With big hitters like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls, third party bangers in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and excellent indie titles like Bugsnax and The Pathless, the PS5’s launch line-up may be one of the greatest for any console in gaming history. But don’t sleep on Sackboy: A Big Adventure, a fantastic 3D platformer borrowed from LittleBigPlanet that could be Sony’s answer to Mario.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a big game, and Sony is positioning the protagonist to be a mascot of sorts for the PS5’s launch. It’s a great game well-worth playing, but at the same time, Sony didn’t have much to show of the game before launch. There are some big features and cool Easter Eggs that were well-hidden that you probably missed.
10 The Special Edition is Only on PS4, But You Can Get a Free Upgrade
There are two versions of Sackboy: A Big Adventure available on PS4: the standard and the special editions. The special edition comes with an artbook, soundtrack, four additional costumes, PSN avatars, and a Sackboy plush. But for some baffling reason, the special edition is not available for the PS5 version.
Luckily, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a cross buy game, meaning you can buy the PS4 version and get a free upgrade to the PS5 one.
9 There’s Free Costume DLC Available Right Now
Available on launch day, Sackboy: A Big Adventure came with three, free pieces of costume DLC available on the PlayStation Store. One is a blue t-shirt baring the game’s logo and nothing else. The other two are more creative.
The Renaissance costume dresses Sackboy in plumed pants, a feathered cap, and a fabulous mustache and goatee. The Baroque costume comes with a dress and bonnet. Perhaps this is a sign of more costume DLC coming in the future? Still, it’s a good thing these costumes are free at launch.
8 You Can Stun and Throw Enemies
One of the moves at Sackboy’s disposal the game never tells you about is the ability to stun enemies, pick them up, and throw them. You can throw them at other enemies or off a cliff, or carry them around the level for no reason other than because you can.
First, you have to stun an enemy. To do so, simply roll into them, and you’ll send them flying and they’ll land on their back. Then you can walk up to them, press R2, and like other objects, Sackboy will pick them up. You can hold them for as long as you want, but you only have a short window to pick them up before they get back up again.
7 Made by Same Developer as LittleBigPlanet 3 and Snake Pass
Developer Sumo Digital is no stranger to 3D platformers, or even LittleBigPlanet. Previously, the company made a game called Snake Pass, a unique platformer where you play a snake crawling your way around levels. You couldn’t jump, instead aided by a bird who’d pick your tale up as you twist around objects.
Sumo also developed LittleBigPlanet 3, a decisive game in the series that franchise creator Media Molecule walked away from to start work on Dreams. While it featured the series usual creator-driven elements, it got criticism from fans for its short campaign length and bugs.
6 Dawn French Replaces Stephen Fry as Narrator
One of the recurring elements of the LittleBigPlanet series was Stephen Fry, the famed British actor and comedy, serving as narrator. There is a narrator in Sackboy: A Big Adventure, but one not voiced by Fry. Instead, actress Dawn French plays the role of Scarlet, a mysterious woman who helps Sackboy along his adventure.
While less well-known, French is an accomplished actor, comedian, and presenter in her own right. She’s best known in Britain for the French and Saunders sketch show, which she co-hosted from 1987 to 2017. This is the first time she’s replaced a beloved character. She previously replaced Elizabeth Spriggs as The Fat lady in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
5 The World Reacts to The Music
Throughout the game, you’ll encounter “remix” levels, which used copyrighted music. The music isn’t just background noise, however. Enemies, background objects, and even platforms will move in time to the beat of the song. This means that moving in time to the beat of the music will allow you to navigate these levels with relative ease.
These are the only levels of the game where anything reacts to the music. It creates a more visceral and engaging level, even if you don’t like the songs being played. The game is almost worth playing for these handful of levels alone.
4 Secret Areas Are Everywhere
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is full of secret and hidden areas to find. Whether its story levels or the world map itself, there’s a good chance you can find a hidden nook or door that’ll lead to extra bells, costumes, Knightly Energy, and the main collectible – Dreamer Orbs.
In main levels, there’s often hidden areas just off screen requiring you to take a leap of face to reach them. Or you might be able to climb up something you wouldn’t think you’d be able to reach to find a hidden door. And in each World Map, there are paths that’ll take you to new levels in other worlds, too.
3 Ace Extra Rewards For Completing Levels Without Dying
There’s a lot this game doesn’t tell really tell you, and one of those things is mastering levels. To master a level, you need to collect all the costumes, Dreamer Orbs, score a gold trophy, and find the Knightly Energy, if it’s a level that has any. But there’s another requirement too – and its the Spade symbol shown at the end of each level.
You have to complete a level without dying to master a level. If you’re killed by an enemy or fall to your death, you have to start it all over again. This goes for playing multiplayer too – if one of your dies, everyone has to replay the level to ace it.
2 You Can Mix and Match Costume Pieces
Sackboy contains a ton of costumes, you’ll be tripping over individual pieces as you play the game and find them hidden in every level. But aside from the full costumes, you can also mix and match pieces of different costumes to create whatever you want.
All you have to do is visit Zom Zom’s tent, and you’ll be able to change your eyes, head piece, shirt, pants, shoes, and any accessories. You can also change color of individual costume pieces by hitting triangle. Here, you’ll also be able to customize multiplayer emotes too, mixing and matching facial expressions with different dances or gestures.
1 Online Co-Op is Coming Later
This is a game built around multiplayer, and yet it’s couch co-op only. At least, that’s the case right now. In order to launch the game in time for PS5, Sumo Digital had to delay the online multiplayer mode of the game.
But later this year, you’ll be able to play Sackboy online. PlayStation Plus is required as usual, but you’ll be able to join a party or invite up to three players to join you at any time on your journey. It’s drop in, drop out, so you don’t have to start a new campaign or beat the whole game with the same people. You’ll also be able to play those multiplayer-only levels if you’ve got nobody at home to play with.
NEXT: 10 Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting Spider-Man: Miles Morales
