A Hat in Time (Video Game)

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A Hat in Time is a 3D platformer from Danish independent developer Gears for Breakfast. It stars a petite time-traveller called Hat Kid who is trying to get back home on her spaceship. But while passing over a planet, a confrontation with a member of the Mafia ends up with her Time Pieces, which are likewise the fuel for her ship, being sucked off the ship and scattered around the planet. Now she must explore the local planet for her missing Time Pieces if she wishes to get back home. Using her platforming abilities and the magic abilities of the hats she can wear, Hat Kid travels across strange and varied locales of the planet, unwittingly getting involved in certain situations along the way.

A Hat in Time is a Spiritual Successor and Genre Throwback to the Collect-a-Thon Platformers of The Fifth Generation of Console Video Games, including Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, and Donkey Kong 64, though with a brightly colored cel-shaded visual style reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

The game was released in October 5, 2017 for PC, Mac, and was released on December 5, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A port for Nintendo Switch was also released on October 18th, 2019.

The first major DLC pack, called Seal The Deal, was released on September 13th 2018. It contains chapter 6, The Arctic Cruise, and the promised challenge mode called Death Wish, which contains a collection of contracts from the Snatcher mostly remixing older levels and giving cosmetic rewards for many of the challenges. A Co-op mode that introduced the second player character of Bow Kid into the game released on the same day. The DLC was also given away for free for the day of its launch.

The second major DLC pack released on May 10th 2019, containing chapter 7, Nyakuza Metro, as well as an Online Party mode in which up to 50 players can collect Time Pieces together. It also adds in a community-made Death Wish Level, a community made Time Rift level, more dyes, badges, and hat reskins from the Steam Workshop, as well as stickers to find and collect in the games' various worlds. On March 22nd, 2021, it was announced that Sony and Xbox would be getting the DLC on the following March 31st, for both the remaining eighth-generation consoles and ninth-generation ones.

Hat Kid is also revealed to be a Guest Fighter in the similarly indie game, Tunche.

On November 16th, 2021, Gears For Breakfast would announce the Creator DLC program, which would feature new DLC packs for the game developed by the community and published by Gears for Breakfast, with the first pack revealed being Vanessa's Curse, a online multiplayer mode in which players have to collect crowns, while avoiding shadowy counterparts sent by Queen Vanessa. The DLC pack was released on November 27th, 2021.

This game contains examples of:

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10-Minute Retirement: If Hat Kid runs away after Mustache Girl's judgement, a short "Fake Game Over" will play until Hat Kid's friends give the the resolve to fight Mustache Girl.
11th-Hour Superpower: In the final phase of the fight against Mustache Girl, the various baddies cheering you on decide to pummel each other to give you constant health Pons, thus granting you regenerating health.
Ability Required to Proceed: As soon as you receive the hook in Subcon Well, you will need it all the time, most prominently in world 4.
Absurdly Short Level: The sixth and final level of the second area is just one room where you are flat out given a time piece as agreed. You are told right afterwards by a mysterious voice that there is a true final level for the area if you revisit the first level.
Accordion to Most Sailors: A Hat In Time uses accordions in Bon Voyage! and Ship Shape, the music tracks used for the Arctic Cruise chapter taking place aboard a cruise ship. The Variable Mix for the Spaceship also features accordions when Hat Kid is in the room with the Arctic Cruise telescope.
Achievement Mockery:
- The "Why" achievement, earned by typing something immature into Hat Kid's computer or responding to a CAW agent's question in a similar manner.
- The "False Detective" achievement is unlocked by completing "Murder on the Owl Express" without getting any clues. The achievement description contains the phrase "you suck" in brackets.
Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: When Hat Kid fights DJ Grooves/The Conductor in the real Act 6, the battle will pause about halfway through so the director and Hat Kid can talk it out for a bit.
Action Insurance Gag: Sort of. When you explore the first level of the second chapter, Hat Kid is fined for anything she destroys.
Actor Allusion: In the second chapter, Jon Jafari voices an owl security guard at Dead Bird Studio. He's always had a strong association with birds.
Advancing Boss of Doom: In the final Act of Nyakuza Metro, the Hat Kid is forced to flee from the Empress's rockets and minions, rather than fighting back.
Air-Vent Passageway: Levels taking place in Dead Bird Studios require Hat kid to climb through several vents.
Aliens Steal Cattle: Played for laughs with the "Mockery of Off-Planet Life" relic, which depicts 3 cows being abducted. Being an alien herself, Hat Kid is confused and offended by the cow abduction, among other things. Ironically, the carton of milk in her fridge has a cow getting abducted on it.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: When Mustache Girl breaks into Hat Kid's spaceship and steals all of her Time Pieces.
All the Worlds Are a Stage:
- The Final Chapter: Time's End. A downplayed example as not every gimmick is present, but you have to use most of the things you've learned so far to enter and finish the level.
- "Tour" is a purple Time Rift (introduced in "Seal the Deal") where each room is based on one of the base game's chapters. Fittingly, it's also accessed through the Attic.
Almost Out of Oxygen: When Hat Kid swims in water for too long, she'll start drowning.
Amazing Technicolor Battlefield:
- Happens once during Subcon Forest's last boss fight.
- The final fight, via Mustache Girl abusing the Time Pieces' power.
Ambiguous Situation: During the ending, you are given the choice to either drop a Time Piece to the unconscious Mustache Girl to help her free her town from the Mafia, or keep all of them for yourself to ensure you'll get home. What her reaction is and what she'll do with it, as well as if the loss of fuel will prevent Hat Kid from getting all the way home, are left to the player's imagination, with the ending not changing afterward and the DLC chapters having an unclear placement and making no reference to the ending.
Anachronic Order:
- Within the first chapter, the first four Acts of Mafia Town are done in order, but the next Acts revealed are 7 and 6 (the latter requiring Pons to be unlocked). Beating them both unlocks Act 5, which is not impossible to beat without the Time Stop Hat, but it very nearly is and the game will tell you as much. This hat isn't obtainable until Chapter 4.
- It is impossible to complete one of the missions in Chapter 2 without an item from Chapter 3. Which also means you can't reach the Chapter 2 boss without at least getting a good way into the first two acts of Chapter 3, as you can get the required item without completing either act.
  - The Anachronic Order regarding Chapters 2 and 3 makes sense, since Subcon Forest was initially supposed to be Chapter 2 with Battle of the Birds being Chapter 3. In all of the promo material Subcon Forest was Chapter 2, and it shows on the game's website that Battle of the Birds was going to be Chapter 3 before the two were swapped late in development. In fact, the game still allows the order to be played that way; if you complete the six chapters you can beat of Mafia Town and finish some early Time Rifts, you can get enough Time Pieces to unlock Subcon Forest without ever visiting the second chapter. This allows you to play through the third chapter like it's the second with no disruptions, and you can go back to the second chapter and play it uninterrupted after that.
- It's suggested that The Arctic Cruise and Nyakuza Metro, respectively considered Chapters 6 and 7, take place during Hat Kid's adventure on the planet, and not after Chapter 5, since Hat Kid leaves the planet to return home after defeating Mustache Girl.
- Chapter 7 can be reached with 20 time pieces, meaning it can be played before unlocking Chapter 5 (25 time pieces) and Chapter 6 (35 time pieces).
And Now for Someone Completely Different: Upon collecting your 25th Time Piece, there is a very brief sequence where you play as Mustache Girl looting Hat Kid's spaceship.
And Your Reward Is Clothes:
- Hat Kid can craft 5 different hats that give her special abilities, and she can also buy badges (which attach to her hat) that can help or hurt her, making this a genuinely useful trope.
- Completing a Time Rift level or spending 3 Rift Tokens on the machine in Hat Kid's ship deck lets you get various items, among them alternate hat skins and color palettes. Unlike the above, these are entirely cosmetic and serve only to customize Hat Kid to your liking.
- Completing certain Death Wish levels in the DLC rewards Hat Kid with even more cosmetic customization options.
Animesque: Nyakuza Metro has a few billboards and advertising posters that feature an anime-looking humanoid cat girl on them. The game itself also has cute character designs with large eyes, anime-style expressions, and speed lines are used.
Antepiece: Used pretty extensively, in the style of the game's inspirations. One of the most striking examples is in one Alpine Skyline act that requires extensive use of the Dweller Mask. Beforehand, you're shown the interactions between green objects, purple objects, and bells; here, you learn about how different green bells and the mask all interact, and how red bells cancel everything out. Not only does the act end with a pretty complex platforming segment including all of these at once, but each element (excluding the red bells, which never show up anywhere else in the base game) appears in the final chapter.
Anti-Frustration Features:
- Act 3 of Chapter 1 is when the game first teaches the player how to dive jump to have better horizontal reach with Hat Kid's jumps. Because of that, screwing up a jump not only teleports the player to the last floor they were on to avoid too much retreading, but falling won't deal damage either.
- While players have to start from the beginning after dying in a boss battle, each boss phase is shortened slightly if the player already cleared it before dying.
- The game warns you if you're about to enter an Act without the necessary item to complete it. You can still enter if you want, but most of these levels are very difficult to complete without the items (and some are outright impossible).
- Some of the more grueling platforming segments, like inside the Windmill, will teleport the Hat Kid to a previous checkpoint should the player fall to avoid the frustration of every fall making the player start all over again.
- Nyakuza Metro is far and away the trickiest level to traverse in the game. As such, it has loads of health pons strewn about in plentiful amounts, more than any other level in the game. There are also lots of food trucks / food stands positioned near train stations that allow you to exchange pons for food, which is a cheap way of regaining health. In addition, you can also boost Hat Kid's maximum health to five if she combos two foods together.
- Nyakuza Metro has a guide system that costs 100 pons to show you exactly where to go in the event the complexity of the level proves too much for you, which can be accessed at the circular help desk located at the start of the level.
- Most boss fights will provide sporadic Health Pons help the player.
- Using either Peace and Tranquility mode or Assist Mode doesn't affect game or trophy progression; either one can be used without penalty. It also doesn't hold you back from progressing or getting rewards in Death Wish.
Arc Villain: Almost every Chapter has its own overarching antagonist.
- Mafia Town has the Mafia of Cooks, who are the reason Hat Kid is stuck on the planet in the first place, but don't antagonize her beyond this chapter.
- Battle of the Birds avoids this for the most part, up until there's a decisive winner, in which case the Conductor or DJ Grooves take the position of the boss of that world.
- Subcon Forest features the Snatcher, who forces Hat Kid to work under contract, and makes her do a number of menial tasks for him.
- Alpine Skyline has the Purple Flowers, which corrupt the mountain as Hat Kid gets the Time Pieces.
- Averted in The Arctic Cruise, which is the only level in the game without any sort of overarching threat. The only trouble caused is because of Hat Kid accidentally crashing the ship into an iceberg.
- Nyakuza Metro has the Empress, an evil Yakuza Sphynx cat who leads her own personal gang. She forces Hat Kid to work under her, and makes her collect time pieces in exchange for cash.
Art Evolution:
- Upon the game's release, most facial animations were either 2D painted mouths on 3D elements, or simple jaw riggings for characters that can open and close their mouths (neither case had any real lip syncing). In Nyakuza Metro, there are cutscenes with the Empress talking, and she has advanced and near-perfect lip syncing with no 2D-on-3D elements to her facial animation.
- A more subdued example with the Mafia goons. In the earliest builds of the game, the Mafia were portrayed with small, sunken-in eyes, making them look a little more menacing. Upon the game's release, the Mafia have larger, more expressive eyes.
- The original art style for the game was going to have flatter cel shading with less texture work, looking more similar to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. With more backers to fund it, the game got a little more detail.
Artistic License – Biology: In the final act of The Arctic Cruise, the walrus captain says that he would be fine if he were to go down with the ship because he can breathe underwater. However, walruses are still mammals, and can only stay underwater for at most 10 minutes. Not to mention the immense pressure that he would experience after sinking far enough down into the ocean.
Ascended Meme: Peace and Tranquility and its VHS-esque visuals, and the "No one is Around to Help" message is a permutation lifted from, of all things, Pocket Camp, specifically this video edit. The video creator did another one with Hat Kid and Bow Kid smug dancing, and this is what formed the basis of the "Peace and Tranquility" visuals a month later when the Seal the Deal DLC released.
Autobots, Rock Out!: Various boss themes start cranking out the rock for some blood-pumping butt-kicking. The Toilet of Doom instead has an orchestral theme, and Mustache Girl has an electronic one.
Auto-Scrolling Level: "The Big Parade" is an odd variation: the game doesn't autoscroll per se, but the band following Hat Kid will trample her if she stands still for too long, in the vein of the Mario series' Cosmic Clones.
Awesome, but Impractical: The Projectile Badge, which turns Hat Kid's default attack into a Wave-Motion Gun that can be charged for more damage. It's worthless outside of boss battles, since any enemies you were going to attack probably moved out of the way even if you tap the attack button.
Bad-Guy Bar: Literally. In the Mafia of Cooks' HQ, there's a bar run by the mafia.
Balkan Bastard: The Mafia of Cooks are a comedic example, being a criminal organization of chefs who speak in Slavic accents, live in a Mediterranean-like city, and enjoy punching things, especially old ladies.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: The game begins with a Mafia member invading the ship from outside, Hat Kid being dragged into space by the Mafia's idiotic move, and Hat Kid herself surviving atmospheric re-entry. On top of that, in the ending, Hat Kid opens a window on her in-flight spaceship, and has a one-sided conversation with the characters clinging on.
Batter Up!: The Nyakuza Metro DLC provides a Nyakuza-favored alternative to Hat Kid's umbrella — a thuggish baseball bat.
Big Bad: Mustache Girl is the main antagonist of the game. In the post-game Death Wish mode, former Arc Villain the Snatcher becomes this. In Nyakuza Metro, the Empress is in charge and takes all of your Time Pieces after you find them.
Big Boo's Haunt: Queen Vanessa's Manor is an old house haunted by Vanessa alone, but she does more than enough to make the place scary and dangerous.
Big "NO!": If you delete one of your save files, Hat Kid does this (presumably the version you've just erased).
Black Comedy Burst: For a cutesy game, there's some rather dark humor in it.
- Mustache Girl plans on killing the Mafia, then smashing their corpses, putting the remains in jars, and selling them. Pretty gruesome by this game's standards, but it's all Played for Laughs. In hindsight however, this can be interpreted as foreshadowing for Mustache Girl's true nature.
- The fire spirits in the game openly say that they want to die while happily dancing around a fire pit.
  - There's also a very, very strong implication the portraits you burn to do this are real people trapped in a picture frame and burning them kills the victim. You see a mafia goon sucked into a portrait before you throw it on the fire and the rest look the same just with NPC characters from other worlds.
- The description for the Time Stop hat is "Death is inevitable. Your time is valuable." Snatcher lampshades this in Death Wish, saying he thought the hat was for kids.
Bleak Level: Downplayed with Subcon Forest, in that while it's still dark and dreary, it's also the part of the game that's at the point where the humor is at its most pitch black. Played straight, however, with its fourth act, "Queen Vanessa's Manor", which distinctly lacks the sense of humor throughout the rest of the game, and a lot of it is spent running and hiding from an enemy Hat Kid has absolutely no way to fight.
Book Ends: The game begins with Hat Kid sleeping (and waking up with a loud alarm) and then with a Mafia member coming up to Hat Kid's spaceship, derailing her trip home. The game ends with the various villains that Hat Kid has faced coming up to convince her to not leave the planet - and a Mafia member is the first one to ask her to stay - almost derailing her trip home again. It also ends with Hat Kid getting some well deserved sleep.
Border Patrol: The robot torpedo shark that patrols the waters around Mafia Town and keeps you from swimming out too far.
Boring, but Practical: The Sprint Hat basically does exactly what it says, allowing Hat Kid to sprint, which sounds a lot less impressive than throwing bombs or slowing down time. In practice, however, it's probably going to be the hat the player uses most, due to allowing the player to get from place to place more quickly, and being vital in closing the gap between trickier platforms.
Boss Remix: Similarly to classic collectathon games such as Donkey Kong 64, boss themes are fast-paced remixes of the the world they reside in. Though here, fast-paced remix means, as said above, "start cranking out the rock for some blood-pumping butt-kicking".
Boss Rush: The Death Wish mode has two of them. The first one, simply called Boss Rush has Hat Kid fight all of the world bosses and the possessed outhouse in sequence. The other one, called Seal the Deal has Hat Kid fight, in order, the EX versions of the Mafia Boss, the two directors, and Mustache Girl, and an even tougher version of Snatcher EX that borrows attacks from the other bosses.
Both Sides Have a Point:
- During the final chapter, Mustache Girl is confused about why everyone is mad at her for changing reality, pointing out that she's getting rid of bad guys and making the world a better place. The others, however, point out that nobody asked her to do this, and her version of "justice" will result in everyone being dead.
- The climax of the Nyakuza DLC kickstarted with Hat Kid swiping Time Pieces from Empress' vault. From Hat Kid's point of view, she was simply taking back what actually belonged to her (as well as potentially avoiding being betrayed again). But from The Empress' point of view, Hat Kid was serving her competently and earning her respect and trust up until Hat Kid did something she knew would upset The Empress.
Bottomless Pits: Here and there, although far more prominent in Alpine Skyline. Falling in one will teleport Hat Kid back to the level and deal one point of damage to her.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Implied to be the case for the Death Wish boss fights, with the Snatcher pulling their strings and using his powers to make them more dangerous against Hat Kid.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In the description of the bookcase on the ship:
It's a bookcase. Also known as a 'cool word zone' or a 'thing you can't even slightly fill yourself, Steven, you'll never find a publisher, and all that time you spend in your study is time you could spend with your kids', depending on where you're from.
Breather Episode: In Subcon Forest, Act 5 falls between sneaking around Queen Vanessa's mansion and a challenging boss battle against the shadowy, soul-stealing Snatcher. Act 5, though, is just riding a scooter around and delivering packages to the Snatcher's minions with no threats to worry about.
Brick Joke:
- Very early in the game, Mustache Girl says she plans to squash the Mafia to a pulp — literally — and turn them into a paste to sell. The defeated Mafia Boss later shows up as a pair of eyes in a jar floating in a paste of his own pulp, somehow still alive, conscious, and quite angry but otherwise not too perturbed by the whole situation.
- The C.A.W. Agents are a walking embodiment of the trope. They tend to ask Hat Kid suspicious prying questions that you can enter answers for, and then those answers come up later in the plot of the chapter or in their passing dialogue when you encounter them again.
- During the first chapter of Subcon Forest, the Snatcher takes Hat Kid's soul and a message pops up on screen saying "You feel exceedingly empty inside." When you defeat him and get your soul back, another message pops up saying "You got your soul back! You feel relieved, energized, and just the usual amount of empty."
- An interactive one: Reach the end of Dead Bird Studio, and you get to doctor a photograph of Hat Kid with a paint program. Then, at some point, you might save and quit, come back to the game hours or even days later, and find that whatever you did to the photo is the save file picture.
- A pitch-dark example occurs in Queen Vanessa's Manor. If you decide to hide in the wardrobe in her bedroom, you can see a Mafia cowering in pure terror on the other half of the closet. When Queen Vanessa takes the key on the bed to the bathroom, you see that the noise heard offscreen was the wardrobe being overturned, and the Mafia is frozen on the floor, added to her collection of victims.
Brutal Bonus Level: The "Seal the Deal" contract in the DLC's Death Wish mode is one of the last challenges unlocked and is probably the hardest thing in the game, being a Boss Rush of the already very difficult Death Wish EX bosses, with an even harder version of EX Snatcher at the end of it all. You also get only three tries for the last three fights combined.
But Now I Must Go: Played with in the ending. Hat Kid has no gripes with booting off the villains clinging to her spaceship and begging her to stay. However, she does get a tear in her eye right before flying back home.
But Thou Must!:
- The Snatcher makes Hat Kid an offer she can't refuse once she first sets foot in Subcon Forest (stealing her soul and forcing her to do his dirty work). The player can try to decline, but the Snatcher eventually gets fed up and straight-up kills Hat Kid if she refuses to sign the contract too many times, with the threat that he'll make her dead body sign it afterward.
- Despite there being an achievement for failing to find any evidence in the Murder on the Owl Express mission, the game always defaults to the Conductor being an available suspect, and there's no actual ending for finding no evidence and there is no choice to pick no one at all. Why? Well, because otherwise it wouldn't be much of a movie.
Canon Discontinuity: There was an Alternate Reality Game that seemed to shed some light on the backstory of the game, and was done by one of the dev team members. While the ARG is still going, most of the team has stated that it's considered, for all intents and purposes, non-canon.
Carnivore Confusion: Lampshaded in The Arctic Cruise by a Mafia member.
They serve fish in kitchen. Also, fish are guests on boat. Mafia try not to think about this.
Casino Park: The Mafia HQ's main entrance features a casino and a bar.
Cats Have Nine Lives: A group of NPC cats in Nyakuza Metro are talking about good luck charms, and one of them questions the viability of a Maneki Neko on a cat when another in the group had purchased one recently. The cat responds by calling them similar to a rabbit's foot, with another cat in the group referencing the trope as to why cats don't need good luck charms.
Cat Folk: The residents of Nyakuza Metro are black cats with yellow eyes. The Empress fits this scheme as well, but she's much taller.
Cat Girl: Sprawled about the Nyakuza Metro level are posters with an anime-esque cat girl on them.
Character in the Logo: Hat Kid, Mustache Girl, a Mafia character, the Conductor, Queen Vanessa, and the Snatcher all feature as silhouettes in the game's logo.
Chariot Pulled by Cats: Nyakuza Metro is a sprawling complex where the subway trains are all pulled by giant cats.
Crapsaccharine World: The world of the game, no matter how bright and silly it seems, quickly establishes itself as this. Every place Hat Kid visits is under the thumb of selfish, greedy and outright murderous authority figures, most people just go along with horrible things happening around them - Hat Kid included - and there are very few people who could be called "good" by any stretch. It says a lot that the Big Bad of the game is the only person in the game who wants - albeit in an insane way - to clean things up. This subsequently makes a minor plot point in the finale: Mustache Girl creates a world where she can pass judgment on "bad guys" for the good of everyone, but that seems to have included just about every character met previously, meaning that she, perhaps not wrongly, sees the entire cast as "bad guys". She does realize that if she wins she'll end up completely alone - to her horror - but she's too far in the throes of a Villainous Breakdown to stop herself.
Creepy Changing Painting: In Queen Vanessa's Manor can be seen a painting of a person resembling Hat Kid, but with no face. When you come back to it later, it now has eyes and a stitched mouth carved into it and the person is holding the Dweller Mask in their hand.
Cel Shading: As aforementioned, this game uses the impressive cel shading similar to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; heck, many people have compared Hat Kid to Toon Link due to this similarity in the graphic style. She can even get a Palette Swap called "Forest Critter" that very closely resembles Toon Link.
Clothes Make the Superman: Each of Hat Kid's hats allows her access to a different ability:
- The Kid's Hat (the default) points Hat Kid towards her next objective.
- The Sprint Hat lets Hat Kid run. There's another badge that upgrades this to a scooter, which is a little faster and moves automatically.
- The Brewing Hat gives Hat Kid the ability to mix explosive potions.
- The Ice Hat allows Hat Kid to transform into an ice statue, which can be used to knock enemies into the air, launch off of certain platforms, crush your foes, or just become invincible (but immobile).
- The Dweller's Mask allows Hat Kid to see the world as a Dweller, which can make certain platforms and walls appear or disappear.
- The Time Stop Hat, contrary to its name, only lets Hat Kid slow down time to a crawl.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Nyakuza Metro is split up into six different areas, of which four of whom have a colour as a main theming in their name and as part of their area color scheme. The only exceptions are the Main Station, and the Escape Tunnels found at the end of Act 8: Rush Hour.
Controllable Helplessness: The first encounter with the Snatcher involves being caught in an inescapable tarp trap, though the player can still mash the attack button to struggle.
Convection, Schmonvection: The level Heating Up Mafia Town involves Mustache Girl opening up the large faucets in Mafia Town that control the local volcano, turning Mafia Town into a Lethal Lava Land. Unless Hat Kid actually touches the lava, she is perfectly fine.
- The game notably averts this with the Death Wish contract for the level; Beat the Heat, where Hat Kid will heat up over time to the point where she'll start taking damage. She cools off by jumping into the pool or one of the water buckets scattered across the level. This makes A Hat In Time one of the few games to (somewhat realistically) portray Convection that hurts the player.
Cool Mask: All of the Forest Dwellers wear animal masks (possibly because they have no faces otherwise). Hat Kid can even wear some of them herself. The masks are all that remain of their human forms, as they used to wear them as cheerful village children.
Corridor Cubbyhole Run: certain areas in Nyakuza Metro require you to traverse a narrow metro tunnel with cat trains passing every few seconds. To avoid getting hit, you need to hide in small embayments at the side of the tunnels.
Counterfeit Cash: The Empress has a printing press with money in it in her storeroom.
Credits Running Sequence: Hat Kid in the credits.
Crossover: Some of the Workshop content by the developers themselves includes hats or badges based upon other Indie Games, with their own abilities, such as Raz's helmet with the levitation ball, or Lilac's earpieces with the Dragon Cyclone (which actually has a unique voice clip of Hat Kid saying "Cyclone!").
Cruelty Is the Only Option: In Seal the Deal, you have to crash the cruise ship into an iceberg in its final level. Hat Kid doesn't even sound very upset about it and commandeered the ship to reach a Time Piece, though her conflicted reaction in her journal implies that crashing the ship wasn't intended.
Dark Reprise: Every major boss battle in the game has the central theme of its chapter remixed into a boss theme. The game's final chapter however features a far darker remix of the game's main theme.
The Dead Guy Did It: Parodied in the level "The Murder on the Owl Express". Hat Kid can accuse the "victim" of being the murderer of the Owl Express. The victim then proceeds to drop his act and confesses he was faking his death in order to avoid cleaning the floor.
Deal with the Devil: The Snatcher makes contracts and takes souls. Subverted in that you only have to do menial/weird jobs for him, and that if you refuse he kills you.
Death Course: One located in a train, of all places.
Death Mountain: Alpine Skyline consist of several mountains linked by lines of flags Hat Kid ziplines across with the Hookshot Badge in order to reach other areas.
Defeat Equals Explosion: Most enemies tend to burst into Pons when defeated. Bosses seem to be immune to this, with the exceptions of the Toilet of Doom, and Mafia Boss, whose remains are then jarred by Mustache Girl.
Department of Redundancy Department: The tombstones in Subcon Forest seem a little confused, since they read "Rest in RIP"...which would be "rest in rest in peace".
Deus ex Machina: The police cats in the final part of Nyakuza Metro. The Empress nearly has Hat Kid dead to rights when she intercepts an elevator Hat Kid was trying to take and forces her to ride with her. Luckily the floor they stop on was right in front of two officers responding to all the chaos going on and the Empress, not wanting to make a scene, leaves without incident. Ironically, one of the cops was on her payroll, but didn't even know what was going on. Even more ironically, the cop gives Hat Kid the last Time Piece of the story, thinking she was still working for the Empress and would deliver it to her.
Developer's Foresight:
- There's an achievement literally called "Sequence Breaking" if you get the first Time Piece without running into Mustache Girl (by jumping up the wall to your left upon loading in).
- There's another achievement for inputting something inappropriate during one of the moments where the game lets you enter text. It even works if you enter "Peck", the in-universe swear word.
- In the third act of Mafia Town, if you reach the paranoid Mafia who has the Time Piece without getting covered in mud — which you have to actively be trying to do, because there are mud puddles all around the place, including right in front of the two ways leading to said Mafia - he won't react to you, instead just muttering about mud-covered aliens to give you a clue.
- An area on the ship, only accessible by using the Ice Hat, you can find Hat Kid's diary, but you're only likely to get it in Chapter 2 at the earliest. Hat Kid actually has diary entries for the very first Acts of the game, which are otherwise impossible to read without using console commands, the Diary+ Steam Workshop Game Mod, or by redoing a level via Death Wish.
- Some themes have remixes specifically for when you ride your scooter. One of those themes only plays in time rifts. Considering time rifts are usually just a series of platforms, riding a scooter in them doesn't make much sense, but you can do it.
- During one level which features a very large sleeping bird, the Hat Kid's usual victory animation when retrieving the Time Piece is replaced by her hurriedly shushing the Time Piece before it makes too much noise to avoid waking up the bird.
- Attempting to enable cheats with console commands during a Death Wish will have the Snatcher call you out on this.
- Upon meeting him the first time before boarding the cruise ship in the Seal the Deal DLC, the Conductor will have different things to say depending on which movie director the player fought, earlier:
  Conductor (If the Conductor was fought): Oh, and sorry about the whole... knife incident. What's a wee argument between colleagues, though? Right, lassie?
  Conductor (If DJ Grooves was fought): Tell ye the truth, I've taken some time off after that peck neck DJ tried to... well, ye know.
- Some C.A.W. Agents can be avoided, and in these cases, the game has default text for them where a player-entered word is supposed to be. For example, in the final level, one will ask what crime you're being judged for, with you being able to enter an answer. Some crow agents later in the level will say "We criminals can feel relief we have not committed [player answer]." However, if you do not find or actively avoid the crow before that, the crows later on will say "We criminals can feel relief we have not committed crimes". In these instances, the word is still mumbled, however.
- Normally, if you have the Hover Badge equipped, Hat Kid will pull her umbrella out just before hitting the ground; however, if you have the baseball bat from the "Nyakuza Metro" DLC equipped, Hat Kid instead flaps her arms rapidly before she hits the ground.
- The Mafia HQ can only be entered in the fourth act because you need to press down both buttons at once; Mustache Girl pressing the other one with Hat Kid during that mission. In further missions, you can reach the buttons, but you have nothing to hit both at once. The co-op added in the DLC lets you spawn in Bow Kid as a second player...but if you try to use her to hit the other button, it won't work, keeping you from accessing the mission after you've beaten it chronologically and canonically.
- If you enter the final level without getting your soul back from the Snatcher's contracts, he'll comment on it if you talk to him at the level's entrance:
  Snatcher: Hey, kid. How's that soul of yours? Still rattling around in there?
  (If you haven't defeated the Snatcher yet) Oh, wait! You never quite earned that back, did you?
- It is mathematically possible to get a tied score in Battle of the Birds, with both the Conductor and DJ Grooves getting equal points overall in the movie reviews prior to the finale. When this happens, the game will select one of the two at random to be the award winner. But there is a unique interaction for this result where the game will outrightly break the fourth wall and tell you that it's going to pick the winner at random. You can then choose to either continue knowing it'll be a random choice, or say no and go try to alter the score balance by playing any of the levels again.
Did Not Do the Bloody Research: The beach where the race is held is bordered by signs saying "sod off." Given that one of their staff members is British, it's possible that guy trolled them into adding it in.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: In the final Act of Subcon Forest, Hat Kid defaces the contract the Snatcher gave her and pre-stamped, altering its terms to make it give her full access to the area and making the Snatcher officially her BFF. He's incredulous and tries to tell her contracts don't work that way, but his stamp is already on it and he just has to tolerate her if she visits Subcon Forest again.
Double-Meaning Title: Chapter 2's "Murder on the Owl Express" can refer to either the killing of one of the Express Owls aboard the titular train, or the fact that there are a bunch of crows on the train as well.
Dragon Lady: The Empress in Nyakuza Metro is a ruthless mob boss in a Japanese-themed setting.
Dual Boss: The Killing Two Birds Death Wish contract has Hat Kid fight the Conductor and DJ Groves simultaneously.
Dungeon Bypass: In the basement of Queen Vanessa's Manor, there's a hole in the wall in-between the barrels that can be crouched into. Entering the hole will lead you straight into the attic immediately, bypassing the entire manor. It's primarily intended for speedrunners but it can also be used to avoid the nightmare-inducing parts of the level for those who can't cope well with horror.
Eccentric Mentor: Tim, the CEO of Time. However, he does not make an appearance outside of production art.
Egopolis: Mafia Town. Also, Mustache Girl's Castle in the finale.
Earn Your Fun: For people that want the characters to start Speaking Simlish, the Banjo-Kazooie mumble is done via a purchasable badge, and it's one of the most expensive badges of all.
Easter Egg:
- Kicking cans behind the desk in the Arctic Cruise's second act unlocks a "secret Death Wish" to kick all of the ship's cans behind the desk. Doing so gets you a pair of golden sunglasses that you keep only for the duration of the level.
- The only Death Wish content for Nyakuza Metro is to find Snatcher Coins in the regular missions... but if you press the buttons on the metal doors after completing the energy-pon challenges in the Pink Paw Manhole, you open up a door with some Snatcher candles and reach a high-speed platforming challenge with trains pulled by Snatcherfied cats. Completing this segment leads you to a room with a bizarre human-legged dog sticker as your reward.
Enemy Mine: The Final Boss sees Hat Kid working together with her former enemies to defeat Mustache Girl and make her get lost.
Enemy Without: The Toilet of Doom of all things is this. Being that it's Hat Kid's soul having escaped and possessed a outhouse.◊
Even Evil Has Standards: The final boss. Mustache Girl uses the time pieces to hold dominion over everyone and everything, deciding that she gets to be the hero. Snatcher will tell her that "we don't need a hero," and tell her to get lost.
Evil Brit: Mustache Girl and Queen Vanessa, who share a voice actress. Also, the Conductor if you side with him in Battle of the Birds, being a Scottish example.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Zigzagged. After the first phase of the final battle with Mustache Girl, the other characters and villains enter the fray, telling her to get lost. Mustache Girl expresses shock and confusion that Hat Kid would willingly stand with "crooks and criminals" (who had, at one point or another, betrayed and/or fought her). Though most of them aren't the nicest of people, they do not approve of Mustache Girl's authoritarian ways.
Exact Words: The Dweller's Mask is usable in Queen Vanessa's Manor, since Hat Kid's contract with the Snatcher specifically states "No Hats".
Face–Heel Turn: Mustache Girl starts as a friend, but later works against Hat Kid due to different motivations.
Facial Composite Failure: In Mafia Town, there are several wanted posters of Mustache Girl that are drawn with very uncanny Mafia faces. None of them even remotely resemble Mustache Girl's true face, and make her out to look like a Gonk in appearance.
Faking the Dead: If Hat Kid accuses the victim in the level "The Murder on the Owl Express" of being the killer, he drops his act and admits he did it to avoid cleaning the room
Falling Damage: If Hat Kid falls from a height, she'll merely fall on her rear without taking any damage, taking a moment to get back up. If she falls from a greater height, however, she'll take a single point of damage.
The Family for the Whole Family:
- The Mafia of Cooks. Their criminal activities involve beating up barrels dressed as old ladies (to intimidate people) and punching seagull parents for eating their fish, and they won't harm Hat Kid unless she attacks them first (well, usually).
- The Nyakuza subvert this. At first, their only imposing member is the Empress, whereas the rest of them are a bunch of adorable and funny-looking Cat Folk who would rather hang out at the nearest food truck than get into a tussle. Then Hat Kid steals from the Empress, and the entire gang starts gunning for her, proving just how capable they are as an organized crime syndicate.
Fantastic Racism:
- It's subtle, but it's there. In Chapter 2, the Conductor holds this viewpoint towards Moon Penguins in-general, calling them insults like "Peck necks who dance around on bird seed". And Dead Bird Studio does not allow any humans on set, with the receptionist stating that they're only insured for bird staff and that allowing Hat Kid in (who's a Human Alien) would be a liability. By contrast, DJ Grooves holds the opposite viewpoint as he's willing to hire Hat Kid and some of the Express Owls in his movies, though he still has to give her a passport to establish her legally as a bird.
- Averted with the Snatcher. In one of his Death Wish quotes, he claims himself to be an equal opportunity employer who values all souls regardless of age, race, gender, or position on the endangered species list.
Felony Misdemeanor: Some of the fines you can get billed for in Dead Bird Studio are flat-out ridiculous. Fines like "Assault on Cactus" and "Teepee T-KO" are triggered for just knocking down said props, and "Owl Harassment" and "Penguin Harassment" are triggered by simply being in their line of sight for less than a second.
Final Boss, New Dimension: A timeline in which Mustache Girl passes judgement over all.
Finger Gun: Hat Kid constantly holds up a finger gun during the stealth section at Dead Bird Studio and the murder mystery on the Owl Express, seemingly just to get herself into the mood. It's also a pose she can make in camera mode.
First-Person Snapshooter: A camera collectible in Mafia Town allows the player to take pictures.
First Town: Mafia Town. It's one of the least dangerous areas and has several places where you can test hat powers and items you acquire much later in the game as well.
Foreshadowing:
- Mustache Girl's excitement about the opportunity to inflict extreme violence on the Mafia is easy to see as Black Comedy—especially since the game's dialogue as a whole makes frequent use of black comedy—in the moment, but in hindsight there's no way someone who wants to not only kill them but also stuff their remains in jars to sell for pocket money as a first resort could turn out to be a pleasant person. Sure enough, Mustache Girl is every bit as Ax-Crazy as you'd expect someone who wants to do such a thing would be.
- In the first room of Dead Bird Studios, you can see trophy shelves for opposing shelves. The Conductor's are nearly all gold with one silver, while DJ Grooves' is the opposite. The boss' motivation for keeping the Time Pieces is either that one loss for the Conductor, or those many losses for Grooves.
Forgot About His Powers: Among the passengers you need to save from drowning during the stage "Rock the Boat" are the seals, who should be able to swim. Whether this is because they are lazy or just so incompetent that they actually can't swim is never answered.
Four Is Death: Queen Vanessa's Manor is the darkest, scariest level in the game and has no traces of comedy, featuring a supernatural abomination who can only be evaded. It's also the fourth act of the Subcon Forest chapter.
Furry Confusion: Nyakuza Metro is full of anthropomorphic cats, but has giant non-anthropomorphic cats pulling the trains.
Fun with Acronyms: The entrance to the first DLC chapter's room is through a machine called the Dirty Laundry Cleaner 3000 in the spaceship's basement.
Game-Breaking Bug: It's possible for one glitch to lock you out of the badge slots entirely for that specific save file. The glitch is caused by toggling the skip-able cutscenes in the settings menu to on, so when you buy the badge pins from the Badge Seller, the slots will not appear in the pause menu, and you'll be unable to equip more than one badge for the rest of the playthrough.
Game Mod: The Steam version was updated with official Workshop support, allowing for new hats and stages. The first two mods are a hat based off Razputin Aquato's Aviator Helmet, and a badge that gives Hat Kid Sash Lilac's Cyclone ability (with exclusive voiced dialogue on top).
Game-Over Man: Snatcher will occasionally laugh at/taunt Hat Kid if, no, when she dies in Death Wish.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: After completing the story of Nyakuza Metro, the Empress will be under investigation by police and tells Hat Kid she's been forced to lie low and appear honest for a while, and makes it clear Hat Kid will regret this once the police drop the investigation. However, she will still perform the lethal swipe she delivers Hat Kid if you attack her, even though she's in full view of the police.
Game Within a Game: In the Machine Room in Hat Kid's spaceship, there's a text adventure game you can play on her computer called "Corgi Text 7 - The Leashes That Bind", where you're a corgi named Alan, and your goal is to escape being leashed. There's plenty of witty writing to go around, and despite being essentially a parody of old text adventure games, it's actually a fully-functional one within a 3D platformer.
Get Out!:
- The Snatcher, after being defeated by Hat Kid, tries to get her to leave via a contract that replaces the headings and text with this as its terms.
  Get Out
  Just Get Out
  The following parts of the forest will be available:
  None of it. Get Out.
  Please
  take all your junk
  and leave.
- In the finale, when everyone comes to Hat Kid's defense, they all tell Mustache Girl the exact same thing: Get lost.
Gimmick Level: Every chapter, to an extent:
- Mafia Town is the most normal of them, acting pretty much like a Super Mario 64 world with slight differences based solely on which time piece you choose to pursue. Where this differs from the basic formula is that some acts are wildly different than the normal level (more like Super Mario Sunshine), such as flooding the area with lava, and the chapter boss is defeated halfway through, based on the numbering of the acts.
- Battle of the Birds contains two branching paths in a "choose your side" type storyline. You have to finish every act, but who ends up winning and becoming the chapter boss is up to how well the player does in the two acts each side gets.
- Subcon Forest has no bought or automatically gained acts unlike the first two chapters. Advancing depends on exploring the world in a previous act until you come across one of the Snatcher's "traps," where he then gives you another contract to fulfill.
- Alpine Skyline also has no bought acts and is entirely designed around free roaming exploration. In fact, the only way to gain any one of the acts on the chapter menu is to have already finished it, and the only act you start with functions more like the chapter's own hub world, with a series of zip lines giving you the ability to travel to each level manually. Once you collect a Time Piece, you aren't taken out of the level, either, and are simply returned to the starting area so you can go on the next path. The final act also starts up immediately while Hat Kid stays in the level, with the changes and new objective being activated after she takes the last uncollected Time Piece.
- Arctic Cruise emphasizes Hat Kid picking up and taking things from place to place, with each level being built around it in some way; the first one is a way to acquire Time Piece shards, the second being to pick up things to help the ship's denizens, and the third to save everyone on the sinking ship.
- Nyakuza Metro goes with the free roam model that Alpine Skyline has, with numerous trains around the level emphasizing momentum-based platforming, but also features a "Pass" system, where Hat Kid isn't allowed to go through certain doors until she buys certain color-coordinated passes.
Girliness Upgrade: In a downplayed example, you can use alternative hat and clothing appearances to make Hat Kid as tomboyish or girly as you want, including making her entire wardrobe bright pink with a ladybug headband.
Girls with Moustaches: The main villain is like this. She's even called Mustache Girl.
Going Down with the Ship: In "Rock the Boat" it appears the captain is attempting to invoke this when you rescue him. In reality he isn't. He is a walrus so he was never in danger of drowning.
Goodies in the Toilets: In the DLC level Arctic Cruise, there is exactly one restroom on the entire ship. Its middle cabin contains a treasure on top of the toilet.
Good Morning, Crono: Hat Kid begins the game sleeping, before being startled awake by her radio. And by startled awake, we mean launching out of her bed in surprise.
Goomba Stomp: Hat Kid's other primary form of offence besides her umbrella. Some enemies require you to use both to defeat them.
Go-to-Sleep Ending: The game ends very much like how it began: Hat Kid in bed, asleep.
Gotta Catch 'Em All: All of the Time Pieces (the Excuse Plot that fuels the game), Badges (to improve your skillset), Hats (to give you new abilities), Relics (to research the planets culture) and Scrapbook Pages (Scrapbook pages found in Time Rifts, which, once collected, tells a story based on the time rift) count as this. The alpha of the game had red ties as a currency you could trade for items, but the ties were removed, leaving just Pons in the final game.
- In the movie levels of Chapter 2, there are collectible tokens of the Conductor's or DJ Grooves' head, dependent on the mission, which Hat Kid can collect. Each one increases the final score she gets for that level.
- The Seal the Deal DLC's Death Wish mode adds Snatcher's stamps for completing objectives. They don't do anything except increase your completion percentage (to a maximum of 110%) and let you know which objectives you've completed.
- The Nyakuza Metro DLC adds stickers, raising the total completion percentage to 120%. You can choose 3 to put on your weapon. The 3 you choose also get added to your chat menu and most of them will trigger unique dialogue.
Grappling-Hook Pistol: The umbrella eventually gets an upgrade from a hat badge that allows the player to grapple to certain points.
Grey-and-Gray Morality: This game’s morality is shockingly complex. Almost every conflict has neither a good or bad side:
- Mustache Girl’s war with the mafia. On one hand, the mafia, while most are ruthless jerks, are just men looking for a place to find peace after what is implied to be years of backbreaking labor, but that gave them no right to come to Mustache Girl’s home and bully everyone into submission. That said, Mustache Girl goes way too far with dealing with them, her methods of killing mark her as an Ax-Crazy Sadist, and she eventually takes over the world to execute anyone she sees as a "bad guy".
- The Conductor and DJ Grooves play with this, as it’s only this if you help Grooves win. Because the latter, despite being a Nice Guy, turns into a violent jerk who tries to kill Hat Kid, leading The Conductor, a Jerkass Bad Boss, to come to her aid. That said, it’s only if you help Grooves win, because if The Conductor wins, he’ll try to kill Hat Kid and Grooves will come to her aid, a far more black and white outcome.
- With the exception of Vanessa and The Purple Flowers, pretty much all of Hat Kid’s conflicts are this, as well. Hat Kid is a selfish Anti-Hero who will help anyone regardless of morality if it means she gets a Time Piece, but she has a heart. The people she deals with have just as many good and bad traits: The Mafia are men looking for peace but bully others to gain it, The Conductor and DJ Grooves are actually nice guys when they aren’t trying to kill for this world’s equivalent of an Oscar, The Snatcher is a spirit broken by the tragedy of his death and lost his moral agency, Mustache Girl is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who takes things too far but does mean well. Even The Empress isn't entirely wrong; as ruthless as she is, she grows a fondness for Hat Kid and it's the latter who betrays her trust. Even then, The Empress doesn't dodge responsibility and takes blame for putting so much faith in a girl she just met (even if she still plans on killing her).
Grimy Water: The thick, purple water covered with screaming faces in Subcon Forest is a variant: rather than damaging you directly, stepping on it will cause hands to rise out and attempt to pull you down, progressively restricting your movement until they succeed or you return to dry land.
The Ground Is Lava:
- Chapter 1, Act 6, called "Heating Up Mafia Town", has nearly the entire level covered in lava from the erupting volcano, turning what was once a safe stroll on the ground in previous acts into a hazardous platforming gauntlet where only the rooftops of buildings are safe havens. This adds a whole new level of tricky navigation to Mafia Town as you try to make your way to the giant faucets controlling the eruption and turn them off.
- There are two in-game achievements that evoke the "floor is lava" gimmick. One is aptly-named "The Floor is Lava" and it involves scaling the Lava Cake without touching the lava. The other, named "Encore!", requires you to not fall into the audience below in "The Big Parade" which the game treats as a hazard.
Guide Dang It!:

It's not made clear that talking to the "dog" that you save in "Murder on the Owl Express" gives you evidence with which to accuse someone at the end of a level.
To progress to other acts in Subcon Forest, Hat Kid needs to activate some of the Snatcher's traps to sign more contracts, though it's never explained where they are.
When you first unlock the spaceship's basement, there's a path to the side (leading to the lab) blocked by a purple wall. Even if you already had the Dweller Mask, you wouldn't know that it works there until the first time you're forced to interact with them, which is either in Alpine Skyline or when trying to reach one, and only one, of the time rifts in Subcon. Granted, this is hinted at by one of the Snatcher's minions near the Fire Spirits blocking said rift, but you wouldn't ever hear it unless you're going for every bonus level or aimlessly exploring Subcon (probably due to the last example).

Hailfire Peaks: Subcon Forest has a section where the forest is always burning and another section, Queen Vanessa's domain, where a perpetual blizzard takes place and everything else is frozen.
Harmless Freezing:
- Hat Kid can turn herself into an ice sculpture with a Ground Pound when using the Ice Hat, which allows her to dive underwater and bounce on blue platforms that spring her to a specific place.
- Queen Vanessa's freezing, however, is very much lethal.
Hat of Power: Tons of them, most notably the default Kid's Hat. Each unlockable hat either grants Hat Kid new abilities, or a restyle of a hat they already own.
Have a Nice Death: Dying in one of Snatcher's Death Wish missions will sometimes have him mock you.
Heroic Mime: Hat Kid doesn't say anything during cutscenes, which Mustache Girl lampshades early on. Outside cutscenes, though, she'll say some intelligible words and phrases, such as counting certain collectibles out loud.
Heroic Sacrifice: After Mustache Girl accidentally kills some of the enemies watching her fight Hat Kid, the bad guys realize that they can drop healing items for Hat Kid when they're defeated, and proceed to consensually kill each other in order to provide her with infinite health. However, they're also aware of the fact that Hat Kid's victory would bring them all back from the dead anyway, making this a lesser example.
Hidden Elf Village: Alpine Skyline counts as one. It is a hidden civilization high in the mountain peaks that are inhabited by a species of sentient but silent Goats, the curious Nomads, the devious Lazy Paw Gang, and the invasive Purple Flowers, and none of the inhabitants want nothing to do with the rest of the outside world. The civilization is feudal-like in nature and completely lacking in modern technology, and its location is so remote that none of the NPCs from other levels are present there^note.
Hitbox Dissonance: The Conductor has the exact same hitbox as DJ Grooves, despite the fact that the former is about human-sized, while the latter stands taller than Hat Kid with her top hat on. This is especially noticeable if you do a homing attack on the Conductor, as you'll visibly hit the air above him.
Hostile Show Takeover: Upon getting your 25th Time Piece, the following loading screen gets pulled up like a projector screen by Mustache Girl, who you proceed to control for a brief moment.
Hub Level: Thanks to a Kickstarter stretch goal, Hat Kid's spaceship is this.
Human Cannonball: In Mafia town, there are a few instances where Hat Kid is shot out of a cannon to reach higher places.
Hypocrite: Several of the characters accuse Hat Kid of being selfish for not letting them use her Time Pieces for their own selfish desires to alter history.
An Ice Person:
- Hat Kid can turn herself into an ice statue when she uses the Ice Hat.
- Queen Vanessa's gaze turns her victims to ice. Her mansion is even decorated with several of her... trophies, and ice surrounds her manor in a large radius.
Idle Animation: Hat Kid will play with dolls, spin her umbrella on her finger, or put her arms behind her back and and wiggle before pulling out her umbrella quickly and assuming a battle stance, among others.
Inexplicably Identical Individuals: All of the Mafia Goons are identical (except for slight differences in clothing) and all refer to themselves as "Mafia".
Informed Obscenity: According to DJ Grooves, "peck" is considered an obscene word to birds, and he admonishes the Conductor for frequently peppering it into his speech.
Interface Screw: If Queen Vanessa steps within a hallway's length of you, the screen turns dark purple and starts to distort as if underwater.
Interface Spoiler: It's easy to guess Mustache Girl isn't going to stay on your side if you die before she renounces her friendship with you, due to her face being the death Iris Out.
iPhony: In Nyakuza metro, one message board advertises the "MeowBook Pro", all with a fantasy equivalent to the Apple symbol on the back.
Item Get!: Hat Kid performs one a la Super Mario 64 when she collects a Time Piece.
Jump Scare: When you enter the first-floor hallway of Queen Vanessa's Manor from the cellar, all has been calm...but when Hat Kid approaches a door, a Scare Chord plays accompanied by an abrupt, harsh cry of "WHO'S THERE?" as Vanessa is alerted. The moment even gives a jump to Hat Kid, who falls on her butt and tries to crawl backward in fear.
The Key Is Behind the Lock: Nyakuza Metro is gated off by barriers that require Metro Passes to go through them. Pink barriers, including those to Pink Paw Station, require you to find a path to sneak into Pink Paw Station itself, as the seller is inside the station.
Kicking My Own Butt: Weirdly invoked with the Toilet of Doom as it's Hat Kid fighting her own soul possessing an old outhouse. Her soul seems to get some degree of pleasure in attacking herself as the Toilet is shown indulging in an Evil Laugh whenever it's set down one of its giant bombs.
King Mook: The Mafia Boss to the Mafia of Cooks, the Conductor to the Express Owls, DJ Grooves to the Moon Penguins, the Snatcher to his Minions, the Giant Crow in the Birdhouse to the Mad Crows and Shoctopus to the Shock Squids. The latter two are not bosses or even hostile, however.
Left the Background Music On:
- In the "Train Rush" act, you can actually see the owls providing the music as Hat Kid races to the goal.
- During the Grand Parade act, you lead a marching band who provides the background music for the level. And when they return during the act boss battle, the music immediately switches to a big band version of the song that had been playing.
Lethal Lava Land: Mafia Town becomes this in one Act, due to faucets connected to a volcano being turned on. There's also Sizzling Lava Split, Ember Summit, and the Lava Cake sections in Alpine Skylines. Also, the final level/whole world in Mustache Girl's timeline.
Letting the Air out of the Band:
- When Hat Kid sits down on a chair, the music slows down and drops in pitch.
- Also happens to a lesser and creepier extent when using the Dweller Mask.
- Inverted on the ziplines in Alpine Skyline, where the music will hype up a bit until you land.
Living Shadow: The Snatcher and Queen Vanessa both invoke this, though the Snatcher is less scary of an execution than Vanessa. Hat Kid can also unlock a Snatcher-styled "Shadow Puppet" outfit if she completes his hardest Death Wish contract, "Seal the Deal".
Living Statue: Subcon Forest has angel statues that are completely harmless, and headless versions of those statues that will come to life and attack if you stay near them long enough. They also run faster than you without the Sprint Hat and can whittle down your health easily, are indestructible, and the fact that they're alive will probably surprise you in the worst way.
Locomotive Level: The Conductor's levels all take place in his train, the "Owl Express".
Long Song, Short Scene: The boss theme "Your Contract Has Expired" clocks in at about four minutes, but the boss battle it plays in can be finished in under three minutes. Not only that, there's a break in the middle of the battle where the music stops altogether, then a different variation not present on the soundtrack plays for the second phase!
Loophole Abuse:
- In Queen Vanessa's Manor, Hat Kid is contractually forbidden from using her hat's special abilities inside the Manor. She can, however, use the Dweller Mask, but it doesn't do much aside from show off mad ramblings in the in-universe language of the game, and the outline of someone who was shackled in the basement.
- The Snatcher's tip for the "She Came from Outer Space" Death Wish contract is to use the Ice Hat near a ledge/wall, but tap the trigger instead of holding it down. As Snatcher goes on to explain, when you use the Ice Hat, it lifts you up in the air temporarily, and you'll grab onto a ledge/wall if you can get the timing down, which doesn't count as a jump. This comes in very handy for said Death Wish contract, which has you complete said level by jumping only fifteen times or less. A candle side-mission requires you to complete a level, but never jump at any point. You can use this jumping loophole trick on the "Welcome To Mafia Town" level to get to the time piece really easily.
The Lost Woods: The Subcon Forest.
Made of Explodium:
- The Brewing Hat allows Hat Kid to mix chemicals in a flask and use them as homemade grenades.
- When a Dweller possesses a giant cherry, it becomes a cherry bomb far more potent than the explosives Hat Kid makes from her Brewing Hat. It is powerful enough to harm Hat Kid and demolish blocks of ice that she normally can't break.
- Flowers released from the Purple Bulbs in Alpine Skyline are very explosive.
Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: The Mafia Town time rift has a Mafia goon pirouetting for no particular reason.
Malevolent Architecture: Hope the Owl Express wasn't taking passengers the same days it's used for filming. Because if it was, it would do a horrible, horrible job of it when it comes to how it appears in "Train Rush".
- The Cruise ship's architecture is completely dreadful, re-routing passengers through ridiculous detours in order to make it through the ship and in some cases through rooms intended for staff only (like the kitchen, or the engine room, or the bridge) or forcing them to climb between decks to get anywhere. And there's only a single toilet on the entire ship.
Maneki Neko: Some of the Nyakuza Metro architecture has carved out Maneki Nekos in certain train stations.
Marathon Level: The Windmill on Alpine Skyline is a long, linear level with lots of checkpoints and even more difficult jumping and parkour sections that will likely take 15-20 minutes to complete if you don't mess up.
Mascot Mook: Mafia well aware of how tied Mafia is to game's public image.
Medieval Stasis: The world the game takes place in appears to be in the rough equivalent of the 21st Century, as both Mafia Town and the areas in Chapter 2 showcase a lot of familiar modern-day technology and concepts, like a movie-making business and mentions of the internet. However, Subcon Forest and Alpine Skyline are the only areas that stand out in this world, since the lifestyles of these areas are more feudal-like and completely detached from technology. Both are justified though, since Subcon Forest is inhabited by spirits of a long-forgotten devastated village, and Alpine Skyline is essentially a Hidden Elf Village high in the mountain peaks above the clouds.
Meaningful Name: Subcon Forest seems to be a dual play on "subconscious", referring to the overall spooky theme and outright nightmare material featured within, much like that of a bad dream (it's also accessed through Hat Kid's bedroom), and "subcontractor", as Hat Kid enters service under the Snatcher and accrues a stack of contracts to complete for him.
Mega Neko: The trains in Nyakuza Metro are pulled by really large cats. But four-legged cats, in a world of anthropomorphic cats.
Mercy Mode:
- After dying a certain number of times to the Subcon Forest boss, you'll start being given a health pon for every hit you land.
- If you die enough times in a Death Wish DLC mission, the game will offer you "Peace and Tranquility Mode" which makes the mission objectives/mission gimmicks/boss battles less strict in exchange for Pons. Unlike other examples of Easy-Mode Mockery, this doesn't lock you out of any rewards, but does apply a different completion stamp to the map.
- Turning on "assist mode" in the game's options changes your health bar to have 8 slices of life, instead of 4, you auto-regenerate health after a short while, and the levels are made a bit easier. In Death Wish contracts, Peace and Tranquility is also automatically turned on when this option is active.
Metropolis Level: Nyakuza Metro is a retro Cyberpunk-esque metropolis taking inspiration from modern Japanese culture. Hat Kid gets drafted into the local Nyakuza by the Empress to search out for Time Pieces scattered across the city for her business, and the main gimmicks include platforming across Mega Neko-driven trains and interacting with the feline locals. Collecting Time Pieces unlocks different sub-sections of the level by rewarding you with tickets to bypass certain station barriers.
Mini-Dungeon: Several. Mafia HQ, Subcon Well and some of the locations in Alpine Skyline.
Misery Builds Character: The Mafia give this as their justification for attacking the shopkeepers in Mafia Town.
Missing Secret:
- The base game does not have enough Rift Tokens and Time Rifts for the player to get everything out of the gift machine. While PC players can get around this by earning Rift Tokens from Steam Workshop levels, console players will always end up just one item short of cleaning out the machine.
- In Queen Vanessa's Manor, there's a hidden button you can press in the piano room that reveals a hidden staircase. Said staircase leads to a dead end, and nothing else. It was a holdover of Time Rift challenges being accessed via secrets in levels, rather than being unlocked and accessed by touching an orb hidden in the open.
Mood Whiplash:
- The first world is bright and colorful. The third is dark and creepy. Then the forth is bright and (somewhat) peaceful again.
- As for the second, it's literally split down the middle between Western thriller and Disco Moon Metropolis action, due to two competing directors.
- Subcon Forest has a rather dark sense of humor, but remains humorous. Then there's Act Four, Queen Vanessa's Manor, which is completely devoid of anything even remotely silly or funny; it's pretty surprising even for this chapter. The horror of the level is entirely played straight and becomes relentless due to the way your hats are disabled, forcing you to experience it as a vulnerable character with no goofy effects to intervene with the atmosphere. The only way to not have a scary time is to take the level skip hidden in the manor's basement, which just proves the commitment to tone.
- "Murder on the Owl Express" is an unexpectedly serious premise, as a murder mystery plays out, complete with a stabbed victim in a pool of blood. The mood snaps back again when it was revealed to be faked by the Conductor for some large-scale Enforced Method Acting.
- "Queen Vanessa's Manor" even demonstrates this taken alone. It looks like it will be a typical spook-house platformer level given the genre and the rest of Subcon Forest, and it even opens with an introduction to Dweller platforming and has an adventurous, epic tone to the scary music as the house comes into view. Then the cellar doors open, the music suddenly sounds like it's from an adult horror game, and the rest of the level is spent as a hide-and-seek against a scary invincible foe who's played completely straight, with platforming taking a back seat.
Morton's Fork:
- After you hit the boss of Battle of the Birds enough times, he halts the fight and explains why he wants the Time Piece. He asks if you could possibly spare just this one Time Piece, and end this pointless fight. If you choose "No", the boss fight continues as before. If you choose "Yes", he thanks you for your generosity... then adds that you know too much and need to die anyway, and then the boss fight continues as before.
- The Snatcher's deal is this. Sign his contract and you'll become his servant, but refuse enough times and he just kills you.
- A more humorous example happens when DJ Grooves is taking Hat Kid's photo for her passport into the studio. As he's taking the photo, the player can either move (causing DJ Grooves to call you out for ruining the shot) or you can stand still for a little bit (and have him complain that Hat Kid is "not very photogenic"). Either way, you'll need to fix the photo, afterwards.
Multiple Endings: The denouement in the "Murder on the Owl Express" mission changes slightly, depending on who you accuse of being the murderer:
- The CAW Agents: They note that they have had a very slow few weeks, and did the murder just so that they could get paid.
- The Express Owls: They murdered Robin, the victim, because he was chewing gum with his mouth open.
- The Conductor: He complains about how the accusation doesn't make sense, before ultimately deciding to just roll with it, and goes on a loud outburst about how he committed the crime, and goes onto say that he didn't want to be the villain of his own movie.
- Hat Kid: The Conductor goes on a rant about how Hat Kid hates public transportation, and goes so far as to say you cannibalized the victim's corpse, even though the body is just fine.
- "Auntie": "She" speaks with the voice of DJ Grooves, who says that he was just trying to help the Conductor get his movie going.
- The Victim: He just didn't want to clean the floor, and tried to fake his death.
Mundangerous: If Hat Kid attacks the Empress in her shop in Nyakuza Metro, she'll retaliate with a swipe that instantly kills Hat Kid.
Musical Gameplay: Seal the Deal adds a new time rift that is aptly named "Rhythm Jump Studio", where blue and pink blocks appear and disappear between each other with the beat of the music. You have to time your jumps in accordance to the rhythm to avoid falling down the Bottomless Pit below.
Mysterious Informant: After the award ceremony in the 2nd Chapter, Hat Kid gets a call from a deep-voiced informant, telling her that the winner of the award still holds a Time Piece, and knows what it's for and how to use it. The only thing that determines who the caller is what they call the Hat Kid at the end of the conversation ("lassie" for the Conductor, and "darling" for DJ Grooves).

N-Z

Nameless Narrative: Most of the cast of the game are referred to only with titles or descriptors, with almost none of the characters being given proper names. The only outliers are Queen Vanessa, the owl who got "murdered" who is revealed to be named Robin (if the Express Owls are the chosen suspects), Rumbi, Hat Kid's robot vacuum, "that darn Steve from work" the Tourist keeps mentioning, and possibly DJ Grooves (but that might be a stage name).
Nerf: Several of the Death Wish challenges were made easier in later patches, probably due to their ridiculous level of difficulty. For example, "Bird Sanctuary" initially made it so any bird being killed instantly results in a death for the player. This was later changed so a bird death just results in taking one point of damage, with the One-Hit-Point Wonder run being relegated to a bonus objective (previously a Timed Mission).
Never Trust a Title: Hats are indeed quite important, but time travel is never used as a gameplay mechanic until the fourth chapter, and even then you only get the ability to slow it down a little. It does, however, factor heavily into the story, namely being the primary motivation the former antagonists have to keep the time pieces from Hat Kid, and ultimately the reason the final chapter ever happens.
New Game Plus: The game has two. "Death Wish" mode is a contracts system, which has the Snatcher remix various levels and Time Rifts to try and kill you off, which was added in Seal the Deal. If you beat the main storyline and have both the Seal the Deal and Nyakuza Metro DLC installed, you can start a new game and play as Bow Kid in the single player mode.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After gloating about being invincible (and not being exactly wrong) The Snatcher does a really stupid thing and ends up giving Hat Kid a way of beating him.
- Mustache Girl gives Hat Kid's allies the idea of performing a Heroic Sacrifice to help her after lashing out and blasting a bunch of them to kingdom come.
Nintendo Hard: While the regular game is easy enough for the most part, the Death Wish missions fall squarely into this.
Nobody Poops: Downplayed. While there are toilets in Mafia HQ, and the Toilet of Doom & Queen Vanessa’s bathroom in Subcon Forest, Hat Kid's spaceship lacks a bathroom or any unopened doors that could be surmised as leading to one. Could be chalked up to Bizarre Alien Biology. (Worth noting that, judging by Hat Kid's diary entry after fighting the Toilet of Doom, she knows what a toilet is and considers it gross enough to have a minor Freak Out.)
No Fair Cheating: Thought you could enable cheats in a Death Wish mission? Snatcher isn't amused, dealing one point of damage as punishment and taunting you in the console.
Snatcher: Trying to cheat me, eh kid?
Non-Standard Character Design: In "The Arctic Cruise", the captain of the ship is a walrus who looks more detailed than the other characters in the game. Ditto with the Empress in "Nyakuza Metro".
No-Gear Level: "Queen Vanessa's Manor" and "Your Contract has Expired" in Subcon Forest both force Hat Kid to not use the majority of her abilities pertaining to hats. Justified in both cases; it's a contractual obligation for the former, and the Snatcher outright steals Hat Kid's hats in the latter.
No One Gets Left Behind: Played straight and parodied on the final act of the Arctic Cruise DLC "Rock the Boat". As the ship is sinking you need to rescue passengers and crew members left behind and bring them to the life boats. After rescuing everyone you then have a timed mission to rescue the captain before the boats decide to leave without you. The captain will constantly tell you to go on without him and leave him behind. At the end he reveals he wasn't trying to pull a Going Down with the Ship. He's a walrus, so he was never in danger of drowning to begin with.
Notice This: Collectibles like yarn and relics have a huge, rainbow-colored lens flare effect surrounding them, making them visible from far away.
Not What It Looks Like: The storybook pages in Subcon Forest's purple Time Rift show that Queen Vanessa's obsessive tendencies began when she saw her prince holding hands with a red-haired girl. He was buying a bouquet from her to give to Vanessa.
Obliviously Evil: Mustache Girl. Despite the fact that she eventually steals the Time Pieces to create an alternate timeline where she rules as Judge, Jury, and Executioner over the entire world, her reaction to anyone having a problem with her authoritarian extremism is one of complete confusion, indicating that she genuinely believes that what she's doing is right.
Mustache Girl: Wh, wha? But I'm fixing everything! No more bad guys! Why can't you see that I'm doing this for all of us?
Oh, Crap!:
- The Snatcher loses his cool upon realizing he's just been tinted blue (and is thus vulnerable), which is exactly the turn of events he was trying to avoid.
Snatcher: ...did you just color me blue with my own attack? This can't count, right? Surely this doesn't count!?
- DJ Grooves gets a pretty amusing moment if the Hat Kid drops a P-bomb on live TV in the middle of an endorsement.
DJ Grooves: ...DAHLIN'!
Older Than They Look: In a piece of content that was cut from the final game, the head of the Mafia of Cooks states that he hasn't seen Time Pieces in Mafia Town for over a hundred years. He looks nowhere near that age.
Old Save Bonus:
- To commemorate the release of Here Comes Niko!, two new stickers were added to Nyakuza Metro that can only be accessed if one owns both games on Steam. These stickers depict a frog and Hat Kid in Niko's art style.
- Similarly, to commemorate the release of Psychonauts 2, a new sticker was added to Nyakuza Metro that can only be accessed if one owns both A Hat in Time and Psychonauts 2 on Steam. This sticker has Hat Kid wearing Razputin's helmet and goggles while using a psychic power.
Ominous Pipe Organ: Hat Kid's spaceship theme becomes much more sinister upon entering the area leading to the final chapter.
One-Hit Kill:
- When the Toilet of Doom creates a Big, Bulky Bomb, you have to land an attack to cancel the detonation. If you fail that, and the bomb goes off, the explosion is unavoidable and instantly kills you.
- The Empress will deal a claw swipe that will kill Hat Kid instantly if she tries to attack her.
One-Hit-Point Wonder: Hat Kid's maximum health will be reduced to one when she is equipped with a 1-Hit Hero badge. There is an achievement that can be unlocked by defeating a boss with it.
One-Time Dungeon: Alpine Skyline's ascent.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Most of the cast in the game doesn't have a proper name. Hat Kid is just Hat Kid. Mustache Girl is Mustache Girl. The Snatcher is the Snatcher and so on...
Opening the Sandbox: The game requires you to complete the first 4 Acts of Mafia Town before you can go do whatever you want, as Time Rifts won't appear until after "Down With the Mafia!" is completed and you need 4 Time Pieces to enter Chapter 2.
Ow, My Body Part!: Rumbi in the main lobby of Hat Kid's ship will sometimes say "Ow, my circuit board" when it collides with something.
Oxygen Meter: A rare case where drowning can happen both below and above the surface, as it's more of a swim stamina meter like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's. Hat Kid can only dive underwater from a long fall or by using the Ground Pound her Ice Hat's statue form, with the only option from there being to rise back to the surface with the jump button. After a few seconds of swimming, Hat Kid starts flailing around in a panic and 4 bubbles appear and drain away. You have to touch land in order to restore the meter back to normal.
Parasol of Pain: Hat Kid's umbrella, which has various upgrades including a hook shot and a laser beam.
Parasol Parachute: Hat Kid's umbrella can do this when she's about to take fall damage if a certain badge is equipped.
Permanently Missable Content: As a result of a bug, one rift token inside a giant crate in Mustache Girl's Castle can be permanently lost for good if it ends up falling into the lava below. This can put a detriment to people who are looking for all of these tokens to get prizes from the rift slot machine, and was such a large issue that the token itself had to be removed from the PC version. It's still present in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions though.
Pet the Dog:
- At the very end of the game, you can choose to leave one Time Piece behind for Mustache Girl to defeat the Mafia with, at the risk of not getting all the way back home.
- Sure, the Snatcher steals peoples' souls. But he also occasionally steals packages from the mail to give to his minions so they feel like someone cares about them.
Photo Mode: The Camera Badge activates it. You can freely move the camera at large distances and apply filters. Some Easter Eggs can only be seen with the combination of Dweller Mask and moving the camera to obscured areas. Nyakuza Metro DLC adds collectable stickers that you can add to photos.
Pickup Hierarchy:
- Primary: Time Pieces
- Secondary: Yarn, Safe codes, Relics, Tokens
- Tertiary: Pons
- Extra: Pages in Rifts
Playing with Fire: The Fire Spirits' presence creates walls of fire blocking off sections of the Subcon Forest. They require you to burn paintings containing trapped souls so they can die in a blaze, taking the barriers with them.
Please, Don't Leave Me: During the ending, a Mafia member, Cooking Cat, the Snatcher, the Conductor and DJ Grooves cling onto Hat Kid's spaceship begging her not to leave before being pushed off by her with a broom.
Plot Coupon: The Time Pieces.
Post-End Game Content: The game's equivalent to a New Game Plus is Death Wish Mode, where, after beating the final level, the Snatcher shows up on your ship and challenges you to more difficult versions of the main game missions on top of additional challenges in exchange for various rewards.
Press X to Die: Refusing the Snatcher's first contract enough times causes him to outright kill Hat Kid... though thankfully, she has infinite lives.
"Psycho" Strings: Queen Vanessa's theme picks these up the closer she draws to you.
Pun-Based Title: The first DLC is called "Seal the Deal", and while it's a common phrase, the DLC contains the Arctic Cruise chapter, which is populated by seals, and the Death Wish challenges, which are additional contracts or "deals" that the Snatcher gives you so he can watch you die painfully. "Seal the Deal" by itself can refer just to the Death Wish mode, and indeed, is the name of one of the final contracts.
Racing Minigame: There is a Mafia Town race, against a Mafia with a rocket. Cheating with the time-slowing hat from the fourth world is recommended, although it is possible to cut the race very close without it.
Readings Are Off the Scale: A gauge appears when Hat Kid and Mustache Girl first become friends, the bar reaching halfway. After the latter's Face–Heel Turn, the bar shoots out of the gauge and beyond the screen in the opposite direction, before the whole thing blows up.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Several examples:
- Mustache Girl is the red to Hat Kid's blue.
- The Conductor is the red while DJ Grooves is the blue.
- The Snatcher is the red for Queen Vanessa's blue.
Relationship Values: Subverted. A couple of early cutscenes with Mustache Girl show a friendship meter that fills up and goes deep into the negatives, but outside of these completely scripted moments, no other character has such a mechanic.
Reset-Button Suicide Mission: During the final battle, all of your enemies-turned-allies decide to kill each other after realizing they drop health pickups on death, giving you constantly regenerating health. The only reason they do this is because they know that you will rewind time if you win, which will bring them all back to life.
Retraux:
- Seal the Deal adds two items that intentionally invoke the old-school style when worn. The Virtual Kid costume gives Hat Kid a low-polygonal appearance reminiscent of early character models of both Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 games, while the Nostalgia Badge closely emulates the fifth generation experience by desaturating textures, making the level geometry more blocky, reducing the camera resolution, and even changing the aspect ratio from widescreen to classic 4:3.
- Nyakuza Metro adds the Retro badge, and the REDtro VR badge. The former gives the game a pale green and black color scheme much like the original Game Boy does, while the latter gives the game a red and black color scheme akin to the Virtual Boy.
Revenge: The only reason the Snatcher offers you his brutally difficult Death Wish challenges is because he wants you to fail them and die horribly, to get back at you for defeating him.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Everyone appears to have this, as they all remember the original timeline after Mustache Girl creates her own alternate reality, and after Hat Kid turns back time and sets everything back to the way it was before Mustache Girl worked her mischief, everyone still remembers her.
The Rival:
- Mustache Girl to Hat Kid.
- DJ Grooves and the Conductor are this to each other.
Room Full of Crazy:
- There's a small cave on Mafia Town's beach implied to be Mustache Girl's home, with graffiti of a Mafia's head with bullseye and the statement "I remember".
- The Dweller mask reveals that Queen Vanessa's entire Manor is this.
Route Boss: The boss of chapter 2, Battle of the Birds, is determined by who Hat Kid helps win the movie contest with the winner serving as the boss. Downplayed as both the Conductor and DJ Grooves are mechanically the same.
Rump Roast: Falling in lava or getting burned by fire causes Hat Kid to bounce upwards with her butt on fire, all while taking damage and trailing smoke. Some Mafia are subjected to this in a couple of levels as well.
- The game keeps track of this internally for Hat Kid as the BurningButt Status Effect.
- Same is true for Bow Kid during Co-Op.
- Peeking through the game files while modding reveals that Mustache Girl has two "butt on fire" animations, "ButtBurnDown" and "ButtBurnUp".
- Many of the extreme-difficulty community mods take this a step further, by forcing you into difficult platforming combo jumps that all require taking damage from fire enemies. This causes you to both take damage from getting burned, forcing you to manage your health and not make a mistake, but making it difficult as it also forces auto jumps as Hat Kid will hop into the air as her butt catches fire, and bounces when hitting the ground.
Run or Die: Pretty much what the last mission entails in Nyakuza Metro involving Hat Kid forced to flee when Empress puts a bounty on her head. And having to make her way through the Metro dodging the Empress and her goons.
Ruritania: Mafia Town, a Mediterranean-like island city whose main inhabitants speak in Slavic accents and enjoy punching everything.
Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Occasionally Hat Kid will shout "cling!" when using the Hookshot Badge to attach to something, and make "kaboom" sounds when throwing potions with the Brewing Hat.
Scare Chord:
- Outside Vanessa's Manor, a scare chord plays when you approach the cellar doors and they open up. The chord itself is just the opening of a music track consisting of repeated heavy droning sounds just like it, quickly shifting the mood into hard horror territory.
- Inside the Manor, shorter stings play whenever Queen Vanessa is alerted to your activity by an event in the level sequence.
Schmuck Bait: You can high-five some members of the Mafia in Mafia Town, who then play patty cake with Hat Kid, and then punch her in the face, which deals damage.
Secret Room: The spaceship has a secret room where Hat Kid puts her diary.
Sequence Breaking: The game encourages this, to the point where there are speedrunning tools in the options. Heck, there are a few ones put in by the devs for players to discover.
- There's an achievement for doing this, by not meeting up with Mustache Girl in "Welcome to Mafia Town" and instead going straight to the Time Piece.
  No hand holding for you, apparently.
- Another one can be done in Queen Vanessa's basement: get the first key, and crawl between two of the barrels, and you skip directly to the attic (where the Time Piece is).
Secret Level: The Time Rifts.
Sigil Spam: Mustache Girl's castle is loaded with mustache and hourglasses symbols.
Sinking Ship Scenario: The climax of the "Arctic Cruise" DLC involves the cruise ship "S.S. LITERALLY Can't Sink" crashing into an iceberg and sinking. Hat Kid is forced to rescue all the passengers and crew on account of being the only remotely competent person on board.
Ship Level: The Arctic Cruise. Act 3 combines it with Slippy-Slidey Ice World.
Shock and Awe: The Electro Badge, which allows you to damage enemies who touch you directly. It didn't make it into the final game, however.
Shrine to Self:
- Hat Kid's art gallery contains multiple depictions of herself (and other characters) in various classic works of art.
- Mustache Girl does something like this in the corrupted timeline where she owns a castle which has plenty of huge gold statues in her shape and the corridor leading to her fight has some pictures of her.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration:
- A couple of bits of dialogue lampshade the fact that Hat Kid is a Heroic Mime.
- The Final Boss also has the former villains and enemies realizing that they drop health power-ups once they're defeated and start actively beating each other up so they can keep giving Hat Kid health throughout the battle.
Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Subcon Well and the area of Subcon Forest leading up to and around Queen Vanessa's Manor. Also, Act 3 of the Arctic Cruise, with the ship now being capsized, full of freezing water and surrounded by ice due to you crashing it into an iceberg.
Slouch of Villainy: The loading art for the final chapter of the game depicts Mustache Girl on her throne atop dozens Time Pieces.
Something Only They Would Say: After receiving your Time Piece at the movie award ceremony, you get a phone call from the loser, telling you the winner still has another Time Piece. The caller ends the chat by referring to Hat Kid as either "lassie" (confirming that the caller is the Conductor) or "darling" (revealing that it's DJ Grooves on the line).
Songs in the Key of Panic: The less time you have left during Train Rush, the quicker the music gets.
- In the Arctic Cruise act Ship Shape, the song becomes more chaotic the closer you get to completing all the tasks and in accordance to the captain's anger.
- The song for the Rift Collapse Death Wish contracts gets extremely frantic during the last 10 seconds on the timer.
Sound of No Damage: A squeak like that from a dog toy plays when you try to hit an invincible NPC.
Space Whale: Massive whales can be distantly seen and heard in various Time Rift levels.
Speaking Simlish: Was added as a voice acting option for reaching a stretch goal, and is accessed via a purchasable badge.
Sprint Shoes: The Sprint Hat is the first hat you can craft, for just 2 yarn. Naturally, it allows you to sprint.
Squashed Flat: There are hammer traps in Mustache Girl's castle that can squish Hat Kid. She'll spring back into shape after a moment.
Starfish Language: While Hat Kid does speak English, she notably signs her name on the Snatcher's contracts with one of these, along with an emoticon of her own face. It isn't clear if this is supposed to be an alien language or simply scribbles and doodles for the sake of messing around with the Snatcher.
- The storybook for the Rumbi Factory time rift, added in the Nyakuza Metro DLC, confirms that Hat Kid wasn't just scribbling randomly- whatever the alien language is that she was writing in, it was indeed her name, because Rumbi recognizes it as her "ID".
Static Role, Exchangeable Character: You will end up having to fight either the Conductor or DJ Grooves at the end of Chapter 2 based on who won the Annual Bird Movie Award. The other character acts as an informant to drive you to uncover the conspiracy, and helps defuse a bomb that the boss places on you during the fight. The boss fight itself is exactly the same for both, with only the character model and dialogue swapped out.
Stealth-Based Mission:
- Some of the acts in Battle of the Birds involve stealth.
- Queen Vanessa's Manor is more Amnesia-lite than platforming, involving some puzzles with the threat of an invincible monster stalking the halls. Since some of the puzzle-solving actions draw her attention by making noise, the player will be forced to hide using the furniture until she leaves.
Story Branch Favoritism: While the boss fight of "Battle of the Birds" is the same, regardless of who wins, the majority of the attacks, gimmicks, and even the hitbox of the boss in the fight are based upon DJ Grooves. The Conductor's missions are also harder to get points on the first time through, while Grooves' missions are relatively straightforward.
Studiopolis: The premise of Chapter 2: Battle of the Birds is about two competing movie directors (the Conductor and DJ Grooves) attempting to out do each other for the 42nd Annual Bird Movie Award, with Hat Kid infiltrating production and becoming a movie star in order to retrieve her lost Time Pieces, which are being used as props. The main gimmick is helping either director score review points by taking part in their sets, and whoever wins the award by scoring the most points becomes the chapter's main boss and Arc Villain, with the losing director becoming your helper in said boss fight.
Suddenly Speaking: In the beta ending, Hat Kid (now an adult) tells the owner of the bookstore she'll see them later. In the final game, this ending is no longer included and said character gets voice clips.
Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Queen Vanessa's Manor is far more twisted than one might expect from, well, the entire rest of the game, playing more like a straight-up horror game and lacking the game's typical humor.
Taken for Granite: Any victim of Queen Vanessa is turned into a solid ice statue.
Take That!:
- The Conductor of "Battle of the Birds" has constantly made, according to DJ Grooves, too many films with the same genre, plot, and setpieces, making fun of a lack of creativity on the part of the film industry. In the finale, the player can even find the Conductor's drawing board for planned movies, with Hat Kid noting that the board looks like it's being drawn on by someone who's "very close to running out of movie ideas", and spots about 7 instances of the word "reboot". It's also heavily implied that the Conductor's films are vanity projects; the poster for a film called "Once Upon A Time on the Science Express" shows him front and center, and the character he plays in the two films Hat Kid is in is named "Savvy Train Conductor".
- A book in the Sleepy Subcon Time Rift features a book called "Proof of Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism". The pages are all blank.
- The developers made the game with the philosophy that collectathons aren't fun because you're just collecting things, and that the challenges behind things need to be fun. The Death Wish challenge called "Collectathon" is a grueling attempt to pick up a number of Pons before your depleting total catches up, with the level feeling like mindless walking around and picking up items in the vein of collectathon styles disdained by the developers.
- One of the skins you can unlock in Nyakuza Metro is the Wireframe. Its description? "It looks unfinished, but that's in style these days!".
Take Your Time: "Murder on the Owl Express". Hat Kid is told she only has "one owl hour" in which to find clues and solve the mystery, and as you progress through the level, the game cuts away to a clock that informs you how many "owl minutes" remain. But there isn't actually any time limit. The clock is triggered by entering certain rooms—so if you don't go into the last room, you can take as long as you like exploring the rest of the level.
Technician Versus Performer: The dueling directors, DJ Grooves (Performer) and the Conductor (Technician) have different directing philosophies. DJ Grooves is all about whatever will make him popular, but always loses out to the more technical-minded Conductor, who loves making movies with action, thrills, and explosions. This is also reflected in the missions they give you: the Conductor's side focuses on traditional technical platforming and stealth, while DJ Grooves' side simply has Hat Kid try to attract as many fans as possible by putting on a flashy show.
Tempting Fate: The cruise ship in the "Seal the Deal" DLC is called the "S.S. Literally Can't Sink."
Timed Mission: In "Train Rush", the Conductor deliberately rigs his train with explosives, so he can film the resulting action scene. Hat Kid accidentally triggers the countdown, then must race to the front of the train to shut off the bomb before it blows sky-high.
- Arctic Cruise in the DLC does this twice: Ship Shape has Hat Kid do various chores around the ship before the captain loses his patience. Rock the Boat doesn't do this at first, but when you have to rescue the captain from the sinking ship, the lifeboats will leave you behind if you take too long.
- During the game, you can find various Purple Rifts which take you to somewhat time-spliced versions of a chapter. During Death Wish, you can also visit these areas via the "Collapsing Rift" missions. These missions swap out the soothing backgrounds and often slow-paced musical themes for a wildly warping radiant background of various colors and a high-paced theme with a ticking clock put straight into the musical notes. Unsurprisingly, these missions also feature a strict time limit. What may have taken you upwards of 10-15 minutes as you casually investigated the rift in the original run is now a panicked 200 second dash to the end as you charge about collecting Rift Pons to open the rift doors and rush through. To make matters worse, you have a life system for these missions, meaning if you can't clear it in 3 lives, you're locked out for a period, only further stressing an already tense timed mission.
Time-Limit Boss: The Chapter 2 boss has a phase where they apply a bomb to Hat Kid. Hitting the boss ten times within the 80-second limit will trigger a friendly NPC to defuse the bomb.
- This is later reused in a refight against both Chapter 2 bosses in Death Wish, except here you get 190 seconds and the bomb isn't able to be defused
Tinfoil Hat: One of the abducted cows in the "Mockery of Off-Planet Life" relic wears one, and this is also a flair you can get for the Time Stop Hat.
Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack: Pretty much half the soundtrack is either based on - or includes pieces of - the game's main theme. Obvious examples are A New Adventure (based on), Picture Perfect (based on), and all the boss themes (includes pieces), while outliers include Alpine Skyline at Night and Rush Hour.
Third-Person Person: Mafia talk like this.
Toilet Humor: There's a haunted outhouse called the Toilet of Doom in the third level. The haunted toilet is apparently so menacing it gets its own Leitmotif and boss fight.
Tongue-Out Insult: Hat Kid can stick her tongue out to taunt. She even does so toward a mafia mook in one cutscene.
Turns Red:
- Basic Mafia enemies will occasionally start glowing red when attacked enough, at which point they become immune to basic umbrella swings and stomp attacks. The homing attack and Brewer Bombs can still hurt them, though.
- A chunk of bosses will flash blue when they are vulnerable to getting hit. This is lampshaded in the fight against the Snatcher, who outright refuses to turn blue so you can't hit him. The solution? Throw back one of the beakers full of blue liquid he tries to throw at you. He doesn't believe that painting him blue like that counts. It does.
Unconventional Food Usage: After you finish the level "Murder on the Owl Express", the owl playing the role of the murder victim complains about having had to waste an entire bottle of ketchup to make a puddle of blood.
Undead Children: The Dwellers and Snatcher Minions, who are the spirits of the children of Subcon Forest, frozen to death by Queen Vanessa's magic. The Snatcher Minions are Dwellers who were forced under contract by Snatcher to possess dolls he made and serve him.
The Unintelligible:
- It's possible to buy and equip a badge that turns all speech into mumbles, making everyone this.
- There's a strange written language seen in some parts, such as Hat Kid's signature on the Snatcher's contracts and using Dweller vision near a wall in Queen Vanessa's attic.
Urban Legend of Zeldainvoked: In a possible Shout-Out to the 'playable Luigi' rumour in Super Mario 64, at random intervals during the DLC Seal the Deal, Snatcher says this:
"Did you know you can unlock a "Luigi" by completing every Death Wish on the first attempt? I don't even know what that is, but that has to be genuine. I read it online!"
Variable Mix:
- Used in a similar fashion to Banjo-Kazooie, with the instrumentation of the level theme changing in different areas.
- Additionally, several areas will add a strong drumbeat and some new instruments to their song when you are on the scooter. And the music becomes distorted whenever you use the Dweller Mask or the Time Stop Hat.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show:
- Queen Vanessa is a case primarily for being played-straight horror. She appears in Subcon Forest's fourth act and is a psychotic old spirit stalking her manor who will pursue Hat Kid, is completely invincible, will freeze Hat Kid to add to her collection the second she makes contact, adds scary effects to the visuals and sound when she's close, and calls out to Hat Kid with threats and false attempts to coax her out. As a monster, she's played seriously as a horrific threat, even taking a victim in passing during the events of the act, and there is absolutely nothing funny or charming about her. She's also responsible for the state of the forest. She thought her prince was unfaithful to her due to a misunderstanding, and while she was already unhinged, this incident corrupted her into the monster she is now. She threw her prince into chains in the basement, with him eventually becoming the Snatcher, who rules over the place now with his contracts. Even though he's the main villain of the chapter, all of the other spirits are very eager to leave Vanessa and her house alone.
- The Empress in Nyakuza Metro, who lacks any of the humorous and quirky characteristics that the other Chapter villains in the game have, is completely serious and sinister the whole way through, a Bad Boss and has a Non-Standard Character Design compared to the rest of the game. She's even responsible for the only completely on-screen murder.
Unique Enemy: The Shock Squids, of which only 2 appear at the end of the third chapter's purple Time Rift. Arctic Cruise adds a few more on the dock in its first act and in the Deep Sea Time Rift.
Version-Exclusive Content: The PC version and Switch ports contains the two DLC chapters; "Seal the Deal" and "Nyakuza Metro", including the former DLC's "Death Wish" mode, which is currently exclusive to the Switch and PC (though the missing DLCs are in development). The PC port specifically has Workshop support that allows for community-made mods and levels to be used within the game. While the Switch doesn't get this, it did get four community-made maps that were officially added into the DLC that function just like Purple Time Rifts (and even have storybooks).
The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Chapter 5, which features Mustache Girl's Castle, and has only one act, appropriately named "Finale". Dark, ominous looking? Check. Lava and full of dangers? Check. Haunting and powerful music to go along? Check.
Video Game Dashing: The first hat you can get beyond the default is the Sprint Hat, a red visor with wings (in its default appearance, anyway). It only takes two Yarn to craft, making it easy to get within the very first mission, and its function allows you to dash as much as you like, with the only downside being that you can't double jump. A badge upgrades the hat so that Hat Kid rides a scooter when using the hat's ability, with the music changing as well.
Video Game Flight: In "Cheating The Race", you have to race a Mafia goon, who gets a fast rocket while you get.. nothing. The recommended strategy, intended by the game, is to come back much later when you have the Time Stop Hat and abuse its power to get ahead on foot.
Villainy-Free Villain: While a lot of the Mafia are jerks, and they did apparently seize the island they inhabit by force, many of them certainly don't seem heinous enough for how much Mustache Girl seems to violently despise them. This is the first sign that she's not quite as heroic as she thinks.
Violent Glaswegian: The Conductor has a heavy Scottish accent, is constantly angry, yells insults a lot, drinks plenty (as seen in the Arctic Cruise chapter) and will get violent with anyone who gets in his way. Yep, fits to a T.
Voice Grunting: One of the options for the game allows you to make spoken dialogue into the characters making various grunts and noises, Banjo-Kazooie style.
Welcome to Corneria:
- The minions of the Snatcher keep on repeating their one line of dialogue every time you pass them, even when what they say is no longer relevant or would be expected to change for the mission's context.
- Parodied in the Arctic Cruise chapter, where a Nomad has learned that this is a hard habit to kick.
Wham Shot: In the Sleepy Subcon Time Rift, collecting all the pictures there shows what happened to Subcon, Queen Vanessa, and the Prince she loved, and the ninth page shows the prince, in the darkness, turning purple with the familiar yellow eyes and silhouette of the Snatcher.
What the Hell Is That Accent?: The Mafia of Cooks certainly have a rather unique accent. The same goes for the Nomads in the Alpine Skyline, who all sound like Tali from Mass Effect.
Wide-Open Sandbox:
- The third chapter, Subcon Forest, is a downplayed version. While you are free to walk around the world (once you break the barriers) and you can choose to go after other Time Pieces (Subcon Well, Queen Vanessa's Manor), some of them are locked into their proper Acts (Contractual Obligations, Toilet of Doom and the chapter's finale).
- The fourth chapter, Alpine Skyline, foregoes the mission-based structure of previous areas and has Hat Kid freely roam for her Time Pieces in any order.
- Nyakuza Metro also forgoes the traditional structure, as once Hat Kid obtains the first Time Piece, she can go after the others in any order she likes once she buys the required metro passes.
A Winner Is You: The final reward for beating every last one of the Death Wish tasks amounts to little more than an achievement and severely upsetting the Snatcher, who can't believe you went through all that and lived and considers suing for false advertisement before just telling you he's not giving you anything; he didn't get what he wanted, so why should you?
World of Jerkass: Almost every character you meet is a Jerkass in one way or another, as Hat Kid is often double crossed by the people she helps. Even Hat Kid herself shows some bratty behavior once in a while. The only characters who aren’t ones are the Badge Seller and Cooking Cat, as they remain polite the entire game.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: In Nyakuza Metro, the Empress pays handsomely for the Time Pieces Hat Kid collects, to the point where Hat Kid has several large piles of cash lying around the place. Hat Kid's reaction is this trope. Justified since the only currency any merchants will accept is Pons. You can't actually use the cash for anything.
Hat Kid's diary: The 'Empress' has me running around finding timepieces, but then she keeps taking them back off me! Rude!!! She gave me some 'cash' for it. It's green and smells of cat fur. What is it for?
Writing Around Trademarks: One Game Mod gave Hat Kid the Iconic Outfit of Banjo, with orange feathers in the backpack, called "The Banjo Briefs". When the game properly implemented said costume, they were called the "Hiking Shorts", desaturated the relatively bright palette of the clothes, and removed the feathers, due to Banjo-Kazooie being owned by Microsoft.
Wutai: Nyakuza Metro is a level with a modern Japanese motif, with the whole metropolis run by a cat Yakuza.
Yodel Land: Alpine Skyline. It features Alpinic huts with cuccoo clocks, herds of goats and big music horns.
You Have Failed Me: The Empress attempts to pull this on Hat Kid after she cuts off her escape and forces her on the elevator with her, but is stopped by the sudden appearance of the police.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Snatcher popped his last minion's head off when their services were complete, and attempts to kill Hat Kid when all her contracts are fulfilled.
You No Take Candle: The Mafia of Cooks talk like this.
Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After clearing the first five Acts of "Battle of the Birds", Act 6 consists entirely of you getting a Time Piece from the director that you helped. Then you get a phone call on Hat Kid's spaceship, informing you that the ceremony was rigged, and revealing that you still have to do the real Act 6.
Yuki-onna: Queen Vanessa is based on one, living in a mansion in the middle of a snowstorm, freezing anyone unfortunate enough to wander into her home and get caught by her, and displaying her frozen victims like statues. She is certainly not beautiful, though.
Zipperiffic: Hat Kid sports a giant zipper pull on the front of her coat.

Video Game / A Hat in Time

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The Conductor

Alternative Title(s): Hat In Time

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Video Game / A Hat in Time

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This game contains examples of:

Video Example(s):

The Conductor

Alternative Title(s): Hat In Time

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The Conductor