10 Best Modern 3D Platformers, Ranked

In an era filled with epic action RPGs such as Dark Souls and open-world adventures such as Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, it can be a bit overwhelming after a while. Sometimes, a gamer might want to just sit back and enjoy a more simple yet satisfying experience, and 3D platformers are perfect for that.

Hearkening back to older generations of gaming, developers have created a resurgence of the classic forms of 3D platforming akin to Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. As a result, gamers now have a plethora of choices that can bring back those childhood memories or introduce a new generation of kids to them.

10 New Super Lucky’s Tale (2019)

Mixing Super Mario 64 and a bit of Glover, New Super Lucky’s Tale puts a young fox on a journey across different worlds to collect pages, solve puzzles, and stop an evil sorcerer. It highly resembles one of the forgotten video game mascots, but in a modern style. The result is a fun game for kids and adults alike that mixes in 3D and 2D platforming levels.

Like many 3D platformers of the 90s, it features a massive hub world to explore, open new levels, and enjoy details. Originally, Super Lucky’s Tale was released as an Oculus VR exclusive but it was reworked into New Super Lucky’s Tale for the Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox One.

9 Psychonauts 2 (2021)

Fans who loved the original Psychonauts for its dark and macabre sense of humor and visuals mixed with a unique art style will enjoy the very long-awaited sequel. Psychonauts 2 does not stray too far from what made the original so beloved; from the puzzles to the downright bizarre characters.

Psychonauts 2 expands on the mythos introduced in the first game, showing more of the world. Combining well-timed humor, action, and disturbing elements, Psychonauts 2 ends up a great mix of old and new, reminiscent of an interactive cartoon.

8 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated (2020)

Games based on famous cartoons aren’t usually good. So, it came as a surprise when SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom was so well-made. After years of fame in the speedrunning community, the game got a remaster for modern systems.

This wasn’t just a simple polish of graphics either; new animations, textures, and details were implemented while keeping the gameplay the same overall. The characters are all animated better, adding more expressions, and even many famous SpongeBob memes to the game. Fans can once again play as SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy collecting shiny objects and golden spatulas across many levels.

7 Yooka-Laylee (2017)

The team that originally worked on the Banjo-Kazooie games formed a new development team that created the spiritual successor: Yooka-Laylee. The story of a chameleon and a bat trying to stop an evil bee by traveling to many worlds and collecting talking pages of a book.

It’s literally the same gameplay as Banjo-Kazooie and has the same cartoony style with every character speaking through sound effects but with different pitches and tones. Tons of items to collect in every world while unlocking new abilities that fit a chameleon and bat. This game was clearly designed for fans of classic platformers made by Rare in the 90s.

6 Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018)

After their impressive remaster of the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, Toys For Bob returned to give the same treatment to Spyro The Dragon. Except, much like with the SpongeBob game, this did more than make the graphics a little prettier. Spyro moves better than he ever did, all of the characters are given stunning new animations, and the world is even more fleshed out.

Toys For Bob did the same thing for Spyro as they did for Crash, making all three games play the same but also improved. It takes the best of all three Spyro gameplay mechanics and merges them together for a consistent experience. The only downside is that the famous actor Elijah Wood did not return as the voice of Spyro.

5 Bowser’s Fury (2021)

With this surprise addition to the remaster of Super Mario 3D World, most expected nothing more than the equivalent of an add-on for Super Mario Odyssey. Instead, Bowser’s Fury was a brand new game that borrows elements from The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild to create a unique Mario experience.

From certain instances happening at certain parts of the game, a massive world to explore, puzzles, and lots of items to collect, Bowser’s Fury deserved to be more than an extra for Super Mario 3D World. And the giant Fury Bowser is probably the scariest that the iconic villain has ever been.

4 Pumpkin Jack (2020)

Perfect for the Halloween season, Pumpkin Jack can best be described as a mixture of dark supernatural cartoons such as The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy and action platformers a la Jak & Daxter. Rather than focusing on collectibles, it’s more about a man with a jack-o-lantern head slashing through enemies and hopping across platforms to get his revenge.

Mixing dark humor and addictive action gameplay due to Jack’s abilities, Pumpkin Jack feels right at home in the PlayStation 2/GameCube era of gaming, both in terms of gameplay but also the intentionally cartoonish visuals.

3 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021)

After quite the hiatus in games, Insomniac Games brought back Ratchet & Clank for their most ambitious game yet. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart delves into alternate realities, even featuring a pair of counterparts for the main heroes in the form of Rivet and Kit.

Considering these are the same developers that brought gamers the two beloved Spider-Man games, it comes as no surprise they knew how to balance thoughtful combat and platforming with an engaging story. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart retains what made the franchise so successful while advancing to match the new generation of gaming.

2 A Hat In Time (2017)

With an adorable visual style, A Hat In Time is about a spacefaring girl in a hat who loses her Time Pieces on Earth and must traverse across different parts of the planet to get them back. At first, it just seems like an average platformer for kids with little depth, but it becomes so much more.

There is an emotional story, a stellar soundtrack, surprisingly difficult platforming challenges to obtain the Time Pieces, and even quite a bit of customization to enjoy. This takes the formula of 90s platformers and updates it perfectly for modern systems. As a bonus, the Steam version has a steam workshop to add a plethora of mods.

1 Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (2020)

Toys For Bob were brought back to retcon the entire Crash Bandicoot franchise and give fans the true fourth game in the series. This proved to be the right move because Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is often labeled as the new quintessential game in the series.

New fans can hop right into it without needing to play the originals, but it also rewards old-school fans with a new story that keeps the look and feel of classic Crash titles. Toys For Bob added the mechanic of masks with different powers to spice up the gameplay without it feeling too gimmicky, made Crash Bandicoot 4 one of the hardest games to 100% complete, and provided a very entertaining story.

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