Official Review Computer

Mr Sun's Hatbox (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review

Name: Mr Sun's Hatbox
Item: Mr Sun's Hatbox
Rating: 7.5
Author: Prans

Product Information:

Release Date (NA): April 20, 2023
Release Date (EU): April 20, 2023
Publisher: Raw Fury
Developer: Kenny Sun
Genres: Roguelite, platformer, stealth, action
Also For: Nintendo Switch

Game Features:

Single player

Local Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Co-operative

Indie developer Kenny Sun’s roguelite platformer Mr Sun's Hatbox is out now on PC and Switch. Despite its slapstick premise and cartoon-y looks, it shares more in common with a particular Metal Gear Solid title than meets the eye. Let’s check it out!

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Oh no! Mr Sun’s hatbox delivery has been stolen by the malevolent Mr Moon and his goons! Only one thing to do as the benevolent courrier that you are, retrieve the hatbox - by all means necessary. This means, of course, setting up a base, infiltrating enemy locales and recruiting former hat thieves to get hatbox justice.

On a mission to retrieve a hatbox, at all cost

Mr Sun's Hatbox’s plot is pretty straightforward as it’s not much of a story-driven game. The main mission is to find the titular hatbox by going through 5 Hat Heists and one final mission, which are interspersed by smaller missions which you need to go through in order to actually be able to take on a Hat Heist. There are small cutscenes but nothing major and the filler missions are procedurally generated levels with different aims ranging from rescues to all-out battles.

So if you’re looking for a narrative title, you’ll be disappointed. What it does have to offer is a gameplay that mixes features of base building, R&D, recruitment, stealth-action and more.

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Snake? Snake! Did you infiltrate this roguelite platformer?

That last line might sound familiar to those who’ve played Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker. This surprised me at first given the stark differences between the look and premises of those games. But the Peace Walker influences are unmistakable in Mr Sun’s Hatbox mechanics.

Just like in the former, you tackle missions solo (unless you opt for co-op mode) in this indie title and upon encountering an enemy, you can knock them out and decide whether to capture, kill or let them be. Based on your available retrieval balloons, you can further steal and enemy equipment to be sent to your base storage.

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While the latter are automatically added to your inventory storage, captured enemies are sent to the brig. There, for a fee, you can brainwash them and recruit them. This adds them to your crew and you can assign them to different departments. The latter range from R&D to Black Market and you can build new units as you complete missions. Some recruits can be better at research than others and there’s a handy option to optimise task assignments. Others might need some patching up after a mission and you’ll need to assign them to the Med Bay, if you have some money to be allocated for this purpose. In this way, there’s a resource management aspect to the game which can get quite interesting and tactical.

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Recruits that are not engaged in an activity can be chosen to proceed in a mission. As you get more recruits, you’ll be able to weigh the one most appropriate to tackle the task based on their qualities. Each unit comes with its own characteristics which aren't always in your mission's best interest. Some can only aim weapons only forward, others throw a fit when they snap the neck of an enemy while some can have all of these characteristics and some more. However, you can unlock new quirks by successfully completing missions with a unit member and levelling up to gain new abilities.

Despite the potential shortcomings of a recruit, you can equip them with weapons and a hat from your storage before beginning a mission. These can give you an edge in tackling enemies as you can shoot, throw or stab foes based on your equipped weapon. As for the hats, they can give you special abilities such as inflicting damage to an enemy that’s targeting you from above or make you more sneaky.

It’s also worth noting that your equipment can be damaged following encounters or repetitive use. This adds an additional layer of challenge as you’ll need to balance between being sneaky or taking enemies head-on with the potential to capture their weapon but at the risk of sounding the alarm and dealing with reinforcements.

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The more the merrier

One advice, don’t get too attached to your recruits as Mr Sun’s Hatbox features permadeath. And it’s quite easy to get killed if you aren’t prepared enough or get caught in the frenzy that is common in missions. Getting the hang of the mechanics does take some time, especially as not every mission is the same; with some requiring you to kill all enemies and others requiring you to kidnap a certain character and killing them (even accidentally) will lead to a failed mission. In the latter case, you can still try to make it to the escape hatch unscathed and collect items/recruit enemies. But once you do get a hang of the mechanics, Mr Sun’s Hatbox offers a fair challenge.

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However, playing missions solo can feel same-y over time. Sure, they’ll look different and have different aims and there's lots of quests you can tackle both during the main playthrough and post-credits; but they’re mostly different flavours of a mission you’ve already completed. There’s only so much fun to be had in solo but the formula works better in co-op mode for some mindless fun.

Mr Sun's Hatbox | Launch Trailer

Verdict

What We Liked ...

Interesting mix of mechanics
Strategic approach to resource management
Fun co-op mode

What We Didn't Like ...

Learning curve to mechanics
Missions can feel same-y over time

Gameplay

Mr Sun’s Hatbox merges a number of mechanics from stealth to base building, not unlike Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, which can lead to interesting strategic approaches.

Presentation

With a straightforward plot and retro-inspired look, Mr Sun’s Hatbox keeps its presentation simple and to-the-point.

Lasting Appeal

The procedurally-generated levels and co-op add to the replayability of this title but levels do feel same-y over time.

7.5

out of 10

Overall

Drawing surprising parallels to Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker’s mechanics, Mr Sun’s Hatbox delivers an overall enjoyable indie experience.

Yet another roguelite, yaawn...I think the only one that's actually amazing is The Binding Of Isaac Rebirth (And its various DLCs), but it came out almost 10 years ago :rofl2:

Xzi
May 3, 2023

Cris1997XX said:
Yet another roguelite, yaawn...I think the only one that's actually amazing is The Binding Of Isaac Rebirth (And its various DLCs), but it came out almost 10 years ago

Are you serious? Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, and Monster Train are all amazing in their own right. Risk of Rain 2, Noita, and Returnal deserve an honorable mention. BoI also kind of fell off after Rebirth.

Reactions: AngryCinnabon and Cris1997XX

Xzi said:
Risk of Rain 2, Noita, and Returnal deserve an honorable mention.

honorable mention my ass why didn't you include it in the first few

Anyways... i'd care more but these types of stealth games work better in full 3D. A sequel that expands the game by a full dimension would be cool

Reactions: Cris1997XX, AngryCinnabon and Xzi

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