I imagine that we'll get fuller patch notes shortly, but for now, I picked this up from the Steam forums:
Aside from this, I got my 40th time piece and beat the game just now. I'll have to go back and clean up the achievements over the next few days, but I've really enjoyed my time with the game. Chapters 3 and 4 were probably my highlights, but there was little in the game that I didn't enjoy - and I was really quite surprised (pleasantly so!) by the size of the levels - I was expecting them to be much smaller than they were, especially chapter 4.
Got 28 time pieces, the Snatcher will soon get his ass kicked.
I haven't even tounched level 4 yet, but it sounds really cool.
The end of Dead Bird Studio sure was a suprise.
Chapter 1 was the weakest level for sure, but that just shows are good 2 and 3 are.
Hopefully I can finish the game next week. Turns out when I don't play 100+ hours RPG's I get something done.
I mean, I could probably beat the game right now, but I want to save the finally for last.
but after giving it some thought, The Great Parade is for sure my favorite level in the game
-awesome vibe
-I can't say I've done something like that in a game before
-halfway through I realized "wait this will make for a TERRIBLE movie" but simultaneously "there's something artistically pure about this whole endeavour"
-that fucking music
-pure joy
I beat the game at 100%, and found just about everything.
Overall, I'd say the game was absolutely fantastic, however, if I were to give it a rating, it would only be 8/10.
The 3 biggest factors that put this game above and beyond pretty much nearly everything getting released these days are:
-Music. The music is insanely good. Best soundtrack in a long time. Seriously.
-The dedication to the games theme and charm.
-The attention to detail on many things that most games wouldn't bother with.
The subcon forests look and soundtrack really reminded me of Okami, which was neat. I wish you could play the scooter music all the time. I found myself spamming it just to hear the remixes of that area and the time rifts.
One thing I was really impressed with was some random wall texture on the train. It's a periodic table with multiple puzzles and hidden messages all over it. I spent probably 30 minutes just figuring out the puzzles on it.
Now for my gripes:
-The biggest let down in this game was the story. There's hints of this really interesting and deep story, but it never goes anywhere. There's constant build up in all these chapters, but every time you get to the reveal it's a big let down of basically nothing. There's just hints everywhere of cut content and weird design decisions regarding this. I was really let down by this a lot but tailored my expectations after chapter 2 when I realized it wasn't going anywhere but surface level trivial stuff. The music is far to grand for such a simple tale.
-Why is one of the main title art characters
in the game for like 2 minutes? Was this cut content?
-Speaking of that, worst part of the game by far: in chapter 3, the
mansion was honestly awful. I was not at all pleased with having my ears fucking blasted out of my goddamn skull. It wasn't just loud, the sound mix was clipped and distorted very badly, it was just obnoxious that I had to take my headphones off. I'm still fucking pissed off over that. Maybe the 'see you' sound isn't following the in game volume slider? Also, the AI got stuck there and just glitched out like a spaz in the hall the whole time I solved the puzzles. Really crappy half baked area that like before, was all build up with no payoff except for more hearing loss, awesome.
-I ran into a pretty decent amount of glitches, including some control stuff that wasn't fun. The final section of the game was sorta turned into one of those funny glitch gifs as the
last boss fell through the map and my camera just spazzed out looking at the floor. Luckily, they finally reappeared.
I also had issues with my character t-posing, locking frames, and other weird nonsense at that part of the game. But I was able to play through it smoothly otherwise so I guess I can't whine too much.
That take away may sound very negative, but it's not. While that stuff may be a bummer for sure, I still had a lot of fun and found myself wanted to see more and play more. I really enjoyed the passive character building on hat girl and the grey morality you take on a lot of stuff. I don't always need to be a hero in games.
Now for my gripes:
-The biggest let down in this game was the story. There's hints of this really interesting and deep story, but it never goes anywhere. There's constant build up in all these chapters, but every time you get to the reveal it's a big let down of basically nothing. There's just hints everywhere of cut content and weird design decisions regarding this. I was really let down by this a lot but tailored my expectations after chapter 2 when I realized it wasn't going anywhere but surface level trivial stuff. The music is far to grand for such a simple tale.
-Why is one of the main title art characters
in the game for like 2 minutes? Was this cut content?
-Speaking of that, worst part of the game by far: in chapter 3, the
mansion was honestly awful. I was not at all pleased with having my ears fucking blasted out of my goddamn skull. It wasn't just loud, the sound mix was clipped and distorted very badly, it was just obnoxious that I had to take my headphones off. I'm still fucking pissed off over that. Maybe the 'see you' sound isn't following the in game volume slider? Also, the AI got stuck there and just glitched out like a spaz in the hall the whole time I solved the puzzles. Really crappy half baked area that like before, was all build up with no payoff except for more hearing loss, awesome.
-I ran into a pretty decent amount of glitches, including some control stuff that wasn't fun. The final section of the game was sorta turned into one of those funny glitch gifs as the
last boss fell through the map and my camera just spazzed out looking at the floor. Luckily, they finally reappeared.
I also had issues with my character t-posing, locking frames, and other weird nonsense at that part of the game. But I was able to play through it smoothly otherwise so I guess I can't whine too much.
That take away may sound very negative, but it's not. While that stuff may be a bummer for sure, I still had a lot of fun and found myself wanted to see more and play more. I really enjoyed the passive character building on hat girl and the grey morality you take on a lot of stuff. I don't always need to be a hero in games.
I'm hopeful that one or both of the DLC levels will
let you play as Mustache Girl to explain what she was doing while Hat Kid was tackling the other chapters. You briefly have control over her when she infiltrates the space ship to steal the time pieces, and in the first act of the game she's capable of diving just like Hat Kid as you chase after her, so she could definitely work as a character.
I'm hopeful that one or both of the DLC levels will
let you play as Mustache Girl to explain what she was doing while Hat Kid was tackling the other chapters. You briefly have control over her when she infiltrates the space ship to steal the time pieces, and in the first act of the game she's capable of diving just like Hat Kid as you chase after her, so she could definitely work as a character.
Her playable was a stretch goal. So it will happen. Just not sure if it will be new content or just able to play as her instead of Hat Kid in the same content. But there are 2 more worlds coming as well at some point.
Her playable was a stretch goal. So it will happen. Just not sure if it will be new content or just able to play as her instead of Hat Kid in the same content. But there are 2 more worlds coming as well at some point.
No it wasn't. Co-op was a stretch goal, which is supposed to come with chapter 6, but it was never even hinted that mustache girl was the co-op character.
In fact, they've always suggested that the co-op character will be a completely separate character. They've shown designs for a boy who's supposed to be that character, but they haven't mentioned him in quite a while and I don't think they ever showed him in 3D model form so he might've been scrapped.
i thought this game was great and very charming but wish there were more intensely focused platforming sections like the timed one on the train or the Windmill.
actually speaking of the windmill, the whole alpine level was fantastic. the fact that it was open but had little self contained platforming levels was great. it gave them the ability to use the hats in really focused ways ie the Twilight Bell (i think thats the name at least).
I see no reason why they couldn't fix the bugs and jank I encountered. There are probably people that went through the game and didn't have a single problem either.
i thought this game was great and very charming but wish there were more intensely focused platforming sections like the timed one on the train or the Windmill.
actually speaking of the windmill, the whole alpine level was fantastic. the fact that it was open but had little self contained platforming levels was great. it gave them the ability to use the hats in really focused ways ie the Twilight Bell (i think thats the name at least).
I liked Alpine, but I didn't like getting around on the ziplines, or having to retread areas repeatedly so many times. The windmill and twilight bell were definitely highlights though.
Chapter 2 also played well in my opinion because every level was unique and thus, much more focused and refined. Every mission in the game should have pushed to be as creative, unique, and interesting as the train mission for example.
So I think I might have gotten screwed out of 100%, unless there's something I'm missing.
I'm sitting at 37/40 hourglasses, with the remaining three linked to the purple/pink Time Rifts in Chapters 2-4. The problem is... none of these rifts exist. They don't show up on the chapter select at all, and if I got into the stages and head to where they should be there's nothing there.
So I guess I can't ever finish everything, that's super great.
EDIT: Nevermind, I was able to figure out that you unlock them by putting relics together.
So I think I might have gotten screwed out of 100%, unless there's something I'm missing.
I'm sitting at 37/40 hourglasses, with the remaining three linked to the purple/pink Time Rifts in Chapters 2-4. The problem is... none of these rifts exist. They don't show up on the chapter select at all, and if I got into the stages and head to where they should be there's nothing there.
So I guess I can't ever finish everything, that's super great.
All in all, this has been a really excellent game and great fund throughout. While I agree with the other comments about some lack of polish, that really doesn't detract from the experience to any significant extent and definitely more fun than Yooka-Laylee (not that I disliked that game either). The variety and creativity on show in many of the chapters really shines, especially so in chapter 2 - I'm very much looking forward to seeing chat comes with the remaining two chapters!
I don't suppose that anyone has managed to find a location guide for rift tokens or yarn balls? I could see myself being up for a 'proper' 100% clean-up, but without some in-game way of tracking them down I could so with some assistance.
Finally was able to really start & "finish" it last night in one sitting. Just my random thoughts:
- Hat Girl is a very cute and just in general well-presented character. Heavily reminded me of Wind Waker Link.
- Movement is solid but not excellent. I would have liked more moves in general and I'm not a fan of a double jump in 3D platforming games but it's responsive and what is there controls well.
- Cutscenes and especially dialogue generally interrupt gameplay too often and too much. The scenarios are very intentive but a more hands-off approach presenting these would have been way appreciated.
- In that regard, the 4th world is the extreme example of exactly that. There is something happening but it's presented to you in a completely non-intrusive manner with a very brief cutscene in between every Time Piece.
- On the 4th world, that was mostly the game at its best. It was essentially something like four Super Mario Galaxy-like levels strung together and the Twilight Bell is essentially a small-ish Zelda dungeon. Great stuff. How the sections of the world are strung together, though, is not ideal which is unfortunately very apparent in the not so great last mission. Some weird & slogging backtracking required and zipping across the fans takes too long.
- I have never played a game that changed its music to such a degree depending on what you do. Just for picking up fruit the music changes. And the music is, Kirkhope aside, great.
- The game has too many different collectables.
- Time drifts are tiresome to seek out especially in the 4th world. Would have liked for them to be explorable from the start and not unlock after I already explored the whole world already. It's just tiring backtracking after that and as a result I just won't do some of them even if they are fun.
- There are some weird cases of things you can't jump onto even though it looks like it which there is either a invisible wall or you fall straight through the object.
- I'm not sure why they have an extremely heavy DoF enabled when being able to look into the distance should be encouraged and helps you to better navigate. I was shocked with so many graphical options that I couldn't turn that off in the settings.
I probably am missing some things but that's it. Solid game.
So, an interesting tidbit. I found a youtube video that tackles my gripe about World 3, the mission of the
mansion
shows cut content. There was actually a real 3rd floor, and it was probably the longest of the floors, included cut story content, and some other things too. While my only source is a youtube comment, someone said the beta feedback on the puzzles of the floor was negative, and so they cut it, not having time to revisit and rework it. (Also, the sound issue I had there wasn't prevalent in the video, so it must have been a glitch in my game being so obnoxiously loud).
Just going by a hunch of what I saw, and how things worked out, I really think there was a lot more story planned for that world. I mean, it's pretty obvious a lot of stuff was missing when
the mansion was so short, the queen is on the title card as a main character, and the skybox when you turn the DOF is two castles, one being ice and the other normal.
In fact, I feel like there might have been more story planned for a lot of stuff.
I wonder if taking another half year of development could have fixed the sorta 'rushed' feeling everything had in terms of resolution.
- I'm not sure why they have an extremely heavy DoF enabled when being able to look into the distance should be encouraged and helps you to better navigate. I was shocked with so many graphical options that I couldn't turn that off in the settings.
The camera was an essential badge for me. I had it on 90% of the game because it lets you turn off the DOF and look around, which makes secret finding and just figuring out where to go a lot better. Using it as a crutch for their skyboxes was not a good decision.
a little too many yarns. I know that means you can 'miss' some and get all the hats, but having like 30 something at the end of the game is sorta excessive and counteracts them having purpose. I was sorta hoping to get a super secret hat or something but it never happened.
So, an interesting tidbit. I found a youtube video that tackles my gripe about World 3, the mission of the
mansion
shows cut content. There was actually a real 3rd floor, and it was probably the longest of the floors, included cut story content, and some other things too. While my only source is a youtube comment, someone said the beta feedback on the puzzles of the floor was negative, and so they cut it, not having time to revisit and rework it. (Also, the sound issue I had there wasn't prevalent in the video, so it must have been a glitch in my game being so obnoxiously loud).
The story of Subcon Forest was originally a power struggle between the Snatcher (main character of Subcon in the final game) and the Moonjumper (cut character). The Moon Jumper was originally Queen Vanessa's prince, and the mansion is still full of details directly referencing the moon jumper, which you can see some of here (alongside what remains of the moon jumper in the game files). In the final game, the prince is
the snatcher.
On the cut 3rd floor, you did some puzzles where you had to use timed light sources to harm the snatcher who took a form as a shadow version of hat kid and stole the key you needed to progress. You can look up "A Hat in time Alpha/Beta" on youtube and easily find gameplay of the 3rd floor.
The moon jumper's theme was slightly altered and repurposed as the badge seller's theme (original here) and also there seemed to be another theme present in the alpha/beta which was relevant to him and even had a vocal version hidden in the files with lyrics about him and vanessa. Song in the alpha/beta here, vocal version here (scroll down to "Hat Adult Masked Song").
It's a shame they cut out such a potentially interesting character, but maybe they were worried having 2 rival characters would make the chapter too similar to battle of the birds. The Moon Jumper never got a 3D model, so I assume he was cut not too long after the beta, but it's weird that not all references to him were removed from the game.
Also, sidenote, they've patched an option to turn off DoF into the game.
Wow nice, thanks for the summary. It's a shame all that stuff got cut. Interestingly, disregarding that 1 mission, I found that chapter probably my favorite storywise. I'm glad the contracts became the focus. I think if they had tidied up the loose ends and maybe put like a yak or something on the main title instead of venessa, I wouldn't have minded it being cut so much.
I found some easter eggs making jumps you weren't really supposed to, like a the cheeseburger relic being in the 4th act on a tall cliff. I didn't know about the hidden message at the final hub area though.
I played a few stages, didnt like the mafia world too much but gets really good after that! I wouldve probably waited for a sale though. I expected it to be tighter with the controls.
Got the game through humble bundle but for some reason performance is terrible on my system. 1700x and a vega 64. Strangeley enough it's the same issue that no man's sky has. Terrible stuttering and reducing cards power usage in certain areas. Only two games I've ever come across with this issue.
