SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE
Five things to love about Sackboy: A Big Adventure on PlayStation 5
01 Knitted together
This adventure supports up to four players running and jumping around at the same time, whether that’s online or locally. You can play the entire game in co-op, and if you and your pals are extra-synergised there’s even a set of co-op specific levels that will put your friendship through its paces. You can interact with your fellow crafties to pull off special moves. You can catapult them to reach higher levels, for example, or jump on them and roll them around like a circus performer on a ball, or give ’em a good kick. “It’s really slapstick and chaotic, and I hope it’ll cause a few arguments at Christmas,” laughs Ned Waterhouse, creative director at Sumo Digital.
02 Getting playful
The game is targeting 60fps on PS5 for an ultra-smooth experience. “It’s all about having the most responsive character we could,” says Waterhouse, who reveals Sackboy has a deep set of moves that require skill to master, and that the silky-smooth framerate helps. “You can create different combos which will allow you to navigate the world in different ways, and kind of define your own play style.”
03 Safe hands
The game offers plenty of content for platform game perfectionists. Waterhouse reveals to unlock everything, collect all of the costume pieces, set the best high scores, and more will take time. The developer also reveals there will be unique post-game content and side-quests. Sackboy is on a quest to become a Knitted Knight: “The Knitted Knight Trials are these really quickfire arcade-y speedrun challenges where you’ve got a single life to get to the finish line in the shortest possible time across this hazard-strewn obstacle course. And to set the gold ranks in that, you have to get really good with the character,” explains Waterhouse, who tells us one trial lasts ten minutes on one life.
04 The complete picture
Sackboy: A Big Adventure will aim to make use of PS5’s new features, particularly the new Activities cards and picture-in-picture help and guide videos. “If you want to quickly get to a hint that tells you where to find that secret or how to set that score,” says Waterhouse, “then it’s at your fingertips. It’s there without taking you out of the game.”
To to master a level in this game you have to complete it; you need to set a gold score by not losing any lives, beating the times, and discovering every collectible. It may look cute and lovable but there’s a dark, demanding side to Sackboy’s new game. You’ll be thankful of PS5’s new UI.
05 Feeling crafty
There’s nothing worse than a 3D platformer with a bland world. Happily, when it comes to Craftworld the devs can let their creativity run riot, as it’s an environment that looks so handmade you might even try to reach out and touch it. (On PS5, expect to feel some textural elements through the DualSense controller.) Each level is designed to feel unique, and you’ve plenty to make your way through, from gorgeous underwater-themed stages to a factory and a snow world. Some of the platforming tropes of themed worlds are here, naturally, but they’ve never looked as good as this before.