Tinykin – Review

Since this is my first experience with a game like Nintendo’s little guy puzzle game, Pikmin comparisons would make my review of Tinykin rather dull. I’m not interested in playing Pikmin unless it’s anything like Tinykin.

But I’m glad Tinykin was my first experience with a “small-time, lots of guys” game. Because Nintendo is Nintendo, many of my earliest childhood memories involve them. The Tinykin development team at Splash Team, however, has created something truly unique. These days, it’s rare for a developer to create something that looks and feels like it was made by Nintendo.

It’s Milo who demonstrates himself. His pink hair is cut in a bowl shape, and his bangs rest just above his glasses.
Milo rediscovers Earth at the start of Tinykin, and there are many mysteries still to be solved, such as why there are only talking bugs and no humans. Is there a reason we’re stuck in the ’90s?

Tinykin’s world is so full of life and colour that it often distracts me from playing the game properly. This is one of the things that makes video games so special to me.

The graphics are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also functional in that they can direct you to the right people and places. And if you shrink down to Tinykin size and follow me as though I were Milo, I’ll explain it all (or you can just keep reading).

Tinykin’s 2D characters exude an air of sophisticated cool. You could almost mistake the characters for icons, given their level of detail and uniformity, if it weren’t for the fact that they are animated and can move around. You can imagine Paper Mario from this review’s illustrative excerpts.

Milo and his Tinykin pals are perched on top of a toy dragon that is suspended from the ceiling of what looks like a kid’s bedroom. The place is a toy dumping ground.
The opposite is true of natural settings. The environments are rendered in full 3D and feature relatively high-detailed texturing, especially when compared to other similar games. Tinykin is an adventure that takes you to new heights, literally, as you get to see everything from carpets to bubbles to water to doorknobs from every conceivable perspective.

We won’t delve too deeply into the plot or characters; after all, half the fun of Tinykin is finding its secrets on your own—but we can talk about the setting.

There’s a scene where Milo and some Tinykin are standing next to a gigantic kitchen sink.
Tinykin’s protagonist, Milo, may be tiny, but the game’s environments are expansive. Fortunately, the mission at hand is well within your capabilities. The game is built around Milo’s cool, sudsy, soapbar skateboard, which he can use whenever he wants for speed and style.

A bubble Milo can use to float in place for a short distance is another one of his handy abilities. Spyro the Dragon’s gliding mechanic brought back fond memories, especially when used to travel up and down walls.

You can activate the bubble by pressing the Jump button again, and it’s a lot of fun to use, especially after you’ve unlocked some of the optional upgrades that let you bubble-time your way across greater distances.

To sum up, in Tinykin, you play as a tiny creature in enormous environments, exploring what are essentially adorable rooms in a house (filled with care and attention to detail).

Milo is depicted gliding through the landscape on his soap skateboard.
A lot of games miss the mark on this, but the most fun you can have in a video game is in one where you get to run around and explore. Whenever I think of a cute and cuddly video game, Tinykin joins the ranks of Destiny 2 and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

Tinykin’s many rooms are home to a wide variety of insects (not the Tinykin themselves; more on them in a moment) in need of your assistance. That of the other party is essential, too. Tinykin’s bugs need help, and in exchange they’ll give you access to new skills, items for the game’s side quests, and essentials for the main quest. The spaceship needs fixing, and there are mysteries to be solved.

Tinykin are small creatures who have come along to aid you on your journey and each has special skills. They usually don’t stick together, but they like Milo and start following him around the field almost immediately. You’ll have to figure out the why on your own time. The Tinykin, however, are not only adorable, but also integral to the game’s mechanics and experience.

Tiny green creatures called Tinykin are introduced to Milo; they can stack, just as they do in front of his eyes.
Thanks to a pile of adorable green Tinykin, Milo is able to perform incredible feats, such as transporting massive and heavy objects over great distances, destroying items with explosions, and ascending great heights, all because each Tinykin has its own unique power, designated by its colour.

Different Tinykin can be found in each area, and after you’ve touched their coloured bubble they’ll always pop up from the ground to follow you.

In order to progress, you’ll need to solve a series of enticing 3D environmental puzzles in each area. These puzzles will require you to either move objects around or pass through them.

Even if you fall from a great height and perish, you will be resurrected near the spot where you were standing before you fell. In Tinykin, there is little in the way of resistance or negative consequences. That’s not to say there aren’t any tough moments or mental stretches in the game. Yes, most definitely.

More challenging than actually moving something with Tinykin is finding a specific item, tracking down a specific collectible, or tracking down the last few pink Tinykin so you can use them to move a heavy object. Oh, and you know what? I long to play again.

Milo, who tossed the bomb Tinykin, is far in the background of the image, but it is very close to the viewer’s point of view.

Not only has Tinykin piqued my interest in the Pikmin games, but also the classic platformers I played as a kid, such as Spyro the Dragon, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Ratchet & Clank, and more.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much more there was to the story. Especially considering the smooth, frolicking, and bouncy gameplay, it could have been a harmless diversion of some sort. Possibly a programmer with less skill or ambition would have done that. The Tinykin universe may be diminutive in size, but Splash Team has lovingly wrapped a story that is both emotional and compelling around it. I’m relieved that they did.

I first fell in love with video games, and Tinykin has brought me back to that place. Games like Tinykin are the reason the industry exists, so I really hope it does well.