Hey hey folks, Dave here. Welcome to my critique of A Hat in Time. Just a friendly reminder that if you haven’t completed the game, there might be spoilers in this video. If you wish to avoid them, please press pause, and go play the game before returning. For everyone else, let’s continue.
The Snatcher is the most memorable character of Subcon Forest. Aside from having a gleeful maniacal laugh, he traps you and has you sign a contract that makes you his servent in order to get your soul back. This is Hat Girl’s motivation for the rest of the chapter. At the end, he reveals that once his subordinates are no longer of any use to him, they are beheaded. It’s time for a boss fight. When I first attempted this fight during a late night play session, I was defeated more than once. Mostly because I couldn’t seem to work out how to read when Snatcher was going to slam the ground, and so would lose a lot of health being stunned by the slams and the ensuing shockwaves. The next day I came back to the game and defeated him on my first try. No issue whatsoever. What alluded me the night before was so simple now. In defeat he offers a contract where you’ll leave and never bother him again. Hat Girl in her mischievousness alters the contract to The Snatcher’s dismay, and this charming blend of character and humour is what I remember most fondly about the encounter, rather than the rage inducing moments.
I think A Hat in Time is a competent 3d platformer. Hat Girl’s moveset allows for some highly entertaining platforming challenges, but whether it’s due to the camera, a lack of precision, or most importantly, an inability to understand what the game wants of you, I found myself constantly angry and disappointed while playing. This disappointment and failure creates a negative feedback loop and it’s very easy for an entire game experience to be negatively coloured once the small frustrations start building up. To the game’s credit, that never happened. The Snatcher fight was probably me at my lowest point, and the next day I not only fought through it like it wasn’t a challenge, but I attempted the Mustache Girl fight as well, and defeated her on my first try. In my lowest moments, the game’s charm allowed me to persevere, and this video will be primarily discussing this push and pull between charm and gameplay.
I mentioned how it’s often unclear what the game wants from you. The hats are a good place to start as they play into the way the levels are designed, and the order you approach them in. Yarn is hidden around each stage and hats take a number of balls of yarn to stitch together. The first hat you receive, the Sprint Cap, is an exception to the usefulness of the other hats. It makes you run faster. Aside from allowing you to ride a scooter for a level in Subcon Forest, it’s just a way of getting around the world quicker. Every other hat works its way into the level deisgn in some way. The Ice Cap allows you to use the ice flippers to catapult you around. The Brewing Hat, which is what I was wearing most of the time allows you to throw explosives after a short charge. The Dweller’s Mask will allow you to interact with another reality for a short while, usually to uncover platforms where there were none before. Finally, the Time Stop Hat will stop time. I know right? But I never earned enough yarn to be able to wear it.
While certain areas of a chapter like the Alpine Skyline are locked off if you do not have the right hat, it is late enough in the game to assume that the player is at least close to being able to create one. Act 5 of Chapter 1 is missing because it requires the Time Stop Hat. This vexed me for the entire game as I wanted to complete the levels in order, and it felt wrong to move to Acts 6 and 7 without having played Act 5. A similar feeling happened with not having yet acquired the hookshot Badge in Chapter 3, or actually, most of Chapter 3 itself. You unlock the acts of that chapter by falling in The Snatcher’s traps, signing new contracts which open up the new acts. For the longest time I was searching for the last trap to open up Act 5. Maybe there’s something about Act 5s in this game. They may be cursed. I eventually made the decision to overcome my annoyance and play stages out or order, but having to break the numbering system never sat right with me.
This issue with the ordering of the levels is echoed in a problem I had with the platforming and the goals of certain stages. The uncertainty of what’s coming next. This can be seen as one of the game’s strengths. Each act is its own unique vision. The title cards always started me off in the best of moods, and just how much the game switches up what you’re doing is quite remarkable. Even in the same chapter. Two of the most memorable stages in my playthrough both came from Chapter 2, Battle of the Birds. Picture Perfect has you drumming up fan support, this goal regularly interrupted by Hat Girl getting her picture taken and an adorable polaroid appearing on the screen. Then there’s Murder on the Owl Express. I doubt I’m the only person who regards this as the best level in the game. You have to gather evidence to solve a murder while avoiding secret service spy crows and suspicious owl passengers. Whoever you select as the culprit at the end is the correct choice. You’re filming a movie after all. The journey was what was important, and by journey, I mean all the great footage you provided for The Conductor.
On the micro level things are different, and this is where I will talk about the platforming. Hat Girl’s moveset is a lot of fun to play with. The air dash makes movement a joy, because alongside the expected double jump, a dash will give you a third jump to reach your destination if you’ve already exhausted your double. Combine this with not only ledge grabs and wall jumps, but the ability to run up a wall when hitting the side of a platform, and there’s a lot of movement opportunities you have access to. The game takes full advantage of this. Yes there are the optional time rift challenges that are built to test these skills more overtly, but I’m thinking of the long form obstacle courses to acquire time pieces, like climbing the Windmill in Alpine Skyline.
The Windmill made me realise just how much the air dash can betray you. That wonderful idea of running up a wall if you miss a ledge is nullified if you air dash into it. Now this is my fault as I got too comfortable with just air dashing everywhere, including situations where I did not need to. Most of my frustration with the platforming was misusing the dash and the consequences of that action. There was also a bit of misjudging the distance of a double jump. There was the timing issue of platforming challenges involving the homing attack on the spiders, and often the camera seemed to get trapped or wouldn’t give the most opportune view of what I needed to do next. I often felt overwhelmed by my inability to adapt to what the game was throwing at me, even with all the tools at my disposal.
I wonder if the charm is to blame. I would list the charm of A Hat in Time as its greatest asset. I’ve already mentioned the title cards and in my impressions video I squeed about diving into a pile of pillows, and Hat Girl wearing a raincoat. There’s an amusing diary that you can read after each act provided you have the ice hat to access Hat Girl’s secret pillow lair. The Snatcher is charming in his goofy way. The Mafia are charming in their bumbling way. The Conductor and DJ Grooves are charming in their eccentric behaviour and speech, and the final fight with your friend turned enemy Mustache Girl is charming. Especially when all the other characters are throwing actual love at Hat Girl in order to defeat her nemesis. That tear Hat Girl has in her eye at the very end I identified with because for all my frustrations, it was this world and its characters that kept me going till the very end, and I too was sad to see them go..
I think that the charm lulls the player into a false sense of security. It makes them think that the game should be more forgiving than it is. It might also distract the player from what the game requires from them, or maybe often enough the signposting for what to do next just isn’t there. Does A Hat in Time want to be a challenge based 3d platformer or does it want to be a cute, humourous character based 3d platformer? Now there is no reason it can’t be both. The classics of the 3d platformer genre often achieve this balance, but here, the balance seems askew.
What are your thoughts? Was I alone with my frustrations in regards to the platforming, the camera, what to do next, and the ordering of the levels? Were you as enamoured by this world and its characters as I was? What were some of your favourite moments? Please let me know in the comments.
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