A Hat in Time is a 3D platformer where players control Hat Kid and explore open levels to find “Time Pieces”. Other than running, jumping and attacking, players can also wear different hats to use abilities to solve puzzles and get past obstacles. For example, the Sprint Hat allows the player to run, and the Cooking Hat lets the player throw an explosive concoction. Players can also collect “pons” to buy badges that increase Hat Kid’s abilities, yarn balls to stitch into new hats, and “relics” to unlock “Time Rift” bonus levels.
Lens 7: Elemental Tetrad
Mechanics
Natural Mechanics include:
- Looking around and running
- Jumping and double jumping
- Running up walls for a short distance
- Diving forward while on the ground or in the air
- Recovering during a dive
- Walking on tightrope
- Attacking with umbrella
- Lock-on aerial attack
Hat abilities include:
- Sprinting
- Slowing down time
- Throwing explosives
- Transforming into a frozen statue and doing a ground pound
- Materializing objects that usually appear as green holographic objects
Badge abilities include:
- Hooking to and swinging from hooks
- Charging and firing a beam attack
- Riding a scooter
The game has a lot of mechanics that can be combined together for complex dynamics. For example, you can perform a double jump, dive, then recover to get across a large gap. You could also get creative and transform into a frozen statue (which causes Hat Kid to be slightly lifted up in the air), dive forward and recover to get across the same gap. Thanks to these dynamics, there are many different ways to finish a level.
After completing the game, there are a series of challenges that revisit the same level, but put certain restrictions, like not allowing any jumps. These challenges are difficult and really test the player’s mastery of mechanics and timing.
Story
Hat Kid is traveling in her spaceship on her way back home, when a Mafia man from a planet she is passing by breaks open the spaceship door to collect a toll. That causes the Time Pieces that powers the ship to fall on the planet, so Hat Kid must go down to the planet to search for them.
During her travels, Hat Kid meets many enemies who want the power of the Time Pieces for themselves, like two rival bird movie directors, DJ Grooves and the Conductor. In the final battle, these enemies sacrifice themselves for Hat Kid to overcome the final boss.
With many interesting characters and strong themes of friendship, the story was really fresh and enjoyable.
Aesthetics
The art in A Hat in Time is usually vibrant, with a lot of bright colours. However, there are also moments when the art fits darker themes. For example, when Hat Kid is the detective for a murder mystery, the colours become muted for a noir-like tone.
Character design is simple and unrealistic, making the characters easily recognizable and really likable.
The music is easily the best part of the game. It’s colourful in open areas, grim in dark areas, exciting in boss fights, tranquil in bonus levels with no enemies, and rushed in timed levels.
Technology
A Hat in Time runs on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, with an upcoming release on the Nintendo Switch, and was made using Unreal Engine 3.
Lens 4: Curiosity
Levels are set in large, open maps, and there are various rewards like relics and yarn balls scattered around, encouraging exploration. There are also portals to bonus levels hidden in each map, so players are always curious about what they can find in each level.
Lens 6: Problem Solving
There are some puzzles in A Hat in Time, often involving getting from one point to another, and requires the abilities of hats and badges. In stealth levels, players also have to make use of cover to avoid the enemies’ line of sight and figure out a path to get to the goal without being spotted.
Lens 24: Novelty
Each chapter introduces new challenges that require new hats or badges to overcome, so the player is always doing something new. The chapters are also structured differently. Chapter 2 is about helping two birds, DJ Grooves and the Conductor, make a movie, and is set in several separate areas; while Chapter 4 is set in a large open area filled with mountain peaks, and has a “free roam” format, meaning that the player can complete the peaks in any order.
Lens 38: Challenge
A Hat in Time is not an easy game. Being a 3D platformer, it requires players to know how and when to make combinations of aerial mechanics to get to the next point. However, it is still fair, because it has checkpoints that ensure that the player does not lose all progress when missing a jump. This provides a level of challenge that is just right for players. Boss fights are also fairly challenging as they have several phases, with different attack patterns for each phase.
Overall, A Hat in Time is a fun, challenging game with quite a deep level of mechanics and really cute, colourful aesthetics.