Super Lucky’s Tale wants to take you back to 1997. Playful Studios built a 3D platformer for PC and Xbox One around a young fox named Lucky Swiftail, and Microsoft Studios shipped it on November 7, 2017 as a launch title for the Xbox One X. The pitch is nostalgia, plainly stated: collect clovers, hop through hubs, fight a villainous cat. The result is a game that knows exactly what it wants to be and mostly gets there, without ever doing enough to stand beside the games it borrows from.
Trailer, via XBOX.
A Fox, a Book of Ages, and a Cat Named Jinx
The setup is simple and it works. Lucky is curious and brave, a hero chasing his own inner strength. His sister Lyra guards the Book of Ages, a magical tome that holds entire worlds and the characters who live inside them. Jinx, a mysterious and villainous cat, wants that book for his own dark purposes.
So Lucky goes inside the book. He travels its vibrant realms hunting clovers to wrest control back from Jinx. Along the way he meets the Kitty Litter, Jinx’s mischievous children, and a supporting cast that includes misplaced Yetis, Kookie Spookies, and a village of farming worms.
That last detail tells you what kind of game this is. Super Lucky’s Tale is not interested in menace. It is interested in charm, and it has a lot of it.
Five Worlds, Five Hubs, Four Clovers Each
The structure is the classic one. Super Lucky’s Tale has five worlds, each with its own hub. The hubs are levels themselves, with coins to collect and some basic platforming needed to reach new areas. Each hub holds around five main levels plus additional puzzles.
Every level hides four clovers. One comes from finishing the level. One comes from collecting 300 coins. One comes from finding the five letters that spell the word Lucky. The fourth is a secret clover, usually tucked in a hidden area or earned through a short timed challenge.
The levels themselves change shape. Some are 3D arenas with non-linear progression. Others switch to 2D side-scrolling. Each world also holds mini-levels, including Sokoban-style puzzles and mazes where Lucky is trapped inside a marble and has to be guided to an exit. Boss fights against the Kitty Litter and Jinx close things out.
Where Super Lucky’s Tale Borrows, and From Whom
The comparisons are not subtle, and the game does not pretend otherwise. Super Lucky’s Tale plays like 90s-era 3D platformers, and the names that come up are Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64.
| Element | Super Lucky’s Tale | The 90s standard |
|---|---|---|
| Collectible | Clovers, four per level | Power Stars, crystals, puzzle pieces |
| Hub structure | Five worlds, each with a hub | Castle or overworld linking worlds |
| Level types | 3D arenas and 2D side-scrolling | Mostly 3D, occasional 2D detours |
| Boss fights | Kitty Litter and Jinx | Rival characters closing each world |
That table is the whole argument for and against the game. It hits every beat the classics hit. It rarely finds a beat of its own.
The clover system is the clearest example. Four per level is a clean number, and the four tasks are clean tasks. Finish the level. Grab 300 coins. Spell the word. Find the secret. There is nothing wrong with any of it, and nothing surprising either. You will know what a level wants from you within a minute of starting it, and you will usually get it on the first or second try.
The Marble Mazes Are the Best Idea Here
The mini-levels are where Super Lucky’s Tale briefly becomes its own thing. The marble mazes in particular are a genuine change of pace. Lucky trapped in a marble, guided to an exit, is a small idea executed with enough precision to feel distinct from the rest of the game.
The Sokoban-style puzzles are less memorable, but they serve the same purpose: they break up the platforming before it wears thin. Each world mixes these in among the main levels, and the pacing benefits.
The 2D side-scrolling sections are the weaker half of the split. They are competent, and they are clearly there to add variety, but they do not carry the same weight as the 3D arenas. When the game switches to 2D, it feels like a pause rather than a change.
A Launch Title That Shows Off the Xbox One X, Gently
Super Lucky’s Tale released as a launch title for the Xbox One X on November 7, 2017. That is a strange slot for a game like this. Launch titles usually exist to demonstrate what new hardware can do, and Super Lucky’s Tale is not a technical showpiece. It is a family-friendly platformer built for all ages and all skill levels.
The game is the sequel to Lucky’s Tale, a virtual reality 3D platformer for the Oculus Rift. That history is worth noting, because it explains the game’s comfort with a fixed third-person camera and its willingness to keep things readable rather than flashy. Super Lucky’s Tale is not trying to overwhelm anyone. It is trying to be the game a parent can hand to a child.
That goal shapes every decision. The difficulty curve is gentle. The collectibles are generous. The tone stays bright. Lucky is described as ever-optimistic, and the game matches him.
What the Clovers Actually Cost
Here is the problem. A platformer for all ages and all skill levels is a platformer with a ceiling. Super Lucky’s Tale never asks much of the player, and so it never gives much back. The four clovers per level are findable. The bosses are beatable. The hubs are small. You will finish it, and you will probably enjoy finishing it, and you will probably not think about it again.
The supporting cast is the game’s best asset and its most underused one. Misplaced Yetis, Kookie Spookies, a village of farming worms — these are good ideas. They are also mostly set dressing. The characters who live inside the Book of Ages depend on Lucky to save their worlds from Jinx and the Kitty Litter, and the game tells you that without making you feel it. There is no weight to the rescue because there is no weight to the loss.
Compare that to what the 90s platformers did with a single rival. A good antagonist in this genre is a presence, not a boss at the end of a world. Jinx is a design, not a presence. The Kitty Litter are a pun, not a threat.
The Verdict on Super Lucky’s Tale
Super Lucky’s Tale is a well-made game with a clear target and a narrow reach. It looks right, it controls right, and it understands the genre it is working in. The marble mazes and the hub structure show real thought. The five worlds are colorful and the clover loop is clean.
What it lacks is conviction. It borrows Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64 without ever deciding what it wants to add to them. The result is a game that is easy to like and hard to love — pleasant for the length of a level, forgettable by the end of the world.
New Super Lucky’s Tale followed, an expanded version that saw releases for various platforms between 2019 and 2020. That expansion is the most telling fact about the original. Playful did not abandon Lucky; it rebuilt him. The 2017 game reads now as a first draft of something that needed a second pass — and the studio evidently agreed.
Super Lucky’s Tale: 6.8 of 10
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
