Kirby and the Forgotten Land is cute, simple, and monotonous

polygon.com:

My favorite professor in college once told me that My Neighbor Totoro is the cutest thing you can watch without throwing up. Kirbyand the Forgotten Land gives Totoro a run for his money on cuteness — but what happens when the cute starts to run out?

What starts as a new adventure filled with wonder and discovery quickly becomes a bit of a slog inForgotten Land, and I found myself using simple and familiar powers to solve simple and familiar puzzles. DespiteKirby and the Forgotten Land’s new 3D camera perspective, its creepily cute Mouthful Mode, and adorable art direction, the game failed to show me anything new after its opening hours. Even Kirby’s adorable world couldn’t save him from monotony.

Forgotten Land starts with the titular pink puffball getting transported off of Planet Popstar and onto a planet more like Earth. But this isn’t New Donk City, and there are no weirdly realistic humans crowding the sidewalks. No, this is an Earth-like planet far past its prime — urban buildings overtaken by plant life, factories overflowing with unused lava, a slightly haunted amusement park. And each nook and cranny is hiding one of Kirby’s friends: the recently kidnapped Waddle Dees.

This secret-focused level design is where Kirby and the Forgotten Land really works, at least in short bursts. Navigating a new area and finding all the optional objectives hidden therein kept me focused and eagle-eyed during each level. Unfortunately, the hidden nature of these quests — some of which are only revealed after I finish a mission — meant that I occasionally got to the end of a level only to learn I’d missed something, prompting an immediate, cloying replay. When I eventually gave up on fully completing every stage before moving onto