. You never want to give up and only want to keep trying til you beat it.

Dodgy controls nearly ruin this lovably hyperactive ball of imagination.

A Hat in Time is an interesting platform game in which you take control of an amazing, cute little girl fighting to get the fuel she needs to come back home. Despite looking and taking a lot of elements from great platform games like Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64, it's a challenging game that's gonna take you by surprise, even tough it's not an amazingly crafted 3D world.

Coming kind of out of nowhere, A Hat in Time should be played by anyone who enjoyed 3D platformers like Mario 64. If you enjoyed Mario 64, you’re going to enjoy this. It is a nice homage to the king of platformers and one that I highly recommend checking out. There’s a lot to see and do here, and the platforming is well done with level design being thought out and intricate. I really enjoyed my time with it and any platforming fan will too.

With witty writing, colorful presentation and smooth and varied gameplay, A Hat in Time is one of the best platform games released in recent years. While the game wears its influences right in the open, it's never bound to them, offering features that do manage to make it stand out from the best classic games. Yooka-Laylee was meant to bring a new golden era for the genre, far from the spotlight for too long, but it's a small spacefaring kid and her trusty hats that may finally be able to do so.

It does a fantastic job of drawing inspiration from genre classics and adding just enough of a twist to feel fresh and engaging.

A Hat in Time is more interested in looking around than staring backward. This is a challenging exercise for a 3D platformer, and yet A Hat in Time keeps its perspective balanced between careful devotion and sensible progression. Being responsive to your environment, as it turns out, makes it easier to see where you should be going.

A Hat in Time is an incredible effort and delivers on its promise of being a worthwhile return to the 3D collect-a-thon platformer genre. It tugs at the heartstrings and delivers all those nostalgic feels. It’s not perfect, and it probably could have been a little more ambitious with some more time or manpower, perhaps. Despite that though, A Hat in Time is one of the best 3D platformers certainly in recent times, but it can also hang with the greats from years ago as well.

Some scuff-marks aside, A Hat in Time is a creative, playful, and polished tribute to a genre that doesn’t get nearly enough love on PC.

Playing through A Hat in Time was an experience that made me question the idea of a specific term - Inspired. It’s clearly built as a homage to titles like Super Mario and Luigi’s Mansion yet struggles to stand out on its own because of it. It certainly made me smile from time to time, but most of that time was also spent thinking how a finer experience could be achieved by simply playing the games that inspired it. An issue presented by a certain other homage earlier this year.

A hugely entertaining 3D platformer that channels the imagination and unpredictability of older games without becoming a prisoner to the past.

Quotation forthcoming.

A Hat in Time is such a pleasant surprise. Hilarious and full of bright ideas, inspired and playing like a classic - even if the camera can't be tamed-, this 3D platformer has been made for all of those who feel nostalgic about best games of the genre like Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. And is clearly essential to them.

A Hat in Time is slow to start, but it's brimming with the charm and collectible-finding joy of classic 3D platformers.

This is a game with undeniable soul and an incredible amount of shine considering its budget. There’s very little that A Hat in Time can’t do as a classic platformer, and it really throws itself into creating a cute and cohesive universe for you to explore.