Kirby’s Dream Buffet review: A moreish party game that’s easy to gobble up

Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a literal jam-packed race that sees up to four players race the “gourmet grand prix” in several foodie-themed levels on the Nintendo Switch.

Four different Kirbys must battle it out, compete in races, and play mini-games to declare victory. After all the action is said and done, all the Kirbys “weigh-in” to see who feasted the most, and is then declared the winner.

Players can compete one-versus-one on the same console, or up to four players can compete in a battle-royale through online multiplayer, which will require a Nintendo Switch Online account.

It’s the second game to feature the titular pink Nintendo character in 2022, after Kirby and the Forgotten Land – which reimagined the character in a 3D setting – released in March.

With Kirby’s Dream Buffet, the titular character continues to relish in its universal appeal with a sickly sweet party game that’s sugar coated simplicity is only soured by its repetition. Read our full review to find out more.

Our experience with Kirby’s Dream Buffet is based on the Nintendo Switch OLED console played in both docked and handheld mode. We tested the game’s main features such as online play as well as local game modes. Here’s the scoop...

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Kirby’s Dream Buffet follows a simple four-stage format across its varying game modes: A race, a minigame, another race, before concluding with a battle royale. The aim of each stage is to eat the most strawberries and ends with the Kirby which cultivates the most mass declared as the winner.

Controlling each Kirby is simple with face buttons acting as jump with the right trigger used for power ups, and the analogue stick to roll Kirby along in the form of a ball. This basic scheme means that just about anyone (ages three and up) will be able to pick it up with relative ease.

Each ”grand prix” starts with a race that see’s four Kirbys roll and bounce towards a giant cake. Each race sits somewhere between Marble Madness and Fall Guys, as each player barrels through various obstacles with up to four players, either online against CPUs or local multiplayer.

Along the way, Kirby must eat strawberries that enlarge him to roll faster. Collision and momentum can also have a big impact on each Kirby’s standing along with digestible power-ups that can rubber band player’s positions. Some are as simple as a quick speed boost or a tornado that can pull in other players as well as strawberries and others can be used to bypass obstacles completely.

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All this comes before reaching a finish line that consists of three cakes where, unsurprisingly, first place takes the most strawberries, while the Kirby in last place is left to, literally, hoover up the crumbs that fall off the plates.

While there are a handful of different courses that are selected at random, they all form a fairly simple pattern which simply require players to push forward. Detours shortcuts pervade each course with various rewards for taking each path, but the limited range of them also means that they are fairly quick to learn.

After just a few hours playing through Dream Buffet, the familiarity of each race track began to set in, which can lead to some repetition in most cases but also easy to memorise. Whether that’s a good thing or not comes down to personal preference.

Read more: Here’s where to buy ‘Kirby and the Forgotten Land’ on Nintendo Switch now

The second stage consists of a minigame, where players will have to work as a top down hoovering segment to collect as many strawberries as possible in the allotted time. These segments aren’t particularly long, with a small variation on how they appear. Sometimes they may come down in breakable blocks or as defeatable enemies but while short, can act as a breather between the racing segments.

Finally, the battle royal works similar to the minigame section, with the aim being to collect the most strawberries but each player is able to be knocked off the stage as well. This is where the majority of games can be won or lost, as falling off the stage loses strawberries and gives them to players that bested you.

It’s these final sections that make Dream Buffet feel at it’s most competitive when it is, for the most part, a light take on a genre that can see up to 100 players induldge in the chaos. Even with only four players, that same level of carnage is maintained across a tight platform and could have just as easily been the main focus for the game.

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At the end of the final round, additional strawberries can be rewarded for various achievements, such as most barriers broken, or players  defeated which are then added to the total tally.

Participating in matches can also increase the player’s rank, which in turn unlocks cosmetic upgrades as well as audio tracks. There are 135 gourmet ranks to work through, meaning that there are plenty  of customisation options for players, as well as online rankings. While the different game modes are fairly rudimentary, it gives Dream Buffet a level of accessibility that would appeal to a much wider player base, plus the short length of each stage means that it’s simple to pick up and put down.

While nothing groundbreaking, Kirby’s Dream Buffet is like a macaron – bite-sized, sweet and colourful, but best enjoyed in small servings. It provides a family-friendly palette cleanser that is easy to learn and charmingly tender in its presentation. It might lack the depth and variation of other party games of similar ilk such as Fall Guys,but it’s hard to fault its simplicity.