Developer : HAL Laboratory
Release date : August 28, 2025
Synopsis :
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a 2022 action-platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the thirteenth mainline installment in the Kirby series, second on the Switch, as well as the first game in the series in full 3D, excluding spin-offs. The player controls Kirby in an adventure through the titular forgotten land to rescue Waddle Dees kidnapped by the ferocious Beast Pack. To complete each stage to save the Waddle Dees, Kirby can use a wide range of copy abilities to help battle enemies and progress.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land was well received by critics, praising its graphics, level design, gameplay, soundtrack, and amount of content, with some calling it among the best games in the series. Minor criticism was directed towards Kirby's control and repetitive mini-bosses. The game was a commercial success, selling over 7.52 million copies by March 2024, making it the best-selling game in the series and one of the best-selling games on the Switch. An enhanced edition of the game with additional content will be released for the Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28, 2025.
One day on Planet Popstar, a dark vortex appears over Dream Land, sucking up everything on the planet in its path. Kirby is among those sucked into the vortex and finds himself in an abandoned civilization informally called the « new world, » where he discovers that the Waddle Dees from Dream Land are being kidnapped by the native wildlife, the Beast Pack. Eventually, he finds the destroyed Waddle Dee Town and a chinchilla-like creature named Elfilin, who helped the Waddle Dees settle there. Upon being rescued from the Beast Pack, Elfilin explains to Kirby that he and the Waddle Dees attempted to fight back but were overwhelmed. Kirby offers to help Elfilin rescue the missing Waddle Dees, and the two set off together (along with Bandana Waddle Dee, who optionally accompanies Kirby).
As Kirby and Elfilin make their way through the new world, rescuing Waddle Dees and defeating the Beast Pack's high council members, the two discover that King Dedede is acting aggressively and assisting the Beast Pack for unknown reasons. After Kirby fights and defeats Dedede, the latter captures Elfilin and escapes; Kirby pursues Dedede and eventually fights him again. By destroying a hypnotic mask that Dedede was wearing, Kirby frees him from the Beast Pack's control, then ascends into their center of operations, Lab Discovera, to find Elfilin. An abandoned tourist attraction within the lab explains, via pre-recorded narration, that a powerful extraterrestrial under the identification tag ID-F86 once tried to invade the new world. It was captured by the planet's previous inhabitants and placed in the lab, where its ability to create space-time rifts was researched. Thirty years after research began, ID-F86 split into two halves during a « warp-experiment incident ». One half—Elfilin—escaped in the chaos, while the other half—Fecto Forgo—was placed in permanent suspended animation within Lab Discovera's Eternal Capsule.
Kirby then meets the leader of the Beast Pack, a lion named Leongar, who is holding Elfilin captive. Leongar explains that the previous inhabitants of the new world used ID-F86's power to depart for « a land of dreams, » and that he intends to do the same by reuniting Fecto Forgo with Elfilin. After Leongar is defeated, Fecto Forgo awakens; speaking through Leongar, they reveal that they had formed the Beast Pack by possessing Leongar, controlling his actions by proxy. They also opened the vortex to Dream Land, used the Beast Pack to hypnotize King Dedede and kidnapped the Waddle Dees for labor, in order to resume their invasion. They break free from the Eternal Capsule and consume Leongar and the Beast Pack to pursue Elfilin; when they capture Elfilin, the two combine into their original form, Fecto Elfilis. Kirby manages to weaken Fecto Elfilis enough to free Elfilin, but Fecto Elfilis creates a large vortex back to Popstar, setting it on a collision course with the new world. Kirby narrowly defeats Fecto Elfilis by ramming a semi-trailer truck into them; he and Elfilin then find themselves back in Dream Land, where the vortex is still open. Using all his power, Elfilin seals the vortex between the two worlds, leaving Kirby behind. In the credits, it is revealed that Elfilin is able to open his own vortex to Popstar, and the inhabitants of the two worlds become friends.
However, Leongar's soul remains trapped in an alternate dimension called Forgo Dreams, created by Fecto Forgo's psychic power and populated by phantoms generated by their memories of the Beast Pack. Clawroline, a member of the Beast Pack and friend of Leongar, discovers a rift in Waddle Dee Town that leads to Forgo Dreams. Upon being sucked into this dimension, Kirby and Elfilin rescue Leongar, who is possessed by Soul Forgo. Kirby defeats the possessed Leongar, separating Soul Forgo from his body. Before they can attack Kirby, a scarlet butterfly flies into the lab, absorbs Soul Forgo, and transforms into Morpho Knight, a valkyrie-like warrior who feasts on souls to absorb their power. Kirby defeats Morpho Knight and Leongar is properly freed; Soul Forgo partially absorbs Morpho Knight's power and vanishes in the aftermath.
Following this, a mysterious portal opens within Waddle Dee Town's colosseum. In an optional final encounter, Kirby combats the phantoms of Forgo Dreams in a boss rush before confronting the newly formed Chaos Elfilis. Kirby defeats Chaos Elfilis in a final battle, and a lingering remnant of their soul approaches Elfilin. He accepts it into his heart, allowing his two halves to finally become whole.
Source : Wikipedia
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