For months after its announcement Kirby and the Forgotten Land was largely a mystery, but Nintendo has now unveiled a lot more details. Kirby fans know the game will offer new Copy Abilities like Drill and Ranger alongside plenty of Kirby's classic powers. The game will offer two-person multiplayer using Bandana Waddle Dee, and Waddle Dee Town will serve as a hub with stores and minigames. However, while Kirby and the Forgotten Land's Beast Pack will serve as Kirby's enemies, it's unclear who the game's main antagonist will be.
Many fans suspect that Kirby's fox-like companion Elfilin is a traitor in the making, but it's possible that the Beast Pack has a distant leader who will threaten him. There could be a third, unconnected force responsible for laying waste to the game's lost civilization, too. Nevertheless, signs suggest the game's villain could be one of the franchise's most frightening. Kirby and the Forgotten Land has a PEGI 7 rating, partially for "Fear," a label which the European video game content rating board has never given a Kirby game. Whoever the true threat awaiting Kirby may be, they could set a new standard for the franchise's long line of horrific foes.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land's Hidden Monster
Every longtime Kirby fan knows the franchise has a habit of being cute and friendly up until the very end, when many of its true antagonists transform or unveil true forms. Zero-Two, the final boss of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, is known for its resemblance to an angel crying blood, while the traitorous Marx's boss forms are infamously unsettling. PEGI was invented after these bosses' appearances, but it notably passed on giving Fear ratings to other Kirby games with creepy final bosses such as Magolor Soul from Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
Considering how many of these adversaries either trick Kirby into helping them or hide their influence until the end of the game, it's no surprise that fans are already speculating Elfilin will betray Kirby in the end. Once the Beast Pack is defeated, it's possible Elfilin will somehow complete a transformation that reveals his true role in Kirby and the Forgotten Land's plot. Trailers showing a doll resembling Elfilin in one of the Beast Pack's cages suggests there's more to Elfilin than meets the eye, and there could be a gruesome monster in the underneath.
Yet Elfilin is only one possibility. Kirby's antagonists who draw on horror show up for all kinds of reasons, but Kirby and the Forgotten Land's post-apocalyptic map means the game could offer something new. The environment might already hint toward some cosmic horror responsible for destroying a lost civilization, eventually leading Kirby to defeat that being before it lays waste to the world a second time. The PEGI rating makes it clear that Kirby and the Forgotten Land has something scary in store, but it's hard to say for sure where that frightening threat will come from.
Kirby's Frights Define the Franchise
Although it may seem strange to think of a Kirby game earning a Fear label, it seems like an inevitable conclusion for the franchise's brand. After decades of unsettling antagonists, it makes sense that a new Kirby game would finally receive notes about its frightening elements. While Kirby and the Forgotten Land's final antagonist may not be true horror game material, HAL Laboratory could still whip up a villain that seems too scary for such a lighthearted adventure. It's great to see that, after all these years, Kirby still hasn't abandoned the dark elements that make its otherwise bright world so interesting.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land releases on March 25, 2022 for Nintendo Switch.