Like a lot of people, I went into this game expecting a certain amount of Pikmin-ness. Instead I got a great little platformer, and I think I prefer it this way. Tinykin is exploding with charm, and even though the gameplay never goes too far beyond "grab X and take it to Y", the game is short enough that I didn't find it too monotonous. I love a good "little characters in a big world" setting, so I often found myself interested in exploring, and accidentally completed objectives when I was really trying to figure out how to reach the highest point or tucked-away pieces of pollen.

I'm kind of surprised how captivated I was with the sound design in Tinykin, everything has a cartoony, cute sound to it. Even hearing the yellow tinykin grunt as you walk all over them is cute. I know saying "this cartoony wink-wonk-wink-wonk sound is exactly what it should sound like when you climb a giant shoelace" makes me sound absurd, but here we are. It's a great wink-wonk sound.

Tinykin isn't a particularly challenging game, but I don't think it needs to be. I think it's just a breezy, lovable little game about a little guy.

Veeeery little to do with being a "Pikmin alike" game. throwing tinykins, collecting objects etc, is not as a deep mechanic here as it is in Pikmin. here it feels like a gimmick.
AND YET, the game is so straight forward, cool and vibey. the sets feel natural, movement too. The tragic final is surprising, but by the end you probably already thought about the tragedy and guessed the plot.
cool game, but dont play it expecting youre going to fulfill some sort of Pikmin emptiness, its not that kind of inspiration.