Kirby and the World Beyond Announced for Switch 2
Out of all of Nintendo’s tentpole IPs, Kirby still remains one of my absolute favorites. He’s shaped like a friend, and he does battle with incomprehensible cosmic horrors. Every announcement of a new Kirby game puts a…
Out of all of Nintendo’s tentpole IPs, Kirby still remains one of my absolute favorites. He’s shaped like a friend, and he does battle with incomprehensible cosmic horrors. Every announcement of a new Kirby game puts a smile on my face, though it certainly helps when said announcements feature major changes from the established Kirby formula. You can imagine, then, the big grin I got at the announcement of Kirby and the World Beyond.
At today’s Nintendo Direct, the company unveiled its newest Kirby-centric endeavor as the final trailer in the lineup. Notwithstanding spin-off titles like Kirby Air Riders and the add-on content that was released for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, this will be the first proper Kirby title to release on the Switch 2.
As has become a tendency for Nintendo lately, it’s taking the little pink guy into an even larger scope than usual. I mean that in more ways than one, as not only will this be the first open-world Kirby game, but he is literally breaking through the limits of his own reality. That Kirby, always getting up to shenanigans.
Kirby is Getting the Full Open-World Treatment
Obviously, since it was just unveiled, we don’t have much in the way of official data or details on Kirby and the World Beyond. However, we can definitely extrapolate a few things from this first trailer.
The first and most obvious quality here is that, unlike all previous mainline Kirby games, this one is going for the open-world format. The closest we’ve gotten to this previously is the pseudo-Metroidvania design of Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, but we’re going for a fully explorable environment over sectioned-off rooms.
As usual, Kirby can inhale enemies to gain Copy Abilities, though in addition to offensive properties, these abilities can also aid in exploration, such as the Parasol ability letting Kirby float long distances and block the flow from a waterfall, revealing secrets, or the Cutter ability letting Kirby fly through the air on a giant boomerang.
Unlike all previous mainline Kirby games, this one is going for the open-world format.
Additionally, after picking a fight with King Dedede, we see Kirby inadvertently poke a hole into the fabric of reality. He then meets a currently unnamed new friend who guides him to a giant sword-shaped crystal, which powers up his Sword ability to the point the sword can grow in size and chop larger objects, not unlike the Ultra Sword in Return to Dreamland. He then uses this giant sword to widen the previous crack in reality, revealing an entirely different world beyond its boundaries. Hence the title, you see.
Next Year Marks Kirby’s 35th Anniversary
We don’t have a firm release date for Kirby and the World Beyond yet, but the trailer did give us a release window of Spring 2027, so that’ll definitely be something to look forward to. Interestingly, as was clarified in the Nintendo Direct, next year will also mark the 35th anniversary of the Kirby franchise.
Such a massive, landmark title for the little guy like the World Beyond is definitely an excellent way to celebrate an anniversary, though hopefully, there’ll be a little extra on top. The Direct also revealed a couple of new Amiibo figures for Kirby Air Riders, which is nice. Unfortunately, Sakurai already confirmed a while back that development on that game has concluded, so we’re probably not going to get any more substantial content for it.
That said, the recent announcement of the Legend of Zelda Anniversary Edition Switch 2 console does give me some hope that the Kirby anniversary will come with some neat swag of its own. Whether Nintendo will put out another limited-edition Switch 2, I couldn’t say, but at the very least, a Kirby-themed Pro Controller 2 or Joy-Con 2s would be neat.
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