A gorgeous action-adventure that transports you to a magical world. [Issue#267, p.74]

Hob is a fantastic game and just be on a play list for anyone who enjoys puzzle platformers and wouldn’t mind some light RPG elements thrown in. The story is told organically and beautifully through gameplay and has some of the best sound design I’ve seen in a game.

Hob is a charming action adventure that shows the journey is more important than the destination.

You should not expect a grown-up action adventure in the Zelda format, because Runic Games relies entirely on the fun exploring and leaves a lot of potential unused.

The occasional design issue aside, restoring Hob’s ramshackle world is satisfying, with its cel-shaded art style and tech-infused nature concealing a complex network of pulleys, valves and hidden paths.

Death is forgiving in Hob in that progress isn’t lost in the way of items collected or enemies defeated. However, respawning in Hob takes a long time and the checkpoints can sometimes be inconveniently far away from where you died. Backtracking is usually easy enough since most enemies don’t respawn and sometimes there are shortcuts that can be opened to quickly reach where you had been before. But running through the parts I had already done felt like a chore, especially if my death was less my fault and more to do with Hob’s wonky platforming mechanics.

Hob tries to do a lot of things within its beautiful world but never does any of them very well. The platforming feels janky and slow, combat is basic and meaningless, and the puzzles will make you wish you were back in 10th grade listening to your Geometry teacher explain proofs for the millionth time. A great game was not too far away from what eventually was delivered, but outside of the stunning visuals and world design, Hob falls frustratingly short.