Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii, 2010)

Adorable, captivating art style, but not a Mo game.

Nostalgia: Medium. I’m a huge Kirby dweeb, but this game is very different from the usual Kirby fare.
Difficulty: The easiest game ever made? I’m not sure the term “difficulty” can even be applied to this game. Any sense of challenge has been removed.

Oof. I really struggled with this one. I typically stick to the mainline Kirby games for these reviews, but several friends recommended I try this spin-off title. Plus, critics have offered a lot of praise for Kirby’s Epic Yarn, so I felt obligated to try. This game is very different from the usual Kirby fare. It’s developed by Good-Feel, not HAL. Good-Feel will also go on to develop Yoshi’s Wooly World, another mostly beloved but very different game.

Epic Yarn is easily the cutest, most wholesome, most adorable game I've ever played. But, unfortunately, it is just not a Mo game. It's so creative, unique, and full of irresponsible amounts of charm, but the simple fact that there are no consequences at all (unless you care about the collect-a-thon aspect) when you get hit by an enemy makes the whole experience feel hollow for me.

There were times I would just walk through spikes along the floor instead of platforming through some kind of yarn gauntlet. It made no difference! There's no health, no lives, no dying – there’s no being sent back to previous checkpoints or anything. Yarn Kirby is practically invincible. It didn’t take long for me to feel like I was playing Daniel Tiger the game.

Some gamers love how different Epic Yarn is, but the enchantment quickly wore off and left me hungry for a proper gaming experience. Not everyone needs a sense of consequence or challenge to enjoy a game, but it turns out that I do.

I did enjoy some of the clever gameplay elements they had in the game, but I found myself just rushing through levels to get the game over with. I tried to appreciate the game for what it is (I felt pressured by the hype from critics, haha), but it just didn’t keep my interest.

The soundtrack is very chill, with lots of slightly-jazzy piano, nylon string guitar, and a little flute even. Some tracks can get a little bouncy at times, but the overall vibe is reminiscent of the “easy listening” channel from your mom’s cable TV. It contributes well to the very chill vibe of the game, and is great for study music, but I much prefer the standard Kirby sounds of Ishikawa and Ando.

Give it a try if you want to experience a very unique Kirby game, but otherwise, I can’t recommend this one.