Tinykin is Absolute Bliss
Tinykin is a game you’ve probably never heard of. If you have heard of it, it is probably because it ended up on several video game outlet GOTY lists last year. The game comes to us courtesy of the fine folks at Tinybuild. They are most famous for their Hello Neighbor line of games and some other less commercially successful but quite good titles like Totally Reliable Delivery Service, and Party Hard. I am typically known as a sucker for indie games. I feel like the only real exploratory space in games right now is in the indie space. I mean, nobody is going to take huge risks with a game that costs a billion dollars to make. Tinykin is the perfect combination of nice 2D character art and animation and a clean 3D world. If this sounds like something for you, feel free to read on to learn more!
Full Disclosure: Tinykin is currently available on Xbox Gamepass. So, full disclosure I did not technically pay for the game. I will, however, be buying it on Switch just to have this relaxing game at my fingertips whenever sleep evades me.
This is only the second game from the developer Splash Team. Their previous game Splasher is in my Steam library, and I have never played it. I guess I got it from a Humble Bundle deal or something? Well, after the experience I had with Tinykin, maybe it is time to rectify that oversight? Tinykin can be a difficult game to describe, but that is my job so let’s give it a whirl…. Tinykin is a marriage of puzzle platforming and Pikmin without the combat. Okay, I guess that wasn’t so hard. I’ve never really played anything that has such unique pickup and playability, while leveraging multiple different abilities and using the entire controller while just feeling to natural to play. The game takes place on earth. You are a space explorer named Milo. The entire game takes place in a house, and you are very tiny. So, most of the objects you’ll be interacting with are normal household staples like stereos, house plants, sponges, toys, etc. To interact with these objects and solve puzzles you’ll be using the collectible Tinykins hidden throughout the stage.
Much like in Pikmin, you have Tinykin that are strong and can move objects and keys to solve puzzles and unlock new areas. Each new environment you enter will have its own Tinykin that are all color coded and have different abilities. Some can pass electricity, move heavy objects, stack up to become a pole that you can climb and more. These abilities all come together to create a calming relaxing and intellectually stimulating experience. Nothing in the game is there to hurt you, well other than water, and there is no penalty to death. I learned early on that if you are super high up in the world and fall without meaning to just die. The game just resets you back up to where you fell from.
The game has so much charm visually and is such a low impact and satisfying experience that I was only allowed to play the first half of the game before my wife took over and wanted to drive it herself. My wife is really growing into her own with video games, but I would still call her a novice. She hopped in right in the middle of my playthrough and took to it like a duck to water. The control design and smooth calming gameplay just grabbed her, and she caught on immediately to the controls and goals of the game. Speaking of goals, the progression in the game is quite simple. Every level has four or five main objectives. It also has many optional things for you to collect. We called it popcorn but according to the game’s menu it is pollen. Go figure?
The game doesn’t have much in the way of direct narrative. You meet and hang out with weird insects and help them coexist within the confines of the world. But, the overarching narrative of the house itself is that people once lived there and they don’t anymore. Where did they go? What happened? Well, that is for you to find out. I think the overall finish is a little slight. But that might work in the favor of the game itself. The developers chose not to slam on the brakes and do some big story dump at the end to force a narrative you might not care about in this game full of cool exploration and fun puzzle solving.
The look and sound of the game is really top notch. The characters and Tinykin themselves are all 2D sprites and all animate super well and convey a bunch of fun personality quirks. Whenever you encounter a Tinykin type for the first time they also include a little intro video that shows you what they are good at doing. The music is also very calming, and the sound effects all have a very tactile quality to them. The materials all look and sound like they should and it all adds on to a product that is just so fun to play.
Tinykin is fantastic. I really wish that I had played it last year when it came out. If I have one small gripe with the game as a whole it is that the levels can be quite long. It is hard to play this game for ten minutes and feel like you have done very much. I did make good use of the Xbox suspend feature and leave the game only to return later and pick it back up. The game is also a decent length for a 3D platformer indie game. I clocked in about 7 hours total on it and didn’t 100% the game.
I do think that I will return to Tinykin to mop up any missing achievements and just spend some more time in such a cool and relaxing world.
Tinykin gets high recommendation from me 4.5/5 Stars
