After its Kickstarter success many years ago, it’s good to see 3D platformer A Hat In Time released, and as well recieved as it is. It has seen glowing reviews across the board, including no shortage of praise from players disappointed by Yooka-Laylee. A successful launch is not the end of the story for the game by any means, and the first step in its long journey begins with the addition of full mod support.
In order to get the ball rolling, developers Gears For Breakfast have used their official mod toolkit to produce a pair of example pieces in official conjunction with other indie developers, allowing you to borrow headgear from the protagonists of Freedom Planet & Psychonauts along with their iconic powers.
Not too many other notable hats in our list of indie gems here, but great games nonetheless.
To access these new hats, there’s a trio of prerequisites. First: Have the Steam version of the game (sady, modding has not come to the GOG edition quite yet), second, opt into the Modding Beta build of the game (right-click on your A Hat In Time entry in your Steam library and look in Properties), and thirdly,subscribe to the mods on the Steam workshop. If all went to plan, you should now find them in your inventory in-game.
The new powers are impressively complete, as you can see in the footage above by Youtuber Keychain. Fitting in perfectly with the aesthetic of the game, Raz’s hat allows Hat Kid to use his Thought Bubble power from Psychonauts for a little added elevation and mobility, and Lilac’s headpiece (equipped as a badge-slot accessory, rather than a hat) allows for a cyclone-jump attack, further extending movement options and complete with a new voice clip.
As crossover promo items go, these are pretty great to begin with, but as examples of what can be modded into the game, paired with full level editor support, they’re even more exciting. The game is now effectively offering a full 3D platformer toolkit, with easily modded systems allowing for new powers, equipment and enemies to be added in mostly-seamless fashion.
The developer has also promisedfurther official crossover modsalong the way, including content from Shovel Knight, Hyper Light Drifter, OneShot, Kero Blaster and Gurumin, with no word yet as to whether they’ll be hats, badges, weapons or levels.
A Hat In Time is available on Steam, GOG and Humble for £23/$30, although at present only the Steam version has mod support.