Why Kirby and the Forgotten Land is Getting Compared to The Last of Us
The Last of Us and Kirby are two franchises that nobody would put together, but the reveal trailer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land gave off major The Last of Us vibes. A new Kirby game was revealed at the recent Nintendo Direct, and lots of fans have been comparing it to The Last of Us and other post-apocalyptic games. Even though they're polar opposites in some ways, there's something about the new Kirby game that looks an awful lot like The Last of Us 2's Seattle- or like any major city in The Last of Us, for that matter.
The visual similarity has resulted in a lot of fan comparisons between the two, and when looking beyond Kirby and the Forgotten Land's cute and brightly colored art style, there's a lot there. The similarities are coincidental, but it's interesting how Kirby and the Forgotten Land doesn't resemble any other post-apocalyptic video game as much as it does The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2.
The Forgotten Land Looks Like the Last of Us 2's Seattle
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is already significantly different from traditional Kirby games. Most obviously, it's a fully-realized 3D world instead of a side-scrolling platformer, but it's also an interesting setting. Kirby has been to a lot of bright and colorful worlds and the Forgotten Land is no exception, but unlike Kirby's previous adventures, this world is distinctly post-apocalyptic. The enemies aren't zombies, but the overgrown skyscrapers look a lot like the urban locations in The Last of Us. In this post-apocalyptic world, nature has taken over.
The details are all there in The Forgotten Land. The broken-down cars and urban ruins (the mall, in particular) look like they were pulled right out of The Last of Us and made to look a little friendlier. The abandoned mall that's shown in the first few seconds of the trailer immediately brings the mall from "Left Behind" to mind, escalators and all. If there was a cartoon version of The Last of Us DLC, Ellie and Riley would fit right into Kirby's mall.
The dilapidated and overgrown buildings combine to create a beautiful landscape in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and players are sure to discover many mysteries within the abandoned city. The same can be said of The Last of Us 2's Seattle; despite being run down and dreary, there's a certain beauty to the landscape. There's just something about vines and plants overtaking huge industrial buildings, and the feeling that imagery evokes is the same in both games regardless of how different they are.
Similarities Between The Forgotten Land and The Last of Us Stop At the Setting
Rundown skyscrapers, rusted cars, and abandoned malls are where the similarities between The Last of Us and Kirby and the Forgotten Land stop, however. While there is something inherently dark about any post-apocalyptic universe, the story, the gameplay, and the rest of the aesthetic are very different from The Last of Us. When Kirby and the Forgotten Land releases in the Spring of 2022, it'll be interesting to see how many specific locations in the game resemble locations from The Last of Us series the same way that the abandoned mall does.
It's always fun to find similarities in two games that are so different, and before Thursday's Nintendo Direct, no one would have expected Kirby and The Last of Us to have anything in common. It's unlikely that Kirby will channel anything resembling a Clicker in The Forgotten Land, but Kirby games have been known to have surprisingly scary final bosses, so maybe there will be more similarities to be found there.
As in any post-apocalyptic world, there will probably be a few unsettling secrets and enemies to discover. That said, it's Kirby, and from the looks of things, fans can expect a gorgeous and vibrant 3D platformer completely free of the Cordyceps virus and Infected.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land will release in 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
Source: Gamerant
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