Kirby's Epic Yarn Road Journal - Part 2: Getting Deeper Into the Latest Kirby Game

Kirby's Epic Yarn Road Journal - Part 2: Getting Deeper Into the Latest Kirby Game
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Continuing Kirby’s Yarn-Filled Quest

My reactions while I spent my first hours with Kirby’s Epic Yarn ranged from skeptical at first to highly impressed. I didn’t think the game would be bad, and I hoped for another awesome Kirby game, but I didn’t want to have the highest of expectations only to end up disappointed. That kind of attitude resulted in me ending up really sad when I played Super Scribblenauts. But I digress. Kirby’s Epic Yarn isn’t difficult in any capacity, but it has certainly wowed me by providing a seamless platforming experience that’s filled to the brim with charm, interesting gameplay, and more awesome transformations for the famous pink puffball.

I previously wrote about my adventures in Grass Land as well my time in Quilty Square, the game’s starting area. In this entry of Kirby’s Epic Yarn Road Journal, I’ll take you along for the ride as I explore Hot Land and play the game’s timed bead collection sidequest.

On to Hot Land

Hot Wings

I wanted to see what fire-related elements the game would throw at me and how the game’s cloth-and-yarn look would play into these elements, so needless to say I was very interested in playing through Hot Land. To my surprise, the levels in Hot Land weren’t just fire-filled stages with volcanoes and lava falls. No, Hot Land featured a desert area, the aforementioned fire-themed level, a dark cave, and an awesome jungle filled with dinosaurs that seemed to come out of a kid’s book.

After defeating Hot Wings—the boss of Hot Land—I was treated to another cut scene. Funnily enough, I found that the narrator’s voice and style were growing on me. I still thought it was a little overdone, but given the game’s storybook approach, it certainly fits.

Meeting Beadrix

Beadrix

One of the game’s optional objectives requires taking furniture you’ve found throughout the levels and using it to decorate some of the apartments in Quilty Square. These apartments require specific pieces of furniture, and silhouettes of the necessary furnishings can be seen within the apartments. I had previously met Zeke by decorating one of the abodes in Quilty Square, and after taking the time to fill a second apartment with furniture, I met yet another character.

Beadrix decided to take up apartment 202 after seeing the newly furnished dwelling, and she offered a cool little sidequest to keep me occupied for a while. By talking to Beadrix, I was able to play a timed bead-collection game in a few of the previously-visited levels. Was it as good as Zeke’s hide-and-seek sidequest? It’s hard to say, really; but collecting a set amount of beads with the clock ticking along certainly made for a fun time.

Treat Land Bound

As I got deeper into the latest Kirby game, I found that this title manages to feel fairly old-school, even with its modern visual design and infrequent motion control implementation. The platforming is just really reminiscent of older 2D side-scrollers. My next stop in Kirby’s Epic Yarn is Treat Land. It’s going to be fun seeing how HAL Laboratory meshes together the game’s colorful look with different pastries and sweet snacks.