Thread by @andrewphilos1

With the new Hat in Time DLC announced and inbound, I finally caved and bought the game at 50% off. My thoughts on it are a little mixed, but overall positive. The interesting comparison is to Yooka-Laylee, another collectathon I bought recently, which I'm more negative on.

Let's start with the elephant in the room: these games' control systems are jank. Yooka turns like a drunk motorcyclist, and Hat Girl bonks into or falls off every other surface. And the cameras! Don't get me started on the cameras!

Despite this, Hat in Time is a lot more fun to play. Not even because of Hat Girl's double jump-wall climb-air dash moveset (though that helps), but because the movement is so smooth and fluid that it's a great time just running around and interacting with the environment.

It hits that perfect sweet spot that games like VVVVVV and Super Mario 64 reach, where you can spend hours playing around with the movement controls, because it's just that much fun! (Although the wall climb always seems to stop a step earlier than I want it to.)

Yooka-Laylee's controls aren't... bad, per se, other than the clunkiness I mentioned before. Having an energy gauge on something that was free in Banjo-Kazooie's annoying, but besides that, the movement is serviceable but nothing special beyond that.

But we can't talk about movement without discussing environments. So far, I've played three YK worlds and one HiT world. YK's worlds are empty and sprawling, whereas HiT's worlds are cluttered and confusing. They're both kinda frustrating to navigate.

(It's playing these games that makes you realize Super Mario 64's paintings were actually pretty small, and oh yeah, Clanker's Cavern was like a cavern, and that was it. And yet it always felt like there was stuff to do and explore around every corner.)

But again, HiT wins in comparison. Mafia Town may be incredibly cluttered, but it's still understandable, still navigable. In Yooka-Laylee's levels, I'm always getting turned around and lost. I'll go around a corner and say, "Wait, has that been there the whole time?!"

Let's see. Next, story. Both are pretty similar: bad guy steals your collectables, go get them back. The difference is the execution.

YK: Capital B steals your magic book to get a monopoly on books (?) and because it's magic.
HiT: The mafia break into your spaceship to steal your valuables because you cut through their territory, and they want their due.

Personally, I think the second is a lot more funny.

With all that out of the way, let's talk color. Thematically, they're both in that Black/Red territory of collecting all the stuff because, I mean, this is a videogame. If you didn't want to collect stuff, you'd be playing something else.

Yooka-Laylee's a little more White, since your desire to get your book back has the bonus effect of defeating a tyrant. Hat in Time, on the other hand, doubles down on the Black in a really interesting way.

(Spoilers for HiT Act 1) After you beat the Mafia Town boss, Mustache Girl discovers the power the Time Pieces have and begs Hat Girl to let her use them to fight evil. But Hat Girl refuses: she only wants to use them to go home. Selfish, but very human!

Hat in Time is still on sale until the 9th, so I'd definitely recommend it at its sale price. (I wouldn't recommend it at full price, but 20% off or so is probably good.) YK is not, so I'd recommend you wait until it goes on sale again. I think I bought it at like 85% or so?

(To be clear, Yooka-Laylee isn't a terrible game, I wouldn't say. I'm not mad, @PlaytonicGames. I'm just disappointed.😜)

Anyhoo, go watch the new trailer from @GearsBreakfast and get hype for adorable cat-themed street punks! 😻