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 residence planet to Earth to hint humanity’s true origins. The explorer’s journey takes him to an atypical residence occupied by sentient bugs who worship a mysterious deity. To return residence, the astronaut should assemble a rocket by gathering atypical 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 very best, although maybe reductive, approach to describe Tinykin’s gameplay could be “Pikmin as a platformer.” Every room in the home provides giant, neatly laid-out playgrounds the place gamers overcome platforming challenges and remedy environmental puzzles utilizing several types of Tinykin. These embody pink varieties that carry objects, crimson variations that explode on influence when tossed, and inexperienced Tinykin that stack vertically to kind a dwelling 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 abilities earlier than introducing one other.
The well-crafted puzzles develop into higher (and extra concerned) as you recruit extra Tinykin to your ranks. Some obstacles may be so simple as carrying an outsized equipment out of your path. Different duties develop into scavenger hunts, difficult you to seek out artistic methods of traversing the world to find and retrieve scattered gadgets. Options are usually comparatively easy, it doesn’t matter what kind a puzzle takes; Tinykin by no means forces you to wrack your mind, at the least not for very lengthy. I discovered this degree of problem stress-free however partaking sufficient to keep away from changing into mundane or overly simplistic. Tinykin’s puzzle-solving has a pleasant stream that retains the expertise shifting, making it a breeze to get by way of.
Controlling the Tinykin is easy 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 gadgets and discovering secrets and techniques is rewarding as a result of each nook and cranny often hides a discovery. Typically it’s bundles of pollen; different instances, it’s a lacking piece wanted to finish a aspect errand, corresponding 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 lavatory is a delight from this small perspective, and platforming feels exceptionally tight. Driving cleaning soap bars throughout ziplines to get round quicker makes it even higher, and finding shortcuts, corresponding 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 every time it’s time to show in a job.
Tinykin feels comforting in an old-school sense. Its challenges by no means develop into convoluted, nor does its design reinvent the wheel, and that’s okay. Tinykin executes its handful of concepts exceptionally nicely, making it a completely pleasant and laid-back journey that solely requires six to eight hours of your time. Don’t let this pleasant journey sneak underneath your radar.