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Right. There's a whole backstory — a whole mess of lore, as we like to call to it — with regards to Atooi's Hatch Tales. You can read about it in detail here or, TL;DR, it's six years late releasing and its Kickstarter backers have been rightly miffed, and more than a little concerned.
Anyway, it's here now, and when this particular writer first clapped eyes on its mobile phone aesthetic, well, we've never been more convinced we were about to be treated to an absolute disaster. However, this is not the case. Surprise surprise, haters, Hatch Tales is actually very good.
It might not heal all wounds, as Atooi was notoriously poor at communicating its plans of action throughout development, and if we could mark it down for this stuff we would, but the fact is that the game itself is a very smart and fiendishly addictive little treat.
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There's not really too much to explain in terms of the gameplay loop; you guide Hatch around chunky little levels with a hookshot, a beaky attack, and restricted movement, and this inability to bound in any and all directions is a good decision for such a small-scale game, one that focuses you in on making well-timed jumps, and avoiding the game's colourful menagerie of enemies by tiny margins. It opens up and adds movements and tricks as it goes, don't worry, but it never loses this small-scale focus, which we love.
As Hatch ventures forth through traps and past foes (or you can hookshot and peck to kill 'em), he'll collect shiny treasures (100 per level) and, if you're super observant and patient, you can also nab a scroll that unlocks a second playable zone or crack open a tear in space-time to enter a bonus area. You also unlock access to Mutant Mudds levels as you go. If you've ever played the superlative Mutant Mudds before, in fact, the rhythm and flow of things here is very similar, just replace water-shooting-hover-backpack-doodah with grapple and pecking abilities. Sorted.
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Well, not quite. There are also abilities scattered around to give you speed boosts and so on, so you can boost across falling blocks and the like. If we sound a little dismissive of old-school, low-key stuff like this, we aren't meaning to be. This is a very exactingly-made thing, an expertly put-together little adventure that really gives you a challenge if you look to collect every last coin and scroll. Each and every level is a little brain/reflex workout that just feels good, even if it all looks a little naff.
Originally, the beefy boy Hatch, whom you play as here — and who comes across as a sort of Angry Birds version of Link — was a much more cutesy character called Chicken Wiggle, who used a worm, instead of Hatch's grapple, to pull himself around levels. Atooi changed direction somewhere along the line and swapped Chicken Wiggle out for this 'cooler' protagonist.
Why on earth are we bothering to tell you this? Because, you see, you can play the core campaign mode as Hatch, but you can also enter a title screen cheat code to unlock Chicken Wiggle's OG levels, which were made available some time ago to backers. This separate campaign also lets you switch between retro and modern graphics.
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All of this adds up to an indie platform/puzzle delight that's got a surprising amount of depth to it, especially given the price of entry (which, despite what the game looks like from the outside, actually feels reasonable once you've played the thing). Oh, and as a bonus cherry on top, you can create and share your very own little blocky levels and challenges with the community - there are already a few offerings on there.
It's had its problems, and it's just a little later than scheduled in arriving. But, in the end, what we've got is a lovingly made ode to the sorts of platformers that are fantastic but might have you pulling your hair out every now and again. Listen, it's how this writer went bald, and he's not sorry.
Conclusion
Hatch Tales, as late as it is in arriving, has ended up really surprising us. This is a delightful retro platformer, full of challenge and focus, that gives you a whole bunch of fun ways to play. Even with just the core campaign, with its smart level design and laser-like focus on doing what it's doing very well, we'd have been satisfied, but the addition of retro Chick Wiggle and Mutant Mudds modes, alongside the online creation offerings, make for a very tidy package indeed, thank you very much.
Comments 45
yup, this is a fun game!
Yo, so happy Jools finally managed to release this! :v
I'm a stalwart fan of his, so I'll be getting this very soon. Thank you for the review!
Man those visuals are very unappealing. Like the worst form of flash game art.
Thanks for the review, glad to hear that despite the troubled development the game itself turned out to be overall great and considering that I'll eventually get it for sure!
Does this game have any sound? If so, how is it?
Is it single player only?
What sort of longevity can I expect out of it?
Well I'd hope it be good. Some people on this website have probably started families in those six years. Not me, but still.
It reminds me a lot of Mutant Mudds, and I'd say that's a good thing. I'll hold out for the inevitable Super Rare physical release.
I watched some random vid review and it did not grab me. Maybe a demo would jog my interest but I’m not so sure about this one
@gcunit It has fairly run of the mill mario-esque cheery platform vibes. I'm sure there are YouTube clips that will do a better job than that description.
Is single player only, and it took me about 12hrs over 2 or 3 sessions but I flew through it and you could spend a long time collecting everything. Hard to say exactly as the platforming can be tough at times, so depends how used to the genre you are.
It looks as basic as basic can be. Like a flash game you’d find on CoolMathGames and play in class.
Yeah, Atooi has had problems communicating at times, but I must say they always bring the goods. I can’t recall a game of theirs I haven’t liked, even dating back to the Renegade Kid days.
@Savage_Joe I was a backer and despite the wait, am very glad the game came out because the gameplay is fantastic. But the HD visuals have 100% gone in the wrong direction; this is Flash art and it's not good. If I could play Hatch's levels in OG pixel art like with the CW levels, I absolutely would and never look back.
Those graphics makes me want to not play the game.
This game used to look good, now it does not.
What happened to the sweet pixelart?
If they wanted to move away from pixels: Ok, but this is not it, this looks like a cheap mobile game.
The new character design: No, thanks.
Before it was this happy yellow bird with a pink worm in the backpack. Colorful, happy design. I liked it.
Now its this grumpy bird in drab colors with a cold, sharp hookshot in the backpack. Looks so unfriendly.
I'd like to hear more about the level editor. How easy is it to use, how much depth and freedom is there to build "out there" level designs, how does the sharing work etc?
I’m still too annoyed at the whole debacle to play it. But when I do I shall be playing Chicken Wiggle with the pixel art and leaving the ugly, cringey Hatch Tales side alone. My backlog is too big anyway.
I like the idea of the game, but found it really hard, which means it's probably just not for me.
I had a similar issue w/Mutant Mudds - which looked fun, but just required a level of consistent precision that required replaying levels over and over, which is something I would have done 30+ years ago, but I don't have any patience for anymore. Unless there is something added to make it more accessible for those of us who don't have endless hours to replay the same thing over and over until we get it, my first 30 minutes with the game will be my only 30 minutes.
I loved Xeodrifter and have bought and played through it multiple times, but Hatch Tales, which was Chicken Wiggle when I thought I was backing it, follows the illusion of Atooi games - they look fun and approachable, but they are much harder than they look, so, despite the interesting mechanics and lovely visuals, they are just too hard for me to enjoy. I expect this will be the last one I get.
@gcunit Hard to believe the review skipped over the 12-player split screen, the 120-hour story mode, and the fully orchestrated soundtrack by the London Philharmonic. Really missed the mark on those key features.
Oh sh*t, this actually came out? I got bored of Jools' bi-annual email "updates" sent out to backers - showing a screenshot of the title screen or some such nonsense - around three years ago. I'm back on the Switch train now (having got a Switch OLED as an early birthday present) so maybe in between catching up on all the Nintendo games I've missed from over the past few years, I'll check my emails for the Hatch Tales code.
Maybe.
@cedarhyped 🤣🤣🤣
I don’t understand what people are talking about with the “flash game” remarks. I think it looks loads better than the original promised kickstarter look with the chicken and the worm. People are funny on this site
Really don't like the change to the main character(s). The only thing wrong with the original game was its dumb sounding name, not the characters. And this had to be one of the worst handled Kickstarters of all time. This released six years after it was supposed to. Just a catastrophic failure of project management.
@cedarhyped With 5 separate paragraphs making reference to the game releasing later than originally expected, I suppose there's not much room for those trivial matters.
I loved Chicken Wiggle, so I might get this eventually.
@Ogbert
Just so you're aware, the Chicken Wiggle content requires either beating the main game by beating the final boss, or a secret input code on the title screen.
The Hatch Tales campaign itself doesn't support the pixel art visuals available in Chicken Wiggle.
A large amount of the side quest content in Hatch Tales is also just recycled Chicken Wiggle levels.
@RupeeClock Yeah I backed it 6 years ago so I should have the code to skip having to beat Hatch Tales to get the stuff I actually want.
Also I will say, people talk about it looking like a 'Flash game'. I don't really think that's fair on Flash games. It just looks generic. Flash doesn't have a built in visual style, it's just vectors, and if people use them lazily then yeah they could look like this, but they don't have too.
Team Meat (Super Meat Boy, Binding of Issac), The Behemoth (Castle Crashers, Alien Hominid) and SFB Games (Tangle Tower, Snipperclips) all started in Flash and their games never looked like this. I'm sure they've all moved on now and don't use it anymore, and their visuals are certainly better with experience and time, but most of their old games are still online to play.
@Ogbert @RupeeClock "A large amount of the side quest content in Hatch Tales is also just recycled Chicken Wiggle levels."
To clarify: Only the Chicken Wiggle campaign itself is recycled, any CW bonus levels in Hatch's campaign are brand new, unless my memory is crap.
I backed it years ago and after the way he treated his backers will never play one of his games again. Here's my code for the game if anyone wants it
E11VB6TMCBPCPFY8
Does anyone else remember this game getting a review several months ago but the score was much worse? What am I thinking of?
I really liked Chicken Wiggle, so it's good that this reviewed well. That being said, the graphics frankly look pretty bad although I like the idea of switching to the original graphics in that other mode. So I'm definitely torn. I'm sure the gameplay is fine, as the other one had solid gameplay, but why does it look...like this? It just looks kind of bland compared to the relatively distinct Chicken Wiggle graphics.
Like, who is the target audience for this new character? I don't get it, I guess.
I might grab this at some point, though my platforming skills have abraded somewhat over the years.
Great review, PJ!
Now can we get Treasurenauts?
Looking at these screenshots, 1) why was anyone even initially interested and 2) why was anyone still interested six years later?
Game looks great. Just what I like.
Jools is a flake, but Mutant Mudds is awesome and this looks fun, I'll pick up when it's on sale.
@canaryfarmer
The Kickstarter campaign was for "Chicken Wiggle Workshop", a straight-forward port of the 3DS game Chicken Wiggle, with an option to toggle HD graphics, an online level creator and sharer, and a few music tracks from Grant Kirkhope.
It was only a small campaign for $30k and raised $35k, it should have just delivered on the promises and released after a year at most, but stalled and stalled until eventually giving us a completely different game.
@canaryfarmer You can't judge a platformer on screenshots alone. It's not a cinematic narrative driven game, so the graphics of still images are the least important thing to analyze here.
@gmnvdr Hatch Tales uses an updated version of the level editor on Chicken Wiggle, so all the levels that were available to share online before the 3DS eShop shut down are available again now, which is well over 2,000 levels.
You can make 64x64 tile levels
119 unique objects
21 biomes (art/music swaps)
6 objectives
5 environment/meta options
Sharing online is fairly easy and standard (you have to beat it 100% yourself to verify it can be done first). There's room on your save file for 60 custom levels (your own and downloaded total). Pretty sure I have numbers correct, did a quick runthrough in the editor to check.
Looks cute and fun as heck.
I played this garbage for about 10 minutes after using my code. I was planning on throwing it away, but figured I already paid, so what difference does it make. Not sure what you guys are talking about, it isn't fun at all. Also, where's the game I actually backed?
@PJOReilly Are you able to create your own Mutant Mudd style levels?
@Krambo42 Someone doesn't read their emails or keep up with Kickstarter, lol. OG Chicken Wiggle is in the game, you have to unlock it by beating Hatch's campaign or entering a main menu cheat code.
@Supervideoman22 No, sadly. We can only hope and voice our desire for a Mudds editor in the next entry for Mudds.
@Kilroy Ah dang it 😭 as long as we get Mudds 3 I'd be happy.
@HotGoomba a hot goomba like you should have six seperate families by now. Spicy /j
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