History VideoGame / AHatInTime

* SpringsSpringsEverywhere: Wooden springboards with metal coils appear quite frequently throughout the levels. The height of which they send Hat Kid upwards varies per spring.

* SurpriseCreepy: 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.

* PetTheDog: At the very end of the game, you can choose to [[spoiler:leave one Time Piece behind for Mustache Girl to defeat the Mafia with, at the risk of not getting all the way back home]].

* AmbiguousSituation: During the ending, you are given the choice to [[spoiler:either drop a Time Piece to the unconscious Mustache Girl to help her, 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.]]

* MusicalGameplay: 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 BottomlessPit below.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: DJ Grooves, a penguin with CoolShades, a nice vest, and a generally calm, cool personality. [[spoiler:If he wins the award, however, he becomes the second chapter's villain.]]

''A Hat in Time'' is a SpiritualSuccessor and GenreThrowback to the [[CollectAThonPlatformer Collect-a-Thon Platformers]] of UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, including ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'', and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', though with a brightly colored cel-shaded visual style reminiscent of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: [[spoiler:If Hat Kid attacks the Empress in her shop in Nyakuza Metro, she'll retaliate with a swipe [[OneHitKill that instantly kills Hat Kid.]]]]

* TheDeadGuyDidIt: Parodied in the level "The Murder on the Owl Express". [[spoiler: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.]]

->''"My mission is to find the time pieces so I can go home! I wish it were that easy..."''
--> '''Hat Kid (from the game's manual)'''

->''My mission is to find the time pieces so I can go home! It wish it were that easy...

->''"Why couldn't I have gotten stranded near a normal planet?"''
--> '''Hat Kid (diary entry for chapter 1, act 1)'''

--> '''Hat Kid (diary entry for chapter 1, Act 1)'''

--> '''Hat Kid (diary for chapter 1)'''

->''"Death is inevitable, your time is valuable? Who labeled this? I thought these hats were made for kids!"''
--> '''The Snatcher'''

** Mustache Girl's excitement about the opportunity to inflict extreme violence on the Mafia is easy to see as BlackComedy--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'' could turn out to be a pleasant person. Sure enough, Mustache Girl is every bit as AxCrazy as you'd expect someone who wants to do such a thing would be.

* HypocriticalHumor: The Sleepy Subcon Time Rift contains a book titled ''Evidence of Ethical Consumption under Capitalism'', with all-blank pages. This display of razor-sharp wit is undermined by the fact that this game was designed from the ground up to [[CollectAThonPlatformer cater to an unsatisfied marketplace]], largely funded by free-market investment through Kickstarter.

* NiceHat: 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.

** 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.

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 Vanessa. The DLC pack was released on November 27th, 2021.