Big Hops

Small independent teams rarely earn direct, specific comparisons to Super Mario Odyssey, but Big Hops, released 12 January 2026 by Luckshot Games, does so consistently across its review sample. A movement-first 3D platformer built around a tongue-swinging, free-climbing amphibian protagonist, it sits at Very Positive across more than 400 Steam reviews. Understanding both why its core movement has earned such specific, credible praise and being honest about a real, well-documented technical rough patch is what this review sets out to do.

A genuinely inventive movement system

The comparisons to genre landmarks recur throughout the sample with real specificity rather than vague enthusiasm. "Big Hops is the best platformer I've played since Super Mario Odyssey. The responsiveness of the player movement is top notch, rarely did I feel like the game made a decision that I didn't make," one detailed review states. Another, invoking a different beloved reference point: "The most fun I've had in a 3D platformer since Hat in Time." A third describes the specific toolkit that earns those comparisons: "The arsenal of tools the game supplies in each level are creative and fun to use," praising the veggie-based bounce pads, tightropes and hookshots that let players build and chain momentum across the game's open worlds. Presentation draws similarly consistent credit — the art style, character design and voice cast (for players who keep it enabled) are repeatedly described as charming, with one reviewer specifically praising the game's roughly 20 hours of content as a genuine achievement for a small team's first major release.

A real, honestly documented technical problem

What keeps this review from simply endorsing that acclaim is a specific, consistently repeated complaint that recurs across the sample regardless of overall recommendation: soft-locks and physics inconsistencies that genuinely undermine the experience. "There are a ton of ways to get soft locked and the game is" frustrating as a result, one review states plainly, while another describes the problem in more visceral detail: "I have been soft locked twice and clipped through the world five separate times." A reviewer who otherwise praises the game's movement highly still concedes the underlying issue directly: "you'll occasionally run into collision bugs during high-speed sequences, which can be frustrating." The specific mechanism several reviewers describe is a mismatch between the precision the game's advanced techniques demand and how reliably its physics actually deliver that precision: "the game feels like it's built around you executing [tricks] perfectly," one detailed review states, "[but some techniques require] sliding acceleration that is so jank to execute."

Save-system confusion draws a related, equally specific complaint. "There is some amount of autosave happening but it's not obvious when and what would trigger it," one review states, describing losing an hour or more of progress without warning. Another, more urgent: "Please turn off auto save when your game is not stable, my story is stuck, I have to start new game again." These aren't vague frustrations — they describe a specific, real risk for players considering a longer session, worth knowing about plainly before diving in.

A small team that has kept working

To Luckshot Games' real credit, checking the developer's own communications directly confirms an exceptionally active response rather than a launch-and-abandon pattern common among small teams facing exactly this kind of post-launch bug wave. Patch notes show updates shipping on 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 30 and 31 January alone — a near-daily cadence through the weeks immediately following launch — followed by continued patches through February and a substantial "Quality of Life Update" in March adding keyboard rebinding, accessibility trinkets and collectible-tracking tools directly responsive to complaints about controls and navigation. The team's investment has continued well beyond typical post-launch support: a free content expansion, "Cappler's Conspiracy," added a full photography-focused side mode in March, and an 8-player online co-op mode, "Big Hops Together," was added as a free update in late July and early August 2026 — a genuinely substantial feature addition roughly six months after launch that wasn't part of the original release. This review found no specific confirmation that every soft-lock or physics bug reported at launch has been individually resolved, but the sheer density and duration of this patch history is real, verifiable evidence of sustained good-faith effort rather than a team that stopped caring after release.

A smaller thread of design criticism

Separate from the technical issues, a smaller but genuine thread of the sample finds the game's story and pacing weaker than its movement. "The world and level design do not make great use of" the game's creative toolkit, one detailed review argues, describing sections that feel empty or tedious to traverse despite the strength of the underlying mechanics. Voice acting draws its own specific, if more contained, criticism: "the voice acting is atrocious (and can thankfully be disabled)," one review notes, a sentiment echoed by several others who specifically credit the option to turn dialogue off as a meaningful mitigation rather than a full fix.

Where this leaves a buyer

At NZ$28.99, Big Hops delivers a genuinely inventive, well-crafted movement system that earns its comparisons to some of the platforming genre's most beloved recent entries — real, specific praise from reviewers with credible history in the genre. The honest, necessary caveat concerns real, consistently documented technical rough edges: soft-locks, physics inconsistencies, and save-system confusion that have cost some players genuine frustration and lost progress. Checking the developer's own sustained, near-daily patch history and its continued substantial post-launch investment — including a free co-op mode added many months after release — offers real, dateable reassurance that this is a team actively working through those problems rather than one that has moved on. Players drawn to inventive, momentum-driven 3D platforming, and willing to accept real bugs from a small independent team, are likely to find a genuine hidden gem here. Players who prioritise a fully polished experience above all else may want to wait for further patches before diving in.