First Steps

A scene of The King, happily watching the group of heroes roam his land. The violin of The Gardens Interactive Music continued to play melodiously in the background, as the four officially began their big adventure. On the way, a flock of birds took to the skies as soon as they were approached. A huge gnome standing in the garden, an inanimate object with the sole purpose of decoration, suddenly waved at the Sackfolk as they passed it.

"Yeah, this Craftworld sure is full of surprises." Kouta stated. They continued to run, finding their feet and getting used to their new bodies. Another big and round character awaited them at the top of a nearby wall.

"Hi, I'm Dumpty! Show me your running and jumping skills then!"

"Here goes!" Kai rushed forward and leaped effortlessly from the ground to a platform of three red mushrooms. Each time they jumped; they could hear the jumping sound effect. Even more strangely, they did not feel any pain from the gravitational force as they impacted the ground. Fall damage, after all, did not exist in Craftworld. They jumped over another wall adjacent to the one Humpty sat on, waved to him, and pressed on.

"Kouta, don't we already have that huge shoe sticker?" Charlotte asked.

"That's right, Char! I almost forgot to check if we could access the Popit Menu ourselves!" Except that none of them knew how to access it. Sackboy decided to give them a quickfire tutorial.

"Hold your hands out like this. Yeah, it should pop up as soon as you position them like that. There we go, such quick learners!" and in less than five seconds, all four of them had their Popit Menus out, a string attached between their hands and their Popits. And just like Kouta guessed it, only five categories were available. Favourited Items, Stickers and Decorations, Outfits, Texting and 'Hold to Retry'. Kouta selected the Stickers and Decorations and to his surprise, everything was just as he left it on his PlayStation 3. He selected the shoe sticker, and it instantly materialised in the air above him, just like Sackboy did in the real world.

"Now just move your arm to control how you'll place it, and once you're satisfied with its placement, say 'Place' and it will be done!" Sackboy instructed. Kouta followed the sticker's placement using his arm, and did exactly as told, achieving the desired result. Kouta couldn't help but feel accomplished and helpful.

A platform was lowered onto the ground via two chains, revealing a starting point for a foot race. Completing a race in Craftworld with any amount of time remaining awards the racers a big number of points. Kouta and Kai looked at each other, ready to take off and grab first place before the other does first. Charlotte just sighed at their childish behaviour but smiled, knowing they've never really changed all these years.

"They've always been competitive when it came to being the highest scorer at the end of a level. Hold up you two, don't forget, you can't even begin the race unless everyone is present at the starting point!"

Charlotte and Sackboy followed right behind an eager Kouta and Kai, as they heard the race buzzer signalling the start of the race, blowing a loud horn, and opening the gates. A timer of one hundred and twenty seconds was given and slowly counted down, ticking continuously.

Strings of Score Bubbles were ahead, just waiting to be obtained by an eager passerby. They ran through the bubbles and watched them dissipate the moment they were touched. Ten points were awarded for each bubble, and for every Score Bubble they collected, the race timer would halt for at least one second before it continued counting down. Collecting strings of score bubbles would slow down the timer for even longer.

Some familiar platforms appeared onward, followed by two red mushrooms this time. The four of them jumped over these with ease, fully comprehending the basics of timed jumping by now.

"Collect these score bubbles for points! Five or more in quick succession earns you a score multiplier!" Humpty called out from another wall surrounded by a field of Score Bubbles.

"Hehe, weren't we able to break Humpty and find some bubbles inside of him too bro?" Kai laughed, wanting to test out that theory here too. Humpty started sweating.

"O-On second thought, these score bubbles will be deducted if you attempt grabbing me… Hey where do you think you're grabbing, mister? Aaahhhh!" Kai had no patience, as he yanked on Humpty's head, easily detachable from his bottom half. It's how Humpty was created in the first place.

"Oh Humpty, you were practically asking for it!" Sackboy joked.

"Listen here you! I was just peacefully sitting on top of this here wall, leave me be!"

"Sure then. Adios!"

"No, wait! On second thought, put me back together again!"

Sackboy and his team laughed at the hilarious sight of a halved Humpty deserted on the ground. They all knew he'd encounter them again later in their journey… or so they assumed. Not long after they approached a talking bird.

"Let's see you try and jump up and down these hills!" it chirped.

"No ways bro, this couldn't be simpler!" Kai was thoroughly enjoying himself. The shifting of layers in a LittleBigPlanet was a simple, yet effective mechanic. Not everyone knew how to do it, unless they were shown, or experimented until they figured it out. In actual Craftworld however, they simply needed to shift their bodies forward or back, as it wasn't fixated on single lanes any longer.

"If it were too simple, the game mechanics would've been broken." Charlotte pointed out, reminding the other two of how three-layered levels were broken in LittleBigPlanet 3. In other words, the third entry of the franchise could go up to fifteen layers, expanding much further backwards. In this way, any levels created in the first game were prone to speedruns, skipping virtually entire levels. It's like walking past a wall instead of having to climb over it. But Kouta and Charlotte tested that theory earlier, and there was some kind of force preventing them from doing so, just like in the actual game itself. They had no choice but to play by the rules.

A few moments later and they approached a Water Wheel automatically rotating with a handful of Goodies attached to them. Another bird squawked, this time with a caution message.

"Watch out for that lethal-looking water!"

"Pfft, that is water? We all know it's just horrible gas in disguise!" Kai corrected the bird.

"Yes, but still equally lethal. I wouldn't try swimming if I were you, chirp chirp!" the bird replied.

"Better to take its advice Kai. We don't know what happens if we die here. Respawning in the Checkpoint hasn't exactly been confirmed yet" Kouta added. They had yet to blunder upon some sort of hazard, and this technically was the first one in the game.

"So, let's confirm it then!" Kai butted in, getting a bit annoyed.

"Kai, wait! Think rationally for a moment, what if it's true, that if you die here, you end up… dying for real?" Charlotte truly sounded worried.

"Well… that's why Checkpoints exist, don't they? We've got multiple lives up our arsenal, what's the worst that can happen?" Kai attempted to reassure them. Sackboy then stepped in to confirm their speculations.

"Indeed, that is the case. Craftworld has produced the Checkpoint specifically to preserve the life of Sackfolk, to ensure they get another chance at life… But I wouldn't be able to say the same for a glowing red Checkpoint. Because once you run out of lives… you may as well be as good as dead."

Their eyes widened in shock at the horrific little detail Sackboy included at the end of that sentence. A Checkpoint out of lives undoubtedly would render them unable to continue, with no way of respawning, or even living for that matter. Kouta put his hands on his head, unable to move.

"What… What have we got ourselves into?"

Screen pans to the other three Sackfolk, two of them who were equally as frightened as Kouta.