Announced during September’s Nintendo Direct, Kirby and the Forgotten Land has been rated by the ESRB.
The game’s debut trailer mentioned a release date of Spring 2022. Judging by the fact that the game has received its rating at the end of 2021, it’s safe to assume that the release window is still on track.
Here’s the full description of the reasoning behind its E10+ rating:
This is an action-adventure game in which players help Kirby save kidnapped creatures from evil forces. Players traverse 3D platforms while collecting coins, solving puzzles, and using Kirby’s abilities to battle cartoony enemies (e.g., mushrooms, foxes, giant turtles). Players use swords, bombs, and blaster-type pistols to defeat enemies; some weapons allow players to use targeting/crosshairs for ranged firing. Boss battles can be frenetic, with laser fire, explosions, and projectiles flying at Kirby, often from a close-up perspective.
Source: ESRB
This is the franchise’s second outing on the Nintendo Switch. Its first, Kirby Star Allies, was released in 2018. the first game was criticized for its easier difficulty. Judging by both the initial trailer and rating description, Forgotten Land seems to have raised the stakes a bit.
Despite those criticisms, Star Allies has still sold approximately 3 million units per sales reporting, making it one of the best-selling games in the franchise.
There’s clearly demand for more Kirby games (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards will be available on the N64 Nintendo Switch Online service). We’ll see if Kirby and the Forgotten Land can satisfy those demands when it releases early next year.
