A Hat in Time is a platform action-adventure video game developed by Gears for Breakfast and published by Humble Bundle. The game was developed using Unreal Engine 3 and funded through a Kickstarter campaign, which doubled its fundraising goals within its first two days. It is inspired by earlier 3D platformers such as Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon and Psychonauts. The game was self-published for Microsoft Windows and macOS in October 2017, and by Humble Bundle for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles two months later. Bundled with the Seal the Deal DLC pack, a Nintendo Switch port will be released on October 18, 2019.
Gameplay
A Hat in Time is a platform action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The gameplay style has been described by several editors to be similar to Nintendo 64 platformers such as Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. The player travels between four open levels, which can be freely explored without time limits. The player can collect various items, solve puzzles, and use an umbrella to combat enemies. The primary objective is to collect "Time Pieces", 40 of which can be found in the game, which unlock additional levels as more are collected. After being defeated, the enemies drop "Pons", currency that can be used to unlock additional challenges and purchase badges that increase Hat Kid's abilities. The player can collect Yarn Balls in each level, which can be stitched into new hats to wear. Each hat grants Hat Kid a different ability, such as a faster sprint or brewing explosive potions. Other collectibles include "Relics", which can be used to unlock "Time Rift" bonus levels, and "Rift Tokens", which can be exchanged at a machine for bonus materials such as music remixes and additional cosmetics. Initial actions taken earlier in the game have an effect on later levels, as the main character revisits each area several times before the game is finished.
Death Wish
Death Wish is a challenge mode. It was released on September 4, 2018 along with the Seal the Deal DLC. This mode comprises various challenges that use already existing levels. The player interacts with Snatcher, a contract-obsessed ghost who first appears in the third chapter of the base game. The player takes on a challenge to earn a stamp upon completion. The player can also earn two more stamps by completing two challenges along with the main objective.
Plot
A Hat in Time follows Hat Kid, a little girl trying to return to her home world via spaceship. While on her journey, she passes over a planet, and a member of the planet's Mafia comes to collect a toll for the Mafia Town government. When Hat Kid refuses to pay, the Mafia man busts the spaceship door open, causing Hat Kid and all of her "Time Pieces", magical hourglasses that power her ship, to fall to the planet below. Hat Kid lands in Mafia Town and meets Mustache Girl, a local troublemaker who hates "bad guys". Mustache Girl agrees to look for the missing Time Pieces in exchange for Hat Kid's help fighting the Mafia, and the two defeat the Mafia Boss. When Mustache Girl realizes the Time Pieces can rewind time, she wants to use them to become a time-traveling superhero, but Hat Kid refuses due to the dangers of manipulating time. Angered, Mustache Girl declares the two enemies and sets off to find the Time Pieces on her own.
Hat Kid ventures across the planet looking for Time Pieces, encountering and befriending many foes that included two rival bird directors DJ Grooves and the Conductor competing for a movie award and a group of mountain villagers called Nomads infected by a dangerous plague, ultimately befriending them all. Hat Kid also outwitted a malevolent spirit called the Snatcher into becoming her best friend after he tried to kill her after tricking her into doing his dirty work in Subcon Forest. The game's DLCs also have Hat Kid searching for Time Pieces while working in the Artic Cruise and under the employ of the Nyakuza crime boss Empress, the latter ending with Hat Kid forced to flee Nyakuza Metro after a bounty was placed on her head. But Mustache Girl exploited Hat Kid's absence to break into her ship and steals the collected Time Pieces, using them to turn the planet into a fiery inferno where her word is law. Hat Kid confronts her, but Mustache Girl uses the Time Pieces to open a time rift and make herself all-powerful. The enemies Hat Kid has fought come to her aid in battle, some sacrificing themselves so that Hat Kid can use their dropped Pons to power herself up. Hat Kid finally defeats Mustache Girl and uses the Time Pieces to restore the planet to normal and revive all those who were lost. The player can then choose whether Hat Kid should hand over a Time Piece to Mustache Girl for protection or not. Though her former foes are sad to see her leave, Hat Kid restores the Time Pieces to her vault and resumes her voyage home. In a post-credits scene, Hat Kid is shown sleeping in bed surrounded by toys resembling the other characters.
