Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe Review – Lavish Yet Lightweight

2022 saw Nintendo’s beloved puffball Kirby ascent to new heights. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was not only the series’ first full-on 3D platformer, it was probably the marshmallow’s best game ever and one of the top first-party Switch games, period. It’s also already the franchise’s best-selling entry to date. You want to follow up a success like that the right way, and Nintendo and Hal Laboratory have decided to look to the past with the Wii-era remaster Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe.

Will Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe continue the round one’s roll? Or will Kirby fans new and old be left feeling deflated by this blast from the past? Time to bite into Kirby’s latest…

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe messes with the series’ usual setup a bit, as King Dedede is feeling surprisingly chill this time around, happily teaming up with the Kirbster without incident. Instead, things kick off when a mysterious alien named Magolor crash lands in Dream Land, and Kirby, being an overly trusting sort, decides to help him collect his lost spaceship parts.

Return to Dream Land sticks to the classic Kirby template in terms of gameplay. You run, jump, puff yourself up to float over hazards, and inhale enemies, some of which have special powers you can copy. It’s all designed to be accessible to those new to platformers while providing some room for mastery for Kirby fanatics. It’s worked well for decades and it still works here. An assist mode that removes instant-kill falls and other setbacks that might frustrate younger and less-skilled players is also an option.

The headline addition this time around are Super Abilities – charged-up versions of classic powers gained by gobbling up special enemies than only appear once per stage. There isn’t a ton of depth to this new mechanic, but it’s undeniably satisfying to pummel everything on screen with the Super Sword ability or transform into a giant steamrolling snowball with Super Ice. Each Super Ability only lasts a couple of minutes, but if you can maneuver to the end of the stage before it runs out you can blast open a bonus stage that will reward you with additional Energy Spheres (the collectibles you need to unlock extras).

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe provides plenty of the lighthearted action the series is known for, but it’s hard not to feel like it’s a pretty major step back compared to the endlessly-inventive and intricately-designed worlds of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Like most Kirby games from the era, Return to Dream Land really takes a while to get up to speed – the game consists of seven main worlds and you shouldn’t expect almost any challenge until around world five. Not that easy games can’t be fun, Forgotten Land wasn’t exactly Dark Souls, but level design is simple to a fault. Walk to the left, smack enemies around, uncover secrets using whatever Copy Abilities happen to be available in the immediate area, rinse, repeat.

As mentioned, Return to Dream Land does become more engaging in its final stretch. The game’s late-game level designs are more original and daunting, requiring players to navigate a network of flooded tunnels, platform amidst high winds, dodge giant lava balls, and more. That said, even these challenges are roughly equivalent to a mid-game stage in a New Super Mario Bros. game. At its best, Return to Dream Land still doesn’t come close to touching Forgotten Land and other top-tier Nintendo platformers.

The addition of local co-op for up to four players doesn’t help matters much. Trying to wedge co-op into their platformers was a Nintendo obsession during the Wii era, and frankly, it rarely worked particularly well. Return to Dream Land definitely isn’t the exception to the rule, as playing with multiple people usually just descends into chaos and confusion.

While its level designs may be on the simple side, but there’s no denying Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe looks fantastic. This is a full-on Metroid-Prime-Remastered-style glow up, featuring all-new assets and a fresh partially-cell-shaded visual style. Don’t be put off by poorly encoded YouTube trailers – this game looks sharp on a Switch OLED or nice TV. And hey, Return to Dream Land Deluxe actually does one-up Forgotten Land in one aspect, as it runs at 60fps (rather than 30fps) with only the briefest of dips in some visually-busy late-game stages.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe isn’t just a visual makeover, as an array of new content has been added. “Magolor Epilogue” is a new postgame mode that puts players in control of the alien scamp as he attempts to regain his powers. Initially, Magolor only has the most basic jump and a feeble attack (that makes a sad fart noise) but collecting floating Magic Points allows you to level up his abilities. When this epilogue was initially revealed, I thought it would just be a simple remixing of existing levels, but credit where it’s due, it’s actually a mostly-original adventure consisting of 20-odd stages.

Dream Land Deluxe also collects together a number of minigames — some new, but most drawn from past Kirby games — which you access through a virtual theme park entitled “Merry Magoland.” In addition to playing these minigames for fun, you can attempt to complete various challenges, which will unlock a variety of new cosmetics and decorations for Magoland.

While these new bits of Return to Dream Land Deluxe content are appreciated, none of it is that substantial or memorable. Magolor Epilogue doesn’t really play to the Kirby series’ strengths with its focus on XP collection and forcing you to re-earn basic abilities, and the entire thing can be completed in around 2 hours. Merry Magoland is good for a few laughs, but it only offers 10 minigames, most of which aren’t much deeper than those found in any random Mario Party title. Even with the new content, you may struggle to keep your enthusiasm for Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe afloat for long.

This review was based on a copy of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe provided by publisher Nintendo.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is one of Nintendo’s more expansive “Deluxe” Switch repackaging efforts, offering a slick visual makeover and a slate of new content. That said, all the additions don’t really raise Kirby’s Return to Dream Land above its status as a fun yet somewhat unremarkable game from one of the pink guy’s less ambitious eras. There’s plenty of charm on display here and younger players are likely to enjoy themselves, but this wisp of a game can only be puffed up so much.

Buy for $59.99 from Amazon

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