It’s that time again, where the gaming community is impatiently waiting for the rest of the 2022 releases. We did hear some exciting news to keep us occupied until the rest of the year. Two major gaming updates took the cake for March 2022: Kirby and the Forgotten Land and the newest season of Fortnite.

Kirby’s Forgotten Land
Kirby and the Forgotten Land released on March 25, 2022. This game takes the classic Kirby style of games, a linear platformer, and throws it out the window. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the first game where Kirby is finally allowed to explore the third dimension. The plot of The Forgotten Land is quite simple: Kirby is washed up and arrives at the Forgotten Land, or the actual name, “New World.” Waddle Dees were being kidnapped by the ferocious Beast Pack and it is up to Kirby to save the day yet again. Nothing too different from the typical Kirby games. Also, Kirby doesn’t only have his copy ability: now he gains “Mouthful Mode.” The gist of Mouthful Mode is that Kirby would inhale an object; but instead of copying that object’ ability, Kirby would stretch into the shape of that object and gain the properties of that object. For the first few weeks of this game’s release, people have been enjoying it. Most people agree that even with the shift from 2D to 3D, it still feels and controls like a Kirby game. Some people would even go as far as saying this game is the best game of 2022, but we will wait to stake that claim later in the year. Overall, Kirby and the Forgotten Land has its own unique concepts, and can stand with the rest of the Kirby franchise.

Fortnite
With the new upcoming season of Fortnite, the developers at Epic Games needed to create new concepts in order to keep the game fresh, but this time, they’ve outdone themselves, taking the concept that made Fortnite its own game and removing it. The developers decided to completely take out “building” from Fortnite. Players are no longer able to build quick walls to protect themselves from oncoming bullets. No more insane build battles between players. No need to mine for materials. Players gained the ability to sprint and climb on walls, but that’s it. Fortnite basically became PUBG, and the playerbase was split on this decision. On one hand, players who mastered the art of building and could build insane structures complained that Fortnite is removing the one concept that made them popular in the first place, and it is hurting people who took the time to practice their building skills. On the other side, players who played the game more casually found Fortnite to be much more enjoyable. They argue that it gives a balanced skill range. Before, these players would say that the skill ceiling was getting so high to the point where they couldn’t even have the chance to compete against the tryhards of the game. Epic Games knew that this argument would happen between their players, but they had a solution. They made their competitive gamemode “Arena” for players who wanted to play Fortnite with building allowed, and they made their normal gamemode “Battle Royale,” without building. So, players who wanted to play with buildings can play Arena while players who want to experience the new season fully can play in the Battle Royale gamemode. As the player base continued to play the new season, most people found themselves enjoying the game more than usual. The idea of the building being removed allows battles to be more fair between two players. Now, it is about aiming and using the environment for better positions, instead of building massive structures and material-dependence. Yet again, Epic Games is able to continue keeping Fortnite fresh with new ideas and more lore, even if it is changing the main core concept that made Fortnite popular in the first place.

BOTW 2
Lastly, I do want to briefly address the recent news of the anticipated Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild 2. BOTW 2, was announced to release in late 2022 last year, but now the release date was changed to spring of 2023. This recent news didn’t really upset me personally, as I am not a BOTW fan, but I did talk to a friend of mine who is a huge fan, Noel Kakkanattu. According to Noel, he is deeply saddened by the sudden change of release date. He has been waiting since the announcement of BOTW 2 back in June 2019. And unfortunately, he now has to wait even longer for his favorite franchise to receive its most desired installment.