When video games first moved to full 3D, platformers were among the first titles to take full advantage of this newfound dimension. While 3D platformers were all the rage a few console generations ago, they’re far from the most popular genre these days, despite some earning widespread acclaim in recent years (and even more promising ones coming in 2026). This year’s first big indie platformer has just arrived, and despite some undercooked ideas, Big Hops is still a great way to dust off your jumping skills.
You may have seen Big Hops during last year’s Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Edition. There, developer Luckshot Games showed off a clearly Super Mario 64-influenced platformer starring an adorable frog who uses his tongue like a grappling hook to zip around levels. On top of a suite of expected platforming maneuvers like crouch-jumps, slides, and wall-runs, it also displayed a unique system that lets players use items to make their own paths through environments, setting Big Hops apart from every other platformer out there.
Big Hops isn’t split into traditional levels, instead taking place in a series of large open-world areas that include smaller, self-contained environments you’ll hop through at certain points in the story. In the open-world sections, your objective is to search for Dark Drips. As the game’s underwhelming story sets up, protagonist Hop needs to collect Dark Drips to make his way home to the forest after being spirited away by his cosmic frenemy Drip.
Dark Drips are scattered around hard-to-reach locations, encouraging you to scour the environment with your movement abilities to find them. You’ll collect smaller fragments that combine into full Drips along the way, and you can also obtain Drips by completing hidden challenge rooms, which feature more focused arrangements of obstacles to test your platforming skills on.
These open-world areas feel like playgrounds that let you run wild with Big Hops’ diverse movement abilities. There’s almost always more than one way to approach any challenge, and you can decide what combination of jumps and wall-runs to use to make your way around. This is also where Big Hops’ items shine. Throughout the game, you’ll find a huge variety of plants that let you grow climbable vines, unleash bubbles you can grapple to, and otherwise change the environment to chart your own path.
Using items to build new paths through levels is a highlight of Big Hops.
Finding the most effective (or fun) way to navigate the open world is a blast, at least when the game isn’t getting in its own way. While most of Hop’s abilities feel great, a few feel stiff and frustrating. Swinging from grapple points is a big part of the platforming, and they’re trouble from start to finish. You need to use Hop’s momentum to swing from these anchors, but depending on the distance and angle you hit them from, you’ll often end up dangling like a caught fish instead, and once your momentum is broken, building it back up is finicky.
Targeting with Hop’s tongue is also a big problem. When there’s more than one object to latch onto, there’s basically no way to control which one Hop will grab, and a sometimes unwieldy camera makes it even tougher. This is mostly a problem in the more hemmed-in environments, where there’s much less freedom for you to approach challenges. These levels often have a specific way you’re expected to complete them, making the expansive movement abilities used in the open world feel much narrower.
Despite not fully committing to its go-your-own-way level design, Big Hops mostly succeeds as a unique platformer. It feels great to craft a clever path through environments, offering the satisfying sensation of outwitting the game itself through clever item use. And while its story mostly feels like filler, it’s still full of enjoyable voice performances, funny quips, and charming characters. Despite some stumbles, Big Hops is a unique take on 3D platforming that’s well worth jumping into.
