Tinykin neatly blends platforming and puzzle-solving with the minion administration of Nintendo’s Pikmin sequence. Gamers management a flea-sized astronaut who travels from his dwelling planet to Earth to hint humanity’s true origins. The explorer’s journey takes him to an bizarre dwelling occupied by sentient bugs who worship a mysterious deity. To return dwelling, the astronaut should assemble a rocket by gathering bizarre family objects with the assistance of small, lovable aliens known as Tinykin. As a fan of “little particular person in a giant world” experiences, Tinykin’s premise and world drew me in, and its gameplay happy me till its conclusion.
The perfect, although maybe reductive, solution to describe Tinykin’s gameplay could be “Pikmin as a platformer.” Every room in the home gives massive, neatly laid-out playgrounds the place gamers overcome platforming challenges and clear up environmental puzzles utilizing various kinds of Tinykin. These embrace pink varieties that carry objects, pink variations that explode on influence when tossed, and inexperienced Tinykin that stack vertically to kind a residing ladder, amongst others. I like how the sport introduces every Tinykin one stage at a time, letting me spend a whole degree getting used to their distinctive skills earlier than introducing one other.
The well-crafted puzzles turn into higher (and extra concerned) as you recruit extra Tinykin to your ranks. Some obstacles could be so simple as carrying an outsized equipment out of your path. Different duties turn into scavenger hunts, difficult you to seek out artistic methods of traversing the world to find and retrieve scattered objects. Options are usually comparatively easy, it doesn’t matter what kind a puzzle takes; Tinykin by no means forces you to wrack your mind, a minimum of not for very lengthy. I discovered this degree of problem enjoyable however participating sufficient to keep away from turning into mundane or overly simplistic. Tinykin’s puzzle-solving has a pleasant circulate that retains the expertise shifting, making it a breeze to get by way of.
Controlling the Tinykin is straightforward and intuitive, requiring little greater than aiming and flinging them at designated targets. I additionally love that Tinykin can carry out jobs independently, permitting me to multitask. It feels nice to let a dozen helpers work on lugging objects to their locations whereas I gleefully acquire scattered pollen (used to improve a hover potential), discover lacking letters for a mail bug, and full aspect quests.
Tinykin is a collect-a-thon just like the 3D platformers of outdated. Gathering objects and discovering secrets and techniques is rewarding as a result of each nook and cranny normally hides a discovery. Typically it’s bundles of pollen; different instances, it’s a lacking piece wanted to finish a aspect errand, comparable to reuniting {a photograph} with its body. The world is a colourful, outsized jungle health club, and I’m impressed with how every room seems like a lived-in dwelling whereas nonetheless having clear pathways that seem organically organized.
I had probably the most enjoyable freely exploring and utilizing my Tinykin military to tinker with no matter lay earlier than me, like pushing in protruding books or yanking a washer’s door open. Hopping throughout a kitchen, hallway, or toilet is a delight from this small perspective, and platforming feels exceptionally tight. Using cleaning soap bars throughout ziplines to get round sooner makes it even higher, and finding shortcuts, comparable to climbing ropes, expedites backtracking. I solely want there was a map as a result of the busy environments make quest givers really feel like needles in a haystack each time it’s time to show in a job.
Tinykin feels comforting in an old-school sense. Its challenges by no means turn into convoluted, nor does its design reinvent the wheel, and that’s okay. Tinykin executes its handful of concepts exceptionally nicely, making it a totally gratifying and laid-back journey that solely requires six to eight hours of your time. Don’t let this pleasant journey sneak underneath your radar.
