#but should be doubled-down on and give more versatile/substantial upgrades to HK's moves

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I'm by no means an expert in game design, but I just wanted to give my two cents. Tying more objective/direct upgrades to Hat Kid's moveset behind badges probably wouldn't be the best idea since it'd basically be a repeat of the hookshot situation in the 1st game, where said badges are effectively a "wasted" slot since you're not gonna wanna be constantly swapping them in and out with the "less useful/fun" badges.

I think the AHiT devs had the right idea with making the hats the more direct upgrades to HK's kit since you can change them on the fly and once you have them you have them. IMO where they fell flat is that most of them were pretty one-note or too situational/context sensitive.

It's a shame that one floating hat was scrapped from the game because that's what AHiT could've used more of: hats that expand HK's (still fun but admittedly pretty minimal) moveset beyond just "use this hat to interact with this very specific object".

Also, with regards to temporary "gimmick" hats for specified areas, I feel like that sort of design is better suited for more linear games, whereas AHiT (and presumably a theoretical AHiT 2) is for the most part an open and non-linear game, so having your abilities available whenever as oppose to restricted to certain points gives players a lot more freedom in finding their own approach to navigate the environment or overcoming obstacles. It does come at the cost of a tighter and more controlled experience? Yes. Is that more fun? Subjective but for this subgenre I kinda think so (tbh AHiT was the game that made me realize that platformers are lot more fun if they give you the means to break things just a tiny bit 😉).

All that said I'm against the idea either; it could maybe be hybrid of both systems where you can "supercharge" your base hats in specific locations to access certain areas in a level or complete more linear obstacle courses (like time rifts).

I’ve been trying to think about the sequel as an actual game, so I’ve been brainstorming different new things that could be added. I wanted to make new badges and mechanics for a more streamlined experience. While there will be cosmetic badges for fun, I wanted to include more badges that actually add to Hat’s move set. Things like an extra jump or actual hover for example. In terms of something like the hook shot, the badge will be removed and integrated as a part of Hat Kid’s base move set.

I think I want Hats to act more like level gimmicks in Astrobot where they show up for a level and are done with at the end. I think it would give way for more thought out level design and allow hats to have more uses outside of specific sections of a level.