Kirby and the Forgotten Land goes down smooth like a Kirby game should

Enlarge / Don’t let this image fool you—Kirby‘s 3D adventure is far from an open-world game.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land was the first game I played for review after sinking dozens of hours into Elden Ring. That’s a bit like jumping from an ice bath straight into a pool heated precisely to your body temperature.

Like a warm pool, Kirby‘s first fully 3D adventure is so inviting that you barely notice you’re engaging with a game in the first place. In true franchise tradition, the game offers little resistance and loads of guidance through a veritable theme park filled to the brim with a wide variety of pleasant distractions and secrets to uncover.

In a sense, it’s the anti-Elden Ring, a perfect palate cleanser for those who have overdosed on video game punishment lately.