Never stops being being fun. The exploration is incredible and the art design impeccable.
Tinykino
A fantastic 3-D platformer. Tinykin pays tribute to the of the best old school era with superb controls, fantastic level design and an art style that makes it standout. It introduces Pikmin esque mechanics to differentiate it from its piers.
Still, the Pikmin parts bring out its biggest flaw, its easy difficulty. Every puzzle consists of gathering enough Kins to go to the context sensitive puzzle and throw the little creatures at it. The one exception is the green kin, the best one in the game, that makes ladders for you on the surface of anything big enough to support it.
That aside, Tinykin's greatness comes from the level design and tight controls. Every nook and cranny you explore in these Honey I Shunk the Kids inspired levels makes you achieve meaningful progress towards your objectives while opening useful shortcuts along the way. The levels are constructed from household everyday items transformed into a society run by critters. Its truly inspired.
Its a no brainer to get if you have an affinity for the genre. Tinykin is one of the most fun titles released this year.
Still, the Pikmin parts bring out its biggest flaw, its easy difficulty. Every puzzle consists of gathering enough Kins to go to the context sensitive puzzle and throw the little creatures at it. The one exception is the green kin, the best one in the game, that makes ladders for you on the surface of anything big enough to support it.
That aside, Tinykin's greatness comes from the level design and tight controls. Every nook and cranny you explore in these Honey I Shunk the Kids inspired levels makes you achieve meaningful progress towards your objectives while opening useful shortcuts along the way. The levels are constructed from household everyday items transformed into a society run by critters. Its truly inspired.
Its a no brainer to get if you have an affinity for the genre. Tinykin is one of the most fun titles released this year.
Almost perfect. GOTY Contender
What I expected: Indie Pikmin. I mean Games Pass has already given me that before (Hi Wild at Heart). What I got? An incredibly colourful, charming and engaging collect-a-thon platformer that made me feel like I was back on my PlayStation hoovering up every item to find in sight.
This honestly was an absolute joy to play from start to finish and before I knew it, I had been playing for about 7 hours and was watching the credits scrolling. Everything about this is so fun, from the scaling of household items and rooms turned into levels to cramming them full of collectables, tricky jumping parts and bouncy music.
Sure the ending was a bit on the sudden side and part of me wishes there was a little more but I dont care. I had a blast and im left feeling very happy and content. I still have a few more bits and pieces to find so... I better get to it!
This honestly was an absolute joy to play from start to finish and before I knew it, I had been playing for about 7 hours and was watching the credits scrolling. Everything about this is so fun, from the scaling of household items and rooms turned into levels to cramming them full of collectables, tricky jumping parts and bouncy music.
Sure the ending was a bit on the sudden side and part of me wishes there was a little more but I dont care. I had a blast and im left feeling very happy and content. I still have a few more bits and pieces to find so... I better get to it!
The Pikmin platformer that Nintendo wishes they'd made.
That's a little unfair to Tinykin though, as it manages to stand out on its own merits - it's a genuinely good 3D collectathon platformer that looks and runs brilliantly and pulls you in with large, detailed but rarely overwhelming level design filled with interesting scenarios and some quite fun dialogue with the world's inhabitants. The game is also smart enough to realise that dealing with enemies can actually be a chore in this type of game and as such just does away with them which really helps the flow and allows for more exploration.
I'm a bit of a sucker for games where you play as a little guy in a large setting (especially a homestead) so I think this was always going to do well with me but it turned out to probably be my favourite game of the year so far.
That's a little unfair to Tinykin though, as it manages to stand out on its own merits - it's a genuinely good 3D collectathon platformer that looks and runs brilliantly and pulls you in with large, detailed but rarely overwhelming level design filled with interesting scenarios and some quite fun dialogue with the world's inhabitants. The game is also smart enough to realise that dealing with enemies can actually be a chore in this type of game and as such just does away with them which really helps the flow and allows for more exploration.
I'm a bit of a sucker for games where you play as a little guy in a large setting (especially a homestead) so I think this was always going to do well with me but it turned out to probably be my favourite game of the year so far.
Tinykin is a very fun little platformer. Its not complex at all, and you will feel like a God floating everywhere if you get the glide upgrades. Who gives a crap though, its still fun to just explore the levels. Small Games™ are awesome and that carries a lot of the appeal of this game for me. A lot of the end lore dump feels really weird too, but I didn't care enough to read dialogue at all in this game to see if there were more hints. Like end dump wasn't bad it was like "oh, okay, really. Sure."
Nettes, kurzes (= 4 Stunden) Spiel. Ist jetzt nicht besonders anspruchsvoll, ist eher simpel gehalten. Kann man aber schon mal spielen, ist im Game Pass PC drin.
Simples e divertido, parece um pouco com pikmin
Beautifully crafted title. If you enjoy "collectathon" platformers like Psychonauts, this is that with the aesthetic kin to a Bug Fables or Paper Mario... and with core gameplay largely taking inspiration from Pikmin, minus the combat. Tinykin takes a lot of familiar ideas and blends them into a unique and lovable experience that won't demand too much of your time
Like a bite-sized Super Mario Odyssey. This collect-a-thon features 6 unique "worlds" that are actually rooms in an early 1990s house.
The 2D characters look fantastic, and the 3D backdrops are whimsical and fun to explore. The traversal mechanics are quite good, and I rarely cursed the controls. There's a great sense of exploration, and you're constantly finding something, which makes this game very rewarding to play.
My main complaint is the camera doesn't follow the player at all normally, and doesn't follow well if you enable it. To work around this issue, I mapped Jump to R so I could jump while moving and rotating the camera. Also, the game does a poor job explaining how the timing is meant to work for gliding. You press Jump, the immediately press and hold Jump. Unlike many platformers, holding Jump does not make you jump higher.
The story was pretty weird but mostly not super important.
The 2D characters look fantastic, and the 3D backdrops are whimsical and fun to explore. The traversal mechanics are quite good, and I rarely cursed the controls. There's a great sense of exploration, and you're constantly finding something, which makes this game very rewarding to play.
My main complaint is the camera doesn't follow the player at all normally, and doesn't follow well if you enable it. To work around this issue, I mapped Jump to R so I could jump while moving and rotating the camera. Also, the game does a poor job explaining how the timing is meant to work for gliding. You press Jump, the immediately press and hold Jump. Unlike many platformers, holding Jump does not make you jump higher.
The story was pretty weird but mostly not super important.
Delightful little game. The game plays a lot like Banjo Kazooie meets Pikmin. There's no enemies in the game, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a solid 3d platformer with an emphasis on exploring and collecting.
não sou muito fã de collectathon mas esse aqui me deu vontade de collectar todos os thon então daí vc tira que eu gostei bastante. queria uma versão disso aqui com inimigos pra ver como eles fariam, acho que ficaria legal.
Jogado no Xbox Game Pass. Tinykin é quando a soma criatividade, carinho e muita qualidade técnica se torna muito maior que as suas já incríveis partes. Não só ele consegue ser um filho estranho de Banjo-Kazooie, Pikmin e Chibi-Robo, mas também consegue introduzir suas próprias mecânicas e ideias de forma maravilhosa.
O foco gigante em exploração, os mundos incríveis (tanto em tema, quanto em level design), o conceito de melhorar o deslocamento horizontal ao invés de vertical com o tempo, as diferentes formas de usar os tinykin... Tudo nesse jogo é feito sem demora, jogando na sua cara novas ideias e executando elas muito bem.
Demora o quanto tempo tem que demorar e aproveita esse tempo o melhor possível. Tinykin é, facilmente, um dos melhores jogos de 2022 e um dos melhores jogos de plataforma 3D em décadas.
O foco gigante em exploração, os mundos incríveis (tanto em tema, quanto em level design), o conceito de melhorar o deslocamento horizontal ao invés de vertical com o tempo, as diferentes formas de usar os tinykin... Tudo nesse jogo é feito sem demora, jogando na sua cara novas ideias e executando elas muito bem.
Demora o quanto tempo tem que demorar e aproveita esse tempo o melhor possível. Tinykin é, facilmente, um dos melhores jogos de 2022 e um dos melhores jogos de plataforma 3D em décadas.
I stormed through this cute Pikmin inspired platformer. It is a lot of fun but can become quite repetitive even within the already short playtime.
7,1/10
(2-hours review)
Based on nothing and generally appeared out of nowhere, the game turned out to be a good old-school ASMR platformer)
Remember those cartoon games from the Playstation 2 era? Where each location is one big room where you have to clear all the key items and all the coins (if you really want to) to open the passage further?
In principle, this is it, except that you are followed by a crowd of insects, having collected a certain number of which, you can transfer some large objects, or destroy certain targets, which will open a passage or "fast travel" for you to another floor.
It's hard to say anything else about the game, maybe, of course, some more types of minions will open, but for now it's just a simple little platformer where you go to grind local "coins" - pollen, you want to collect everything as usual ) The plot and lore of the game is absolutely incomprehensible, 2d cartoon character sprites, of course, are beautifully done, but also some.. inexpressive, forgettable, as if they were trying to come up with something unique, but it didn’t work out.. Some special humor about the local "under the bed" life I also didn`t notice.
But here's the only thing that captivates - It's, in general, the incredible "Pleasantness" of the game - as I said, 1. pretty Visual (although in technical terms, the environment models do not have enough polygons), 2. very nice Sounds, (every movement here is a treat for the ears), and the "win-win" concept of the army of minions following you everywhere + for someone else there will be a share of nastolgia for such projects.
In general, the best thing is to relax/run with YouTube in background.
Subscribe on my Steam Curators page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41977550/
(2-hours review)
Based on nothing and generally appeared out of nowhere, the game turned out to be a good old-school ASMR platformer)
Remember those cartoon games from the Playstation 2 era? Where each location is one big room where you have to clear all the key items and all the coins (if you really want to) to open the passage further?
In principle, this is it, except that you are followed by a crowd of insects, having collected a certain number of which, you can transfer some large objects, or destroy certain targets, which will open a passage or "fast travel" for you to another floor.
It's hard to say anything else about the game, maybe, of course, some more types of minions will open, but for now it's just a simple little platformer where you go to grind local "coins" - pollen, you want to collect everything as usual ) The plot and lore of the game is absolutely incomprehensible, 2d cartoon character sprites, of course, are beautifully done, but also some.. inexpressive, forgettable, as if they were trying to come up with something unique, but it didn’t work out.. Some special humor about the local "under the bed" life I also didn`t notice.
But here's the only thing that captivates - It's, in general, the incredible "Pleasantness" of the game - as I said, 1. pretty Visual (although in technical terms, the environment models do not have enough polygons), 2. very nice Sounds, (every movement here is a treat for the ears), and the "win-win" concept of the army of minions following you everywhere + for someone else there will be a share of nastolgia for such projects.
In general, the best thing is to relax/run with YouTube in background.
Subscribe on my Steam Curators page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41977550/
This is easily one of the more enjoyable games i've had played recently. Only discovering it from Steam's Demo Fest as one of my more anticipated indie games for the year. It did hold up to my expectations. Mostly taking elements of other games like Pikmin & oddly enough, Toy Story; making it with its own unique twist to it. The controls for it being tight & responsive.
The whole premise of it is that you're an alien that crashed into a house, and you're trying to repair yourself a ship to go back home. The general atmosphere that this game gives off is similar to 'Honey, I shrunk the kids' where you are exploring this massive human-sized room to you as the insect-sized player. there are plenty to chew in content with there being 3 side missions to the actual objective, along with collecting pollen.
Each room in the house is littered to the brim with Tinykins. They act much like pikmin with the five types of tinykins that are in each of them come with their own unique abilities; ranging from igniting things up to flames, levitating, however they will not carry over level to level.
The Pollen in-game is the equivalent to Gems in the spyro trilogy in which they are spread around the entire room. Once you pickup a certain amount that is listed, you go and get a new bubble to levitate longer than you normally would. After that it's all extra from there to just to say "I've done and seen everything" with a cheevo to add on top of that.
In terms with my least favorite things about Tinykin is all honestly, it felt like it just was too short. As soon as you start to get your last new ability with one of the tinykins' it just feels like once you get past the other two levels left (including the one you are introduced to it) it feels almost left emptied out. With a game like this where it puts it's collectathon inspiration proudly on it's chest. I would personally love to master this title but it just feels like it's an a chore to do that when all you have left is searching around a level for the last dozen pollen that could possibly be anywhere, maybe something like an attachment to the binoculars where you can spot out where the last remaining pollen would at least make things more easier on mastering this game.
I can easily recommend this game whole-heartily, especially if you love the 3D Platformers/Collect-a-thons. Definitely something that you could finish over a weekend. Hope that there is plenty of stuff to be added more in the future.
The whole premise of it is that you're an alien that crashed into a house, and you're trying to repair yourself a ship to go back home. The general atmosphere that this game gives off is similar to 'Honey, I shrunk the kids' where you are exploring this massive human-sized room to you as the insect-sized player. there are plenty to chew in content with there being 3 side missions to the actual objective, along with collecting pollen.
Each room in the house is littered to the brim with Tinykins. They act much like pikmin with the five types of tinykins that are in each of them come with their own unique abilities; ranging from igniting things up to flames, levitating, however they will not carry over level to level.
The Pollen in-game is the equivalent to Gems in the spyro trilogy in which they are spread around the entire room. Once you pickup a certain amount that is listed, you go and get a new bubble to levitate longer than you normally would. After that it's all extra from there to just to say "I've done and seen everything" with a cheevo to add on top of that.
In terms with my least favorite things about Tinykin is all honestly, it felt like it just was too short. As soon as you start to get your last new ability with one of the tinykins' it just feels like once you get past the other two levels left (including the one you are introduced to it) it feels almost left emptied out. With a game like this where it puts it's collectathon inspiration proudly on it's chest. I would personally love to master this title but it just feels like it's an a chore to do that when all you have left is searching around a level for the last dozen pollen that could possibly be anywhere, maybe something like an attachment to the binoculars where you can spot out where the last remaining pollen would at least make things more easier on mastering this game.
I can easily recommend this game whole-heartily, especially if you love the 3D Platformers/Collect-a-thons. Definitely something that you could finish over a weekend. Hope that there is plenty of stuff to be added more in the future.
Lovely platforming puzzle game that is reminiscent of the great Rare platformers of the N64 era and more obviously, Pikmin. I'm a sucker for games where you are a tiny person in a regular house. There's always a sense of adventure despite the objectively banal setting.
The game plays great and there's always loads to explore with each level and it's quite amusing as well. The art style is lovely and I simply could not stop playing.
It gives me Micro Machines/Toy Story 2 vibes as well. A really good time. It's on game pass so give it a go!
The game plays great and there's always loads to explore with each level and it's quite amusing as well. The art style is lovely and I simply could not stop playing.
It gives me Micro Machines/Toy Story 2 vibes as well. A really good time. It's on game pass so give it a go!
A game like this is never going to be perfect, so it's kind of a shock it's as good as it is. A game from a fairly small indie studio, it still manages to meet fairly high ambitions.
It's very easy to get hung up on superficial similarities to Pikmin or Chibi-Robo, but this is fundamentally a platformer. You're jumping around, looking for stuff. It's Banjo-Kazooie, but far less technical and demanding. If you fall from too tall a height, you're instantly warped back as if nothing happened.
There's definitely direct Pikmin influence here though. You go about the big house collecting the titular "Tinykin" creatures, who all have different abilities based on their colour. Some lift and push objects, some explode when thrown, some create bridges. It's a fun system, and the game's easygoing enough that it's never too big an irritation when you find you don't have enough of one kind of Tinykin to fulfill an objective. You just go off and do something else, and you'll probably have found enough by the time you come back.
For its early moments, Tinykin's almost like old Tomb Raider. Exploring big, boxy rooms and trying to figure out how to get into each wee corner of it. This appeal's deflated somewhat when you discover a Tinykin that can stack into a makeshift ladder, and making vertical travel much less of a challenge. You also have an upgradable gliding ability. At a certain point, it becomes fairly easy to just build ladders to the top of the room and glide over to anything that takes your interest. I thought it made the game much less interesting, but it makes for a more carefree atmosphere.
In the six-and-a-half hours I've clocked on this game, I think a good ninety minutes were spent at a point that I had used up all my purple Tinykin and thought I'd made the game unfinishable. You see, when a group of Tinykin start carrying an object, they can't set it down or be recalled until they reach their destination. I had two separate groups stuck at the same time, and there wasn't enough others to get me out of the jam. I think the solution I found was tantamount to sequence breaking, but I did manage to bypass something that seemed to be a pretty major design oversight.
That's kind of the thing in Tinykin. It's not very strict, and if it seems to be, it's probably because you're doing something the designers didn't consider. You rarely feel like you're doing things the "correct" way. You're not given that sense of satisfaction. It's fine though. Breath of the Wild was like that. But then, Breath of the Wild wasn't conjuring up memories of Tomb Raider II.
It's a relaxing time, and also fiercely addictive. There's so much casual progression. So many little things you slip into doing that open up new areas and abilities. It's totally appropriate for kids. Putting them in front of Tomb Raider II would count as child abuse in this day and age.
It's good. Play it. You'll like it.
It's very easy to get hung up on superficial similarities to Pikmin or Chibi-Robo, but this is fundamentally a platformer. You're jumping around, looking for stuff. It's Banjo-Kazooie, but far less technical and demanding. If you fall from too tall a height, you're instantly warped back as if nothing happened.
There's definitely direct Pikmin influence here though. You go about the big house collecting the titular "Tinykin" creatures, who all have different abilities based on their colour. Some lift and push objects, some explode when thrown, some create bridges. It's a fun system, and the game's easygoing enough that it's never too big an irritation when you find you don't have enough of one kind of Tinykin to fulfill an objective. You just go off and do something else, and you'll probably have found enough by the time you come back.
For its early moments, Tinykin's almost like old Tomb Raider. Exploring big, boxy rooms and trying to figure out how to get into each wee corner of it. This appeal's deflated somewhat when you discover a Tinykin that can stack into a makeshift ladder, and making vertical travel much less of a challenge. You also have an upgradable gliding ability. At a certain point, it becomes fairly easy to just build ladders to the top of the room and glide over to anything that takes your interest. I thought it made the game much less interesting, but it makes for a more carefree atmosphere.
In the six-and-a-half hours I've clocked on this game, I think a good ninety minutes were spent at a point that I had used up all my purple Tinykin and thought I'd made the game unfinishable. You see, when a group of Tinykin start carrying an object, they can't set it down or be recalled until they reach their destination. I had two separate groups stuck at the same time, and there wasn't enough others to get me out of the jam. I think the solution I found was tantamount to sequence breaking, but I did manage to bypass something that seemed to be a pretty major design oversight.
That's kind of the thing in Tinykin. It's not very strict, and if it seems to be, it's probably because you're doing something the designers didn't consider. You rarely feel like you're doing things the "correct" way. You're not given that sense of satisfaction. It's fine though. Breath of the Wild was like that. But then, Breath of the Wild wasn't conjuring up memories of Tomb Raider II.
It's a relaxing time, and also fiercely addictive. There's so much casual progression. So many little things you slip into doing that open up new areas and abilities. It's totally appropriate for kids. Putting them in front of Tomb Raider II would count as child abuse in this day and age.
It's good. Play it. You'll like it.
Tinykin brings the collection and resource management angles of Pikmin and expertly shaves them down to their most fun components in a delightful package. It sticks the landing as an indie 3D platformer rife with all the charm and delight you'd expect from its contemporaries, those being the top of its class.
The design is impeccable, never getting in its own way to force a dialogue interaction with NPCs. You just continually bounce around the room with absolute freedom, constantly unlocking shortcuts for quick access back to the heights you ascended. I'd be delighted to enter a similar house in a sequel and do it all over again!
The design is impeccable, never getting in its own way to force a dialogue interaction with NPCs. You just continually bounce around the room with absolute freedom, constantly unlocking shortcuts for quick access back to the heights you ascended. I'd be delighted to enter a similar house in a sequel and do it all over again!
basic and relaxing collection platformer
A nearly perfect little gem, so accessible and satisfying. A genre I usually avoid, too. I'm getting proven wrong about my tastes a lot this year. I think I could have done with a bit less dialogue to interrupt the flow, and the ending tried a little too hard to explain the logic of this world to us, (though I appreciated the FSM.) Less is more in those situations. But these are small complaints, the gameplay and design are impeccable. Perfect length as well.
What a delightful little 3D puzzle-platformer! Evidently very Pikmin-esque in design - with strong hints of Psychonauts, Toy Story 2 and Supraland to boot - Tinykin aims for a more lenient collectathon vibe and really nails it as well. The puzzles are hardly complex and the game is completely combat-free, but hopping around the levels and gathering the game's titular creatures, the Tinykin, is just so much fun in its own right that the lack of challenge never bothered me.
The story follows Milodane, a little dude from the future, who crash-lands into a human household inhabited by cartoonish bug factions and he has to re-build his little spaceship. The plot isn't anything special but the bugs' miniscule towns and the levels' themes being based on different rooms of a house make for a really fun setting for a 3D platformer. The overall presentation is quite superb as well from the funky soundtrack to the creative environments, really charming stuff.
This game is just a good time all-around; a very polished and comfy experience. The Tinykin could have been utilized in more innovative ways and revisiting levels should have been easier but besides that I had no major gripes with this one. Wholeheartedly recommended!
The story follows Milodane, a little dude from the future, who crash-lands into a human household inhabited by cartoonish bug factions and he has to re-build his little spaceship. The plot isn't anything special but the bugs' miniscule towns and the levels' themes being based on different rooms of a house make for a really fun setting for a 3D platformer. The overall presentation is quite superb as well from the funky soundtrack to the creative environments, really charming stuff.
This game is just a good time all-around; a very polished and comfy experience. The Tinykin could have been utilized in more innovative ways and revisiting levels should have been easier but besides that I had no major gripes with this one. Wholeheartedly recommended!
This review contains spoilers
I think something that should be made clear about this game is that despite what the premise may suggest, it doesn't really play like Pikmin all that much. I remember going into the demo for this game believing this, only to be caught off guard by the fact that this is instead a 3D platformer with light Pikmin elements. The Pikmin equivalent here, the Tinykin, follow you wherever you go. They carry things, but there's almost none of the multi-tasking that occurs in those games. Think of them less as units to organize and command and more as extensions of the player, tools that allow you to complete certain tasks and traverse new parts of the level.
Another thing to know about this game is that it is very easygoing, especially if you're experienced in 3D platformers. There's no combat, death doesn't have any consequence, and eventually, movement and traversal are de-emphasized greatly as you get abilities that allow you to float and climb through the whole level. This isn't trying to be Mario 64, it's trying to create a laid-back, exploration-based platformer, one that's more about getting familiar with the levels and going through every nook and cranny, as every part of the level contains something for you. That’s not to say the movement is boring though, the bubble that you use to float everywhere is fun to use and manipulate, as is using the green Tinykin to build an instant ladder anywhere, and the soap bar that you can skate on at any time. There’s a good flow to the traversal in this game, it’s not anything that requires a lot of time to master, but it helps keep exploration exciting without overcomplicating things.
Tinykin’s setting is one that I adore, as I discussed in my review of the Toy Story 2 game, taking everyday environments and creating societies and giant platforming structures out of them, but now taken to another level than what was in Toy Story 2. A house, having been abandoned by its owner through mysterious circumstances, has been taken over by bugs, splitting off into different parts of the house and different factions, and believing this previous owner to be God. Most of the game involves interacting with the locals of each part of the house to get a specific item out of them. Doing this involves completing tasks for them which usually tie back into what they believe this God to be. Problems among different characters tend to arise due to prejudices and structures that have been formed around the belief in this God, and what should be interpreted of the house they left behind.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this premise, in fact when I was typing it out just now it sounded pretty cool. I’m a big fan of different parts of the house having their own cultures and populations, but it mostly manifests in very hacky observations and ham-fisted allegories of modern-day religion. It’s like it’s written by someone who thought the episode of Futurama where Bender is God was mind-blowing. In fact, some Adult Swim cartoon with no money has probably done this exact premise, and probably a lot funnier. Also, every line of dialogue has that specific Funny NPC Dialogue In An Indie Game cadence that I’m starting to find unbearable, where it’s obvious what the joke is gonna be but there’s like 10 text boxes dedicated to delivering it for some reason. It got to the point that I stopped bothering to pay attention to NPC dialogue since it felt so monotonous. There’s a Cake is a Lie joke in this game, we’re clearly not dealing with comedic geniuses.
I do think the “twist” at the end is neat, if only for the fact that having a character suddenly speak English in a game full of NPCs with Banjo-Kazooie-esque vocalizations is genuinely cool. The ending does become a glorified info dump at a certain point, but I’ll let it slide because I like the moment. This isn’t a game trying to do anything groundbreaking, it’s designed to be a low-energy experience compared to other execution-based platformers. Some may find it pretty boring, but I think the setting and level design elevate it to more than just a mildly pleasant experience. If you come in expecting a more casual experience, you won’t be disappointed. I think there should be room in the genre for games like it.
Another thing to know about this game is that it is very easygoing, especially if you're experienced in 3D platformers. There's no combat, death doesn't have any consequence, and eventually, movement and traversal are de-emphasized greatly as you get abilities that allow you to float and climb through the whole level. This isn't trying to be Mario 64, it's trying to create a laid-back, exploration-based platformer, one that's more about getting familiar with the levels and going through every nook and cranny, as every part of the level contains something for you. That’s not to say the movement is boring though, the bubble that you use to float everywhere is fun to use and manipulate, as is using the green Tinykin to build an instant ladder anywhere, and the soap bar that you can skate on at any time. There’s a good flow to the traversal in this game, it’s not anything that requires a lot of time to master, but it helps keep exploration exciting without overcomplicating things.
Tinykin’s setting is one that I adore, as I discussed in my review of the Toy Story 2 game, taking everyday environments and creating societies and giant platforming structures out of them, but now taken to another level than what was in Toy Story 2. A house, having been abandoned by its owner through mysterious circumstances, has been taken over by bugs, splitting off into different parts of the house and different factions, and believing this previous owner to be God. Most of the game involves interacting with the locals of each part of the house to get a specific item out of them. Doing this involves completing tasks for them which usually tie back into what they believe this God to be. Problems among different characters tend to arise due to prejudices and structures that have been formed around the belief in this God, and what should be interpreted of the house they left behind.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this premise, in fact when I was typing it out just now it sounded pretty cool. I’m a big fan of different parts of the house having their own cultures and populations, but it mostly manifests in very hacky observations and ham-fisted allegories of modern-day religion. It’s like it’s written by someone who thought the episode of Futurama where Bender is God was mind-blowing. In fact, some Adult Swim cartoon with no money has probably done this exact premise, and probably a lot funnier. Also, every line of dialogue has that specific Funny NPC Dialogue In An Indie Game cadence that I’m starting to find unbearable, where it’s obvious what the joke is gonna be but there’s like 10 text boxes dedicated to delivering it for some reason. It got to the point that I stopped bothering to pay attention to NPC dialogue since it felt so monotonous. There’s a Cake is a Lie joke in this game, we’re clearly not dealing with comedic geniuses.
I do think the “twist” at the end is neat, if only for the fact that having a character suddenly speak English in a game full of NPCs with Banjo-Kazooie-esque vocalizations is genuinely cool. The ending does become a glorified info dump at a certain point, but I’ll let it slide because I like the moment. This isn’t a game trying to do anything groundbreaking, it’s designed to be a low-energy experience compared to other execution-based platformers. Some may find it pretty boring, but I think the setting and level design elevate it to more than just a mildly pleasant experience. If you come in expecting a more casual experience, you won’t be disappointed. I think there should be room in the genre for games like it.
Finalmente o GOTY deu as caras
O jogo é brabo mas por favor, PAREM DE FAZER INDIE COM FINAL "SOMBRIO" PQP... já deu mano
An insanely charming little collectathon that doesn't overstay it welcome but packs every inch of its runtime with character and heart. Not the revolutionary title some would call it, but still a must play.
Don't be fooled by pikmin analogies! There's no management, not even much in a way of problem solving. But it's a smooth exploration platformer set on cs_rats where the titular tinykin act as keys unlocking more parts of the level and let you progress objectives. You also help protesting working class ants with the spread of agitation against bourgeois moths and it's probably the most french thing ever put in a game.
This brings me joy.
Uma mistureba de estilos muito curiosa e extremamente divertida! Um jogo de plataforma 3D colect-a-thon com vários ambientes abertos que constituem uma casa gigante, altamente focado em exploração. Seu diferencial é a união de mecânicas de Pikmin, sua principal inspiração, para criar um level design primoroso. Pode se tornar um pouco repetitivo (problema que é de certa forma atenuado com uma nova mecânica a cada nova fase), mas também não se alonga demais e é uma das melhores surpresas de 2022!