Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Sackboy, the burlap-and-button mascot best known for LittleBigPlanet's physics-sandbox creativity, gets sent on a straightforward 3D platforming adventure for the first time, chasing collectibles and dodging hazards across colorful, hand-crafted levels clearly built in the shadow of Super Mario Odyssey. Steam's own storefront description leans into that positioning directly, calling it "perfectly crafted for PC." Reviewers largely agree it's a solid, competent platformer on its own terms. Whether that's actually what they wanted from a Sackboy game is where the reception splits.

A competent platformer that earns real, if measured, praise

Taken purely as a 3D platformer, reviewers are frequently positive. The core movement and level design draw repeated favorable comparisons to Super Mario Odyssey, and several reviewers credit the game with tight, satisfying controls and creative level gimmicks that hold up well as platforming in their own right, independent of the LittleBigPlanet name attached to it. The colorful, family-friendly presentation earns its own specific praise, with multiple reviewers describing genuinely fun sessions playing alongside young children — one detailed account quotes a five-year-old's unfiltered running commentary on dying repeatedly to a boss fight as evidence of just how approachable and entertaining the game is across a wide age range. Visual presentation and performance are credited as impressive on PC, including on mid-range hardware, and the costume and cosmetic system draws modest, consistent praise as a fun personalization option even without deeper creative tools. Several reviewers specifically recommend it as a strong entry point for players newer to the platforming genre generally, arguing it strikes a more forgiving difficulty balance than either Mario Odyssey or the puzzle-heavy LittleBigPlanet games it spun off from, making it an easier game to hand to a less experienced or younger player without either side of a co-op session getting frustrated.

A LittleBigPlanet fan base that says this isn't what they wanted

The most emotionally charged complaint in this review sample comes from longtime LittleBigPlanet fans, and it's raised with unusual depth and specificity rather than simple disappointment. Multiple reviewers who explicitly describe themselves as devoted fans of the earlier series report that Sackboy: A Big Adventure captures none of what made LittleBigPlanet distinctive, specifically citing the complete absence of the original series' community level editor and creative sandbox tools. Several reviewers explicitly request that tool set be brought to PC in some form, treating this spinoff as, at best, a consolation prize rather than the LittleBigPlanet experience they were actually hoping to see on the platform. That's a meaningfully different kind of complaint than disliking the platforming itself; it's specifically about the game not being the sequel or PC port fans wanted, regardless of its quality as a stand-alone product.

An Epic Games Store requirement reviewers say wasn't disclosed

A separate, more universal complaint concerns the game's online multiplayer requirements. Despite being sold and launched through Steam, online co-op requires linking a separate Epic Games Store account, and multiple reviewers report this wasn't clearly disclosed before purchase, with several describing the Epic software installing onto their system without an upfront warning. Reviewers frame this as a specific trust and transparency issue distinct from any complaint about the game's design, arguing a Steam storefront listing should clearly flag a mandatory third-party launcher requirement before checkout rather than after installation.

Co-op bugs and a technical complaint worth naming directly

Beyond the account-linking frustration, the co-op experience itself draws specific technical complaints. Multiple reviewers report connection issues and general bugginess in online sessions, and at least one detailed account describes a specific, reproducible local co-op bug where the game randomly reassigns which physical controller is mapped to which on-screen character mid-level, breaking the intended chaos of couch multiplayer in a genuinely frustrating way rather than an amusing one. Separately, at least one reviewer reports the game lacks shader pre-caching, causing noticeable stuttering during play, a technical complaint the reviewer states is independently corroborated by third-party technical analysis rather than an isolated configuration problem. Reviewers reporting this issue specifically note it's most noticeable during the game's more visually chaotic four-player sequences, exactly the moments the game's own marketing leans on most heavily to sell its "collaborative, chaotic and joyful multiplayer fun" premise, making the stuttering a particularly unfortunate first impression for anyone trying the game specifically for its advertised co-op strength.

What the achievement data suggests about co-op completion specifically

Global achievement data offers a useful, specific data point here. Early single-player-focused achievements clear a healthy majority of players, generally in the high double digits, but achievements tied specifically to multiplayer participation and full completion fall to consistently under 2%. That gap is wider than this lane typically sees between general progression and full completion, consistent with reviewers' accounts of a co-op experience genuinely hampered enough by bugs and account-linking friction that comparatively few players push through to engage with it fully.

Verdict

Sackboy: A Big Adventure succeeds as a solid, if unremarkable, 3D platformer that earns real credit for its Mario Odyssey-inspired design and its genuinely fun family-friendly appeal. It sits at a middling score here because the complaints layered on top are specific and well documented rather than vague disappointment: longtime LittleBigPlanet fans report a genuine loss of what made the series distinctive, and a mandatory Epic Games Store account requirement for online co-op, undisclosed clearly at purchase, compounds real co-op bugs that keep full completion out of reach for most players. Worth playing on its own terms, especially with family and especially on a sale, but go in aware of exactly what launcher requirements and creative tools it does and doesn't carry over from the franchise it's spun off from.