King Of The Hat Review

There’s a new indie game available on Discord, before anywhere else, should you wish to pick it up now or wait for its availability elsewhere. King of the Hat is a platforming brawler in which your hat is everything. This game has potential and if you are wondering if this is the version you should buy or wait, this review is what you’ve been looking for.

Disclaimer: I was only able to spend a brief time with the game due to unforeseen circumstances with the online functionality (I will get into that later in the review). But I did explore all aspects of the game that were available before beginning this review.

There is a wide selection of characters each of which controls a little differently and has a different level of mobility. However, there seems to be a problem with the balancing of characters with some being far better than others. Characters like Kiara, Snapback, and Cole have far better mobility when compared to characters like Zoe. A few of the characters have redeeming qualities that are meant to balance them out. The support for controllers is very robust to the point you don’t need to exit out of the game to have it work to perfection. The controls are very solid, and it will take only a few matches to get comfortable.

The game does suffer from some blatant issues that I hope will be fixed in later updates. There are very few people playing online, so the number of times one might battle the same guy may be more common than not. Other than training there is no apparent way in which you can play solo offline. It would also improve the overall online experience if there is a ranked mode, so you are paired up with people with similar skill levels. Currently on the discord build for the game you cannot play with friends which very much limits its replayability. An addition of a single player arcade/campaign might be the thing to breath some much needed life into this game. Once these issues are solved the game will be a joy to play.

Overall, King of the Hat is a fun brawler that’s identity is that of a party game. The build on discord feels more like a beta than a full game release. The price tag of $15 seems very reasonable, but only when the full game is available allowing you to play with your friend’s list. Discord is an application built for playing with your friends and without that functionality, it is not worth it on this platform. When the build comes out for the Nintendo Switch, however, I feel as though the local co-op is what will make it worth it as a purchase. There will be a review after it is released on that platform so be sure to come back around that time to see if the issues were properly addressed. If you are still interested in the game the link to it in discord can be found here, please leave your thoughts down below.