Sackboy: A Big Adventure has finally arrived on PC! The port of the 2020 released PlayStation title comes with new graphical upgrades, the same great content, and additional in-game goodies. Sumo Digital’s spin-off based on Media Molecule’s Little Big Planet takes worlds from a 2.5D platformer to 3D, and many other views, and upgrades on the previous instalment’s best features.

Sackboy’s quest begins in Craftworld, where the sack people are going about their business until the malicious Vex invades and drags all the sack people into the void. The wannabe overlord’s plan is set into motion; to enslave the inhabitants into making his Topsy Turver device for what he calls the “Uproar” of Craftworld. Sackboy manages to grab the gadget plans, which have a roadmap to the materials Vex is seeking, and his mission is to stop Vex’s takeover in its tracks by exploring various worlds, preventing the enemy from gathering resources and defeating the villain’s lackeys.

As with previous titles, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, continues the tradition of threaded creatures, sewn environments, and quirky visuals. Each world acts as a level selector screen where Sackboy can run around, buy new costumes, and jump into each stage. Gameplay isn’t limited to traditional platforming, jumping on enemies to down them, and following a sideways linear path. This game expands into 3D for a greater range of movement, with new gadgets, puzzles, and ways to traverse. The crafting of these worlds definitely has a lot of heart and retains the original charm of Little Big Planet in gameplay and design.

New mechanics are thrown into the mix during world exploration: grapples, boomerangs, hover boots, and weapons, such as a fish to mercilessly whack enemies with. Each new feature is easy to learn with clever incorporation into the progression that keeps gameplay feeling fresh. On top of new tools, antics range from herding creatures, avoiding yeti “boulders”, dodging obstacles, and frantically trying to stay on screen as platforms move.

While there aren’t any difficulty settings in the game, it can become stressful in instances of these moving platforms or while trying to outrun the screen space. When it comes to pick-ups, such as Dreamer Orbs, Score Bubbles, prizes, such as outfits and emotes, and Collectibells, it can become difficult to manoeuvre fast enough in these situations to grab them. The challenge here is to survive while collecting everything, exploring every nook-and-cranny for those precious few items preventing a perfect gold score the first time around.

Platforming can be challenging, requiring timing and finesse to move forward, otherwise risking falling off the world or being snuffed out by a hazard. On some occasions, progress came to a standstill due to mere impatience on my part after dying multiple times, and attempting to rush past the cause of my downfall, unsurprisingly, continued the cycle. Luckily, there are plenty of spawn points scattered throughout stages and a fairly decent amount of lives to risk, as occasionally, a smashed prop reveals bonus lives so the game is fairly forgiving.

Enemies were diverse and it took time to learn their vulnerabilities to avoid projectiles and break their defenses. Boss battles were a very predictable rinse-and-repeat combat. Think of being on conveyor belts while dodging bombs to throw them back. Encounters didn’t feel as satisfying landing the final blow with the same set of actions, and this is where the gameplay mostly fell short for me. The most dangerous beast of all for me was the optional Knitted Knight challenges that offer great goodies, at a great price – my sanity. Needless to say, I ragequit pretty hard in these time trials and obstacle courses.

As with previous games, clothing items can still be found in levels, but a new quality of life change comes in the form of Zom Zom’s store, where additional costume items can be purchased in exchange for Collectibells. I found myself sticking to the ready-made skins, including an incredible caterpillar costume, a banana ensemble, and world-specific threads. The PC release generously includes outfits of iconic PlayStation characters, among them, are Aloy, from Horizon: Zero Dawn, Ellie, from The Last of Us, and even Fall Guys. The biggest omission and possibly most disappointing for crafters out there is the lack of community-level creation, which removes a lot of potential for reimaginings of worlds and mechanics which, for long-term replayability, is a huge loss.

The PC version has a graphical quality set to stunning with settings that boast better visuals and performance. Taking advantage of Unreal Engine and NVIDIA’s technology, Sackboy was able to be brought to life in High Definition. Textures are sharp, showing every single piece of fuzz on Sackboy, every thread on setpieces, and realistic surfaces such as timber and fabric. Shadows and thanks to raytracing, the way light and reflections respond to each surface is a noticeable standout from the 2020 PlayStation release.

The capabilities of PC hardware help Sackboy to go above and beyond visually, but sometimes, the graphical quality came at a cost of performance. On the 2080Ti with a GeForce RTX graphics card, I still experienced issues of stutter, and as a result, I had to drop down from the highest possible settings very early into playing. On my first playthrough, the shader compilation stutter was incredibly noticeable with environments rendering slowly and making the game feel janky. With the huge selection of graphical options, I was able to overcome the issues by adjusting sliders. On unlimited frame and refresh rates after overcoming the shader compilation, the game ran flawlessly and still looked incredible.

While this game is entertaining solo, it’s even better with friends. With the ability to play through the whole game and co-op levels using drop-in/out online or locally with up to 4 players. I delved in with a friend and we spent a good majority of time throwing each other and delivering crisp slaps instead of finishing levels. Luckily, when playing co-op, lives are infinite and focus on cooperation, that is, until the competition for the best score comes into play. As a hilarious exercise in teamwork and a bonding exercise, Sackboy takes the win.

Sound design was the ultimate winner through my adventures, and sound effects, voice acting, and music are flawlessly integrated into gameplay. A particular early level uses the instantly recognisable song, Uptown Funk, and requires players to move through the level while props, platforms, and enemies bop along in time. That level set the tone for the rest of the game, how timing and music would work in unison, and introduce more recognisable tracks during my travels.

On start-up, the game will suggest using a PS5 controller to get the best experience by using the adaptive controls. The responsiveness means feeling interactive feedback, like jumping and hitting in real-time for further immersion. It plays just as well on keyboard, but any PC-compatible controller offers that little extra oomph through the use of feedback vibrations.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure weaves a cute, feel-good tale with so much heart and variety. An incredible amount of love can be felt in the attention to detail that makes up the whole of this game. Suitable for family fun, solo, or alongside friends, this little trip is worth taking.

Written by: Yasmin Noble