Reviews from

in the past


Great concept with excellent execution, the game is, for the most part, very fun to play and explore. I personally love collect-a-thons and enjoyed finding every nook and cranny, but wish that there was an in-game way to help locate missing stuff, even if only post-game. Missing just one of 1000+ collectable pollen makes for a poor experience upon revisit, though the added racing component is a great touch with how fun the traversal can be. For what the game is, I would say it's a lovely experience. Great for puzzle and exploration fans, but a potential to mildly annoy completionists.

I liked this game.
If you need a cute game to chill - this is your choice.
Also i think it would be a great game to introduce someone to gaming, since there is no challenge here (except for races, that are not so hard anyway), and all puzzles (if you can call them that) are pretty easy.
Music is okay and it suits game well.
Downsides i could find - Sometimes you just stand there waiting for your tinykins to bring something somewhere and it can be annoying at times, but it only takes like a minute most of the times, so its not so bad.
Also, there is a lot of pollen and tinykins you can collect on each level, and i mean A LOT, like over a 1000 pollen on each level, and at some of them i still havent found like 5 pollen, because i feel like i've checked absolutely everything, but still can't find it. And there is no way to help yourself with locating it, so i just stopped caring. Again, it's not that big of a problem if you dont want to 100% it.
All in all, the game is really nice and was worth playing.

Petit jeu collectaton super cool.

Fun but TOO EASY. Why not have the whole floor flooded for the bathroom? Why not have more dangerous appliances in the kitchen? Never have I played a game where every area felt like the first level, difficulty-wise.


Ich liebe alles daran. Die Level Idees, einfach PIKMINS ALS PLATFORMER!!!

Qué jueguito más simple y más divertido a la vez. No necesita mucho para ser un juego al que engancharte. Me ha encantado.

Huge thank you to @DeemonAndGames for the Steam giveaway! Your generosity is inspiring!

A Hat in Time gained a reputation for being a great alternative to 3D Mario. It certainly had solid writing, characters, and unique scenarios, but it wasn’t a good platformer. With its extremely restrictive moveset, basic platforming challenges, and collectables that quickly lost their purpose, it was more akin to an amateur’s first stab at the genre.

Tinykin is essentially a weaker version of that title. Somehow, it’s more rudimentary while also lacking most of A Hat in Time’s redeeming qualities.

Every single mechanic in Tinykin can be traced back to a better title. The game’s namesake are the most obvious example, functioning as Pikmin that don’t require babysitting. This is fine for a platformer, but of the five types of Tinykin, only the green variety enhances the platforming in any way. The rest are used for puzzles that essentially solve themselves.

The core moveset is a lot shallower than an open-zone 3D platformer has any right to be. Take the jumping. Milodane barely has any hang time, so he drops like a rock after peak jump height. It really doesn’t pair well with his ability to glide around like Bunny Mario. The soapbar is decent, but there’s so little to master outside of the time trials. At the time of writing this, I haven’t played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or Jet Set Radio, the clearest inspirations for the soapbar’s physics, but it doesn’t take a pro to see how much more effort those older classics put into their movement systems.

The more I played Tinykin, the more I wondered what the point of it all was. The hub and spoke level design is neat at first glance, but the theming is just for show. Take away the wallpaper and each level plays exactly the same, even down to the number of side quests available in each one. The numerous collectables do an adequate job making the player feel like they accomplished something, but why bother collecting everything when there’s no system to help players find those last few collectibles you’re missing? The least it could do is be more friendly to completionists than Super Mario Sunshine.

Between all of that is the most uninspired platforming I’ve seen in a long time. Incredibly simple jumps and sparse use of hazards that barely punish the player to begin with. Calling it a B-grade platformer would be an insult to non-Mario platformers that actually bothered to engage the player like Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic Adventure, or Pac-Man World 2. Even A Hat in Time’s weakest challenges were more involved than this.

The story is whatever. I think it would have been more interesting if there were only a few characters that needed to learn the house’s inner workings rather than dozens of NPCs spelling out everything or telling bad jokes. Not much else to say really.

I’m willing to bet everyone reading this grew up playing at least one 3D platformer that delivered an unparalleled feeling of wonder. Given all the advancements in technology and game design, I think it’s fair to expect modern representatives of the genre to recapture that excitement. If Tinykin accomplished that for you, then please ignore my whining and be happy! I’m not here to upset readers. However, I’m not going to apologize for being honest with myself. In a world where 3D platformers are unpopular among indie and AAA studios, I cannot help but be disappointed with Tinykin’s mundanity.

It probably has the perfect length for a collectathon without really any time wasters, unless you really want to find the last pollen (I spent 20 minutes). Slipping around the levels is just such a great time that I really could have gone for more levels anyway. The new update added two races in each level, with the platinum times being a decent challenge. I wish there was more like this or just a secret world with a bit tougher areas.

Not a pikmin like, more like a platformer using something ressembling the pikmin formula to make the player progress (using them to make platform etc...)

I think there's a few bad point, the design of the aliens sucks, the music can get seriously repetitive and the tinykin aren't always fun to use especially the last species you unlock. Also the 2D character that aren't really good looking on the 3D background which is pretty good by itself.

Nonetheless the game is a really good one, it's sweet, exploring the house as a little thing is a really good idea for a platformer and the side quest always leads to some pretty cool platforming.

Talking about the platforming, the design here can be very fun, and full of ideas using the tinykin in fusn and exciting way.

Tinykin is a difficult game to evaluate.

Is it fun? Sure, the movement feels good, tight, and responsive. Skating around levels on your soapboard is satisfying and quick. The levels are massive and intuitively designed, possibly some of the best 3D level design I've experienced for that matter; constantly offering multiple options to explore that always seem to loop back in on themselves and branch into other routes. After getting the hang of the game it flows extremely naturally and you wind up completing the entire level without ever losing the wind in your sails until, essentially, the very end when you're just doing cleanup of the last few ambrosia you missed (this game's sort of "coin" collectible, with over a thousand per level).

The visuals are incredibly charming as well, transforming everyday objects into not just obstacles but things that are functional for the NPCs as much as they are engaging to interact with. One particular level has an entire sink with a running faucet that overflows into an irrigation system, using sponges for farmland (which happen to be as evergreen as grass). The character designs are similarly cute and visually interesting.

And... Surprisingly, the game's writing is pretty good. There's actually somehow relatively interesting politics internally from stage to stage that showcases thoughtful worldbuilding. Similarly I didn't expect the very ending to be so... Strangely melancholic and tragic. Still, it wasn't an unwelcomed tonal shift to close out the ten hour runtime.

So what's the hang-up? Why can't I rate it any higher when the game is so expertly and lovingly crafted?

The game is just... Too easy. It feels like wasted potential. There isn't a single stretch of difficult platforming to be seen nor is there an engaging puzzle. The highest compliment I can give this game amounts to "the most fun you can have with your brain turned off", which is an unfortunate statement to have to make. There's no fail state, no way to be punished or to make a decision that can lead to any form of punishment. You can't even lose progress in longer stretches of vertical platforming because there are shortcuts to the bottom every layer up.

I'm not asking for tedium, but even Mario Odyssey, a game that (at times) just hands you a decent amount of your moons for free in the name of accessibility, still offers entirely optional venues for sometimes extremely challenging platforming. I don't think this is a particularly difficult design choice to at least keep in mind, but what Tinykin offers in the ways of intriguing challenge is entirely zero. I understand that challenge isn't the point of every game, games are made to be fun, but it's the extreme lack of stimulation I felt while engaging with the content that bogged down an otherwise great experience.

I still highly recommend the game in spite of this if you have a few hours to burn and find yourself even remotely interested. It's short and I do believe it deserves full support, but I just found it lacking. I hope they continue to make games as they clearly have an incredible vision for this type of thing.

Loved this. Left the hornet race trials undone but otherwise 100%-ed it. Charming, compulsive and just a cute antidote to January tbh. More please.

Very fun game! It personally reminded me of both Pikmin and A Hat in Time. The movement is very nice, there's fun quests and interesting characters everywhere.

it'd be a 9 if the protagonist didn't look like that

A fun little "Pikmin-like" where you're running around with all your helpers trying to pick stuff up. However, this is much more of a 3D explorer / collect-a-thon than Pikmin. You're exploring a huge abandoned human house in this game and I'm already a bit of a sucker for the "normal place but you're small" trope ever since the "rat maps" in Unreal Tournament 2004. There isn't any combat to lose Tinykin to, but you do start with 0 Tinykin of any kind whenever you enter a new room of the house which stops you from just bulldozing your way through a new room and allows for you to feel a new sense of progression as you hunt down all the Tinykin to add to your posse. Not the longest game nor the hardest (except for some of those time attack races), but certainly a fun game to go through with a lot of charming characters.

Tinykin es un título curioso y distinto, pero para mi gusto y criterio lo llamaría una obra maestra en su género. Si bien la historia nunca llega a un gran nivel de profundidad, su propuesta es más que interesante y es de esos pocos juegos que me dan ganas de saber más de lo que te cuentan mínimamente. Realmente Tinykin te da ganas de adentrarse en su mundo, pero no solo por su historia, sino porque te hace sentirte dentro del juego. Su ambientación es perfecta, cada nivel tiene un nivel de detalle único destacando por mucho el primero y el último; su Banda sonora encaja Perfecto con el juego y lo que busca generar; tiene NPCs poco memorables pero que sin duda te hacen la experiencia de juego llevadera y divertida y lo más importante, la mecánica pikmin está implementada a la perfección, sin tenerle nada que envidiar al padre del género y logrando diferenciarse por mucho de este. Tinykin es un juego con una escénica marcada, un apartado artístico más que memorable y Perfecto y unas mecánicas muy divertidas. Me atrevo a ponerlo en un top 5 de su genero

Wonderful little gem, it's been on my radar for a while but the Pikmin comparison sort of kept me at bay for a bit as I wasn't sure what kind of game Pikmin is - I still don't, but this was a charming collectathon platformer which is right up my alley.

I didn't pay much attention to the plot and story but the bits I caught were cute and serviceable for the gameplay. The variety of mixing up level design with the tinykin and adding depth to the exploration really hammered home the fun cosy experience. By the end some puzzle solutions were a touch tedious, waiting for the Tinykin to slowly carry the object from a to b got a bit tired but overall a wonderful game.

Muy divertido, logre platinarlo pero me volvi un poco loca en el intento ya que los coleccionables tomaron un poco mas de tiempo en completar pero el gameplay muy divertido

I felt really sick when I played this game - probably because I had COVID. No rating.

almost forgot to log this replay! grew on me even more somehow. a much more limited moveset then many of these other 3d platformers, yet also one of the most Heavily Textured, tiny and snappy and makes u feel small and everything else feel Huge yet its all so zippy and fun rather then scary. everything ab the tone established and harmonized perfectly...went for the platinums this time, SO much fun!

Super wholesomes Pikminlike, ganz ohne Stress. Rumlaufen, Eumels einsammeln und deren Kräfte nutzen um Rätsel zu lösen.
Bin in Welt 5 von 6 und liebe bisher alles
+ Level sind super designed: Miniklein die Zimmer eines Hauses erkunden und überall Dinge entdecken.
+ Level haben sich vom Vibe wie Super Mario 64 angefühlt wo es auch 8475 Dinge gab und die Level genau die richtige Größe hatten (ca 60-90 Minuten)
+ 2D Sprites in 3D Welt funktioniert erstaunlich gut
+erste Zeile der Dialoge bitte in allen spielen vorab anzeigen

Aside from a few frustrations from the world exploration and such, this is pretty much one of my favorite 3D platformers ever with its incredible art style mixing in with the realism and the mechanics being familiar yet fresh in new ways.

Eu sempre amei essa temática de personagens pequenos andando em lugares enormes... E Tinykin trouxe isso de uma forma que me deixou muito satisfeito.
Visual carismático e um bom humor... Uma surpresa agradável.

A really cute and clever 3D platformer in the vein of Pikmin. Rewarding exploration, feels good to control and move around, and just long enough to still be fun. The art style is simple and suits the game well, and this is the first time I can remember really liking a 3D platformer.

Upon seeing this was about to leave Game Pass, I decided to try and finish Tinykin within the week it had left. It ended up being extremely easy to do because I played this game for 8.5 hours straight and got 100% completion because it was such a fun experience. Combining Pikmin with a collect-a-thon 3D platformer is a genius idea for a game and the levels are so densely packed with stuff to do that I adored every minute I spent in them (outside of scouring the levels for the last couple of sap pickups I was missing).

This was a blast from start to finish and my only real complaint is that I wish there was some sort of radar or something after finishing the game to help you find those last few collectibles a little easier. Otherwise, this was extremely fun and I really hope there is a sequel to this game.


one of the most fun and charming experiences i have had in a long time. i adore nearly everything about this game from the movement to the sound design. no idea how it flew under my radar until now but i will not forget it anytime soon

It’s like a hat in time but better

Tinykin is a very good game, centred around the protagonist who uses tinykin beings to solve puzzles and move the story forward.
From a gameplay point of view, the game is really very good, divided into several zones that can only be reached by finishing the previous one. The game does a good job of disseminating the mechanics, and the various tinykins are given to us as the game progresses, helping us to understand their usefulness in solving the puzzles.
Another important point is the movement aspect, because of its format, the game requires you to move around in order to find the elements needed to solve the puzzles, and I find that moving around is really enjoyable in this game.
From a story point of view, the game is fairly classic, so it's OK without going overboard and doesn't offer any replayability once the game is finished.
The game's sound design is really nice and the music is very pleasant, going well with the relaxing gameplay.
Finally, the game is visually stunning, with a unique aesthetic in which the main character stands out from the background, providing a nice contrast.
In conclusion, I think this game is really excellent at what it tries to do, and it's also just long enough to be fun (~4 hours without having done all the ancillary content) without being too long to go round in circles and become boring. So I'd recommend it for people who are looking for a relaxing game with fairly simple puzzles and a happy atmosphere.

Jogo fofinho, é inspirado em Pikmin porem ao invés dos elementos de estrategia, implementa o coletatton, que eu gostei, excentiva a exploração. Não um Celeste, um Sea of Stars, mas como jogo indie casual ele desempenha um otimo papel.