Sackboy: Big Adventure (for PC) Review | Biden News

It’s easy to forget that Sony sometimes makes platformers because of the press it gets for bombastic, action-adventure titles (Horizon Forbidden West, Uncharted) and grim dad sims (God of War, The Last of Us: Part I). Originally released alongside the Playstation 5, Sackboy: Big Adventure is quietly making its way to the PC with widescreen monitor support, high frame rates and Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). It was one of the strongest, most underrated PS5 launch titles, and the $59.99 PC game remains just as fun nearly two years later.

Sackboy: Big Adventure is a fantastic 3D platformer that is packed with almost everything you want from the genre: Simple controls, chaotic multiplayer, creative level design, gorgeous visuals and an outrageously catchy soundtrack full of radio hits. In many ways, the game feels like a fully realized version of Astro’s Playroom, and while it’s not as nostalgic-rotten as that PS5 package, everything comes together in a delightful package that hooks you to finish. Sackboy: Big Adventure is a must-play title for PC gamers hungry for platformers, winning our Editors’ Choice Award handily.

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(Credit: Sony Interactive)

Cut from the Same Cloth

Over the years, it’s become clear that Sony doesn’t really know what to do with its little, burlap bag of a mascot. Appearing as the humble avatar for the LittleBigPlanet series, Sackboy has remained largely inactive since 2014. Instead of letting the character languish, however, developer Sumo Digital has pivoted away from LittleBigPlanet’s creative sandbox to create a tense platformer that focuses solely on action.

It’s a fair trade, because the gameplay itself is extremely good. Platformer vets will note that Sackboy takes a lot of inspiration from Super Mario 3D World, and while it’s derivative, borrowing from the best is hardly a bad thing. The camera is stationary in all levels, so you explore the terrain from an isometric viewpoint (although it will occasionally switch to an overhead or traditional side-scroll point).

To progress, you must collect Dreamer Orbs, mythical orbs of creative energy, to stop the vile Vex from enslaving the laid-off humans and turning Craftworld into a nightmare. A high challenge, but Sackboy keeps things simple, providing you with all your basic platforming needs: You can jump, roll, punch and grab, and after completing a level, you’re free to explore a simple overworld that holds many secrets.

Sackboy controls well, but he could benefit from a sprint button—his movement feels a little sluggish. Ditto for his jump, which includes a Yoshi-like flutter that isn’t nearly as useful as it should be. That doesn’t mean the controls are bad; I just wish Sackboy would move faster.

(Credit: Sony Interactive)

What makes Sackboy’s adventure work isn’t its plot or its controls, it’s the inspired level design and art direction. Craftworld is made up of many things, and each level cleverly combines real items with the fantasy to give the environments a handcrafted feel, harkening back to LittleBigPlanet’s DIY origins. That goes double for Sackboy too, as you get to dress him up in a variety of outfits, including some from The Last of Us, Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted. Levels are covered in secrets, alternate paths and tons of Collectibles to, well, collect.

Across the game’s five themed worlds, you’ll find dozens of visually distinct levels, each with their own challenges and tricks. Variety is the spice of life, and Sackboy has a full spice box. In one level, you jump in time to David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” In the next one, you use a jellyfish to create an invisible path. There is a staggering amount of creativity on display that kept a smile on my face. I don’t. don’t think I’ve enjoyed such creative level design since Rayman Legends or It Takes Two. If you want even more challenges, discover the Knitted Knight time trials hidden throughout the game.

Although the levels are endlessly creative, the boss fights don’t fare as well. They’re not bad, they’re just not necessarily as unique or fun as the levels leading up to them.

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(Credit: Sony Interactive)

Make It a Party

Don’t worry, you don’t need to venture through the levels alone. Sackboy: Big Adventure supports both online and local drop/drop co-op with up to three other players. However, you must use an Epic login for online multiplayer whether you purchase the game from the Epic Game Store or Steam. No cross-play exists between the PS5 and PS4 versions of the game.

The levels are designed with co-op in mind, so as you compete for the top spot on the leaderboard, co-op will always bar the goal—but feel free to slap and grab your companions as you please. There are even certain levels meant exclusively for co-op and cannot be accessed without a friend.

Unfortunately, my experience online was a little quiet. Despite hosting for most of my playthrough, I was only able to find four simultaneous players a few times. Miserable, but at least there is a local cooperative, a feature that is becoming more and more rare these days.

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((Credit: Sony Interactive))

What’s New in Sackboy: Big Adventure?

The differences between the PC and PS5 editions of Sackboy are minor, but they are mostly improvements. The PC build supports variable refresh rates (VRR), the ability to increase the frame rate to 120 (provided you have the appropriate gaming monitor), and widescreen support. If your gaming rig has an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU, you can enable Nvidia DLSS.

DLSS drops the game’s resolution and uses advanced timing algorithms to boost frame rates and upscale the image. The result? An image almost identical to the native resolution, a useful technique for people without the latest graphics cards. Sackboy lacks support for AMD Fidelity FX Super Resolution 2 (FSR2), which is a glaring omission since the technology was available for Uncharted: The Legacy Collection.

Many of Sackboy’s mascot costumes, added over the years since the original launch, are available at the start of the game. If players have a PlayStation Network account, they can link their account to unlock a PC-exclusive skin. And if you have a DualSense controller, you can use it to take advantage of haptic feedback and dynamic trigger effects. As a PC game, Sackboy also has keyboard and mouse support.

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((Credit: Sony Interactive))

Can Your PC Run Sackboy: Big Adventure?

To run Sackboy: Big Adventure on your PC, Sony recommends a PC with at least AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or Intel Core i7-4770K CPU, AMD Radeon RX580 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, 12GB of RAM, 60GB of SSD space and the Windows operating system 10. To run the game at 4K/60fps, your gaming PC needs at least AMD Ryzen 9 3950X (16 core) or Intel i9-9900k (8 core) CPU, AMD RX 6800 XT (16GB) or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (10GB) GPU, and 16GB of RAM.

My testbed, which contains an Intel Core i7-10700K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM, ran Sackboy at a smooth 60fps (at 1440p resolution, and settings on Very High). Items in the game world felt like real material, whether it was the torn wood of a desk drawer, a piece of rope hanging between platforms, the thread that makes up the grass, and or the torn stitching on Sackboy himself. These flourishes, however small, only add to the populated nature of Craftworld.

To achieve 120fps, I dropped the settings to Medium. Although I enjoyed the extra frames, the decreased visual clarity hurt more than expected. However, it is worth noting that there was noticeable stuttering at the start of levels. Once it passes, the game plays smoothly.

Sackboy supports game controllers, as well as Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud and Steam Deck.

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A Stitch Above the Rest

Sackboy: Big Adventure might not be the next LittleBigPlanet fans are clamoring for, but don’t let that stop you from playing one of the best platformers in recent years. The game has a creative energy that few platformers can match, making it an essential hop-and-bop title for all ages. It’s another PlayStation hit successfully ported to PC, and one that we hope will earn the recognition it deserves, starting with our Editors’ Choice award.

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