Big Hops Review: A Cozy 3D Platformer Featuring Frogs, Jumps, and Tongue Lashes

In Big Hops, we follow the adventure of Hop, a young frog living peacefully in the forest with his family until the day a mischievous and mysterious spirit named Diss drags him into a strange dimension filled with challenges.

Your goal as Hop is simple: find your way back home. To do this, you must explore various worlds, such as arid deserts, mountains, and water-filled regions, while solving environmental puzzles, collecting special artifacts, and overcoming obstacles using your unique abilities and your tongue.

Technical Specs

Platforms: PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5

Genre: 3D Platformer / Action-Adventure

Developer: Luckshot Games

Publisher: Luckshot Games

Release Date: January 12, 2026

Trailer

In the first few minutes, Big Hops feels very simple. The initial impression is that of a relaxing, almost contemplative game where everything seems to revolve around going from point A to point B while taking in the scenery.

At the start, the gameplay encourages carefree exploration through collecting various insects, coins, and flowers of different colors, as well as eating whatever crosses your path. The pace is calm, and it feels like there won't be many challenges. This was my experience for the first two hours, and I even started to get a bit frustrated, wondering if that was all there was to it.

However, that perception changes significantly after completing the first world.

From that point on, Big Hops begins to introduce mechanics that completely transform the experience. The most important one is inertia, which directly influences the frog's jumps. Depending on the accumulated speed, leaps become longer, allowing you to clear parkour challenges that wouldn't have been possible before.

This new layer gives the game a fresh identity, but it also requires an adjustment period. The first contact can be confusing or even annoying since learning to control speed becomes essential. However, once the player gets the hang of it, the mechanic becomes fun and brings a new rhythm to the game.

That is when Diss appears, the character responsible for the game's true turning point. Inside the Void, Diss introduces Dark Drips, which are new collectibles that can be traded for medals that grant abilities or make the game easier. These upgrades include features like highlighting nearby collectibles and a speed meter, which helps navigate sections requiring precise inertia control.

Afterward, the game becomes increasingly diverse as we travel to new planets with different challenges, obstacles, and even bosses.

This shift from the early game to the mid and late game won me over. I am glad this change exists to enrich the gameplay. If it had stayed like the beginning with that slow pace, I would not have enjoyed our little frog friend as much.

Overall, Big Hops does not start off very exciting. The beginning can even be a bit tedious, especially since it does not offer the more interesting mechanics right away. Still, as the levels progress, the game becomes more intriguing and engaging.

The initial forest stage serves as an introduction to basic controls. It is where the player learns to jump, use dash jumps, manage stamina, and use their tongue on interactive parts of the environment.

Stamina is mainly used to temporarily cling to certain walls and can be recharged by collecting insects scattered throughout the levels. This simple system helps teach movement fundamentals before the game demands more precision.

From the second stage onward, the experience changes significantly. New mechanics are introduced, exploration becomes more interesting, and the game grabs your attention. You will feel a greater urge to explore every corner of the map, test the environment's possibilities, unlock upgrades, and tackle parkour challenges.

The atmosphere is undoubtedly one of the strongest points of Big Hops. The first world goes for a very colorful aesthetic with plenty of greenery and well-designed landscapes, creating a clean and very pleasant look.

This cute and captivating aesthetic is likely the first thing that catches the player's eye. Even when the scenery changes significantly in later stages, the game retains its cozy visual identity. The feeling of comfort remains, with environments that are always well-organized and visually inviting.

Regardless of the new region being explored, Big Hops maintains a clean and welcoming atmosphere, reinforcing the lighthearted tone of the adventure.

The gameplay in Big Hops is extremely simple at its core. Actions boil down to jumping, using your tongue, briefly clinging to walls, and gaining momentum. These movements make perfect sense for controlling a frog.

Despite this simplicity, there are moments where you will need multiple attempts to clear certain sections, especially when mastering inertia becomes essential.

For most of the game, there are no enemies to fight, only obstacles and parkour. There are only two bosses, located at the end of their respective worlds. Thus, the player only takes damage when failing a jump and falling off the stage, making it clear that the focus is on movement and jump execution.

The most bothersome point is the initial progression pace. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours of gameplay for the player to truly access important features, upgrade the frog, and understand the purpose of the collected insects.

This delay creates a strong sense of sluggishness at the start, causing players to spend a lot of time gathering resources without knowing exactly what they are for, which can hurt initial engagement. But if you push past that, the game is a lot of fun!

Pros

- Simple gameplay

- Well-crafted animations

- Cute aesthetic

- Becomes more interesting over time

- Unique frog-themed mechanics

Cons

- Occasional bugs that allow clipping through scenery depending on speed

- Slightly tedious start

- Collectibles could be better utilized from the beginning

Big Hops is a very interesting addition to the 3D platformer genre in 2026, blending classic mechanics with creative ideas and plenty of froggy charm. It is a great game to have fun with, though it can feel tedious at the start.

Ultimately, I feel Big Hops provided a pleasant and very cute experience, ideal for platformer fans looking for something fun with plenty of exploration and, of course, for fans of frogs!

Score: 7.5/10

That is all for now, see you next time!