Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World

Description

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World carries Kirby back to the abandoned civilisation where he once rescued the Waddle Dees and confronted the Beast Pack. A mysterious meteor crashes into the ocean and scatters dark crystals across the land, transforming its beaches, shopping centres, factories, deserts, and frozen ruins. Guided by Elfilin and Astronomer Waddle Dee, Kirby must rescue the Starries contained within the sealing crystal before the imprisoned Star of Darkness can awaken. The new threat extends the original themes of friendship and renewal, turning a ruined world into a place altered once again by forces from beyond the sky.

Kirby runs, jumps, hovers, inhales enemies, and copies their abilities across contained 3D stages filled with combat, platforming, puzzles, hidden objectives, and collectable Waddle Dees. Copy Abilities can be evolved into stronger forms, while Mouthful Mode lets Kirby wrap himself around oversized objects to become a car, vending machine, staircase, light bulb, ring, or other environmental tool. Star-Crossed World adds twelve Starry Stages, two within each major region, with new routes, crystalline surfaces, altered hazards, stronger enemies, additional bosses, and three new Mouthful transformations. Spring Mouth launches Kirby vertically, Gear Mouth climbs walls and travels across specialised surfaces, and Sign Mouth provides rapid movement down slopes. The Nintendo Switch 2 edition runs at a solid 1080p handheld / 1440p docked at 60 frames per second, while retaining two-player cooperative support with Bandana Waddle Dee.

The original 2022 Kirby and the Forgotten Land saw the series successfully translated Kirby’s established platforming, Copy Abilities, and hidden collectables into full 3D gameplay. Rather than placing the expansion in an entirely separate region, Star-Crossed World revisits twelve existing environments and extensively rebuilds their routes around crystallisation, vertical movement, and the new Mouthful forms. The approach recalls the remixed stages of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, but the stronger hardware allows sharper scenery, denser effects, and more elaborate transformations.

Reception was strongly favourable, with the improved image quality, stable performance, clever stage revisions, and the way the new Mouthful transformations open unfamiliar routes through recognisable locations. Inevitably the main criticism is the expansion uses remodelled stages and offering only a few hours of additional content but this cannot take away it is a solid improvement over Forgotten Land, which was already one of Kirby’s finest games.