My wish for a New Pikmin game is the boundary, so I was very excited when I saw that Tinykin’s army of lovely followers can fill the germ-shaped void in my heart. But while its simple environmental puzzles might not fully gauge that craving, its playful world and hugely satisfying platform unexpectedly deliver another hunger pang. Tinykin feels more like a modern evolution of the N64-era 3D platformer formula than most other endeavors I’ve played, and the laid-back exploration and collectibles hunt is an absolute pleasure from the get go. to the end.
You take control of a space explorer named Milodane as you wander around in a fairly ordinary two-story house – of course, doing so is infrequent due to the fact that you’re the size of a bug. Along the way, you’ll meet the eminent citizens of this colossal house, who have rearranged its rooms into a prosperous and elaborate kingdom, complete with theme park, nightclub and the church is a bit unsettling. Each of the six rooms is a separate level to complete, and the design of both the environment and the charming bugs that occupy them is a consistent high point for Tinykin.
When you finish work for the locals and try to assemble the pieces of a device that can bring home Milodane, you get help from the name of this game: Tinykin. These colorful creatures can be collected from eggs in fixed locations scattered across every map and then thrown to help you navigate the world or solve the puzzles in it. That could mean using stronger pink Tinykins to bring an object to a specific location, or exploding red pellets to blow up obstacles. There are a certain number of Tinykins to collect in each room, and they don’t follow you between them, so finding enough to complete the quest in front of you is part of every puzzle.
One thing you will not However, the use of your helpful little friends is in combat. Tinykin is a completely non-violent game, with no enemies to avoid or health bars to worry about – in fact, the only way you can die is by falling too far or into the water, and even then you quickly respawn where you were a moment before the crash with no other consequences. This may sound low-key or even boring to some, but it’s a huge reason why Tinykin’s vibe is so fun, with an emphasis on discovery and discovery and providing give it a lot to make it interesting enough.
“
Each room is a relatively wide open playground to run around, but the way those levels draw you into small enclosed areas that then branch out to others is a wonderful thing. For example, you can start collecting golden pollen scattered around a piece of furniture only to encounter a bug with a fascinating optional quest to complete, or start climbing leaves instead of a nearby houseplant towards some other home decor waiting to be discovered, or possibly unlocking the thread of a bug that you can ride all the way to the other side of the room. It’s easy to get distracted by all the things you do maybe and that means I rarely have a dull moment trying to explore every nook and cranny of each room before moving on to the next.
It also helps with moving around when Milodane feels great. It can be a bit annoying when you don’t linger on top of your jump arc for too long, but the ultimate upgradeable bubble hover allows you to drift a considerable distance and soap you up. Used for gliding on the ground (and even grinding on the edges of the platform) is extremely satisfying. They’re not the most complicated movement mechanics in the world and don’t really have any real platforming challenges to test your mastery, but even relatively simple tasks like climbing Playing the piano also makes you feel more interesting. own controls.
In that sense, Tinykin implements his concept incorrectly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the concept is too powerful mechanically. For example, it’s fun to run around a room collecting Tinykins that you need to grow, but their abundance and free-exploring nature mean doing so only feels like a limit. actually at the start of a room – then I usually have enough of a certain color before I find the spot where I need them. Similarly, the “puzzle” of throwing the right color at the obstacle isn’t exactly a hard one, so the fun of each room really comes from the initial surprise as you explore, which can make them a bit hollow. when you have done so.
However, the creative themes of each room more than make up for this relative flatness. I love running around a kid’s room, where all the toys have been turned into amusement park activities, or a kitchen where bugs have turned tiled floors into farm fields. These level themes aren’t just for the lowest hanging fruit either, with the highlight being a bathroom split between a group of party-obsessed silverfish and a group of party-loving dung beetles. The text is always funny no matter who you’re talking to, and this particular feud is heightened even further by Tinykin’s superb soundtrack, with the music growing increasingly energetic as Milodane helps the party unfold. out back.
In the spirit of an N64-era platformer, these levels are also filled with collectibles. Each room has hundreds of golden pollen spheres to pick up, and getting enough of them will help you upgrade the timing of your hover jump. There are also several optional quests to find at each new level that will unlock relics on display in a small museum in your central facility, as well as plenty of side characters to chat with as you go. progress through the story – including an adorable Ghost Ant named Ghasper that likes to hide in dark corners.
It’s not too hard to get to 100% of all rooms if you’re tracking where you’ve been watching, but I was still happy for about nine hours, I had to. That said, because finding new Tinykin types in later rooms is the only way you’ll get new “abilities” and those helpers don’t track you between rooms, it’s a bit of a stretch. unfortunately you will never get the pleasure of returning to the area with new powers and fresh eyes. That makes it pretty straightforward to get it all done, but that challenge at least has perfectly tuned accessibility, with collections sometimes hiding in some sneaky spot that never feel unfair.
