My condensed review:
Buy Tinykin, Play Tinykin, Love Tinykin. ASAP!
My non-condensed review:
You ever play a video game out of nowhere that makes you sit back and say, "this isn't a perfect game, but also... this is a PERFECT game"? Sure, that doesn't make a ton of sense, but when you know, you know. Tinykin is basically a perfect game. To compare it with other existing games: have you ever wanted to play a game that plays like Banjo-Kazooie and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, that looks like Paper Mario, and is sprinkled with elements of Toy Story 2 for N64, Pikmin and Chibi Robo (I haven't played the last 2 but I think those are very safe comparisons)? Then PLAY TINYKIN!
Never has running and jumping and climbing and floating and sliding on a soap-bar skateboard around levels been so goddamn fun and cathartic. This isn't a game full of hard levels, enemies to fight and bosses to thwart, but a relaxing world of gorgeous levels, puzzles and challenging but fair platforming and exploration. The music is also a major highlight, as the levels each have their own themes, but the music changes as you go into different subsections of each level; the first level (my favorite) contains a temple/church like area, as well as a coffeehouse/bar inside of an acoustic guitar, and a large piano you can go inside and explore. The music changes seamlessly and organically when you enter each of these little areas into something beautiful and different; I played this game with headphones and really felt and noticed these changes as well as just how damn good the music was so I would highly recommend that experience.
If I did have any gripes, and these are just for me: I was totally expecting a boss fight or 2 at some point, or anything at all in terms of combat, and while I feel like something like that could be explored in a sequel, Tinykin is perfectly content being a nice peaceful experience without the need for it. And my other gripe... it ended! I wanted it to keep going. I wanted the game to just be like "oh, by the way, here's a whole other floor containing several other levels", I didn't want it to end! It's a decent length for an indie title, but you know a game is that good when you could easily play 10 more levels and not get bored.
I got the Platinum trophy just by completing and collecting everything there is in the game, which I was going to do anyways because of how fun it is. There's a few little miscellaneous ones that you may get on your own, but the only one that I'd say is maybe missable is to hatch a Tinykin egg by throwing another Tinykin at it, which, if you're aware of the trophy, can be done in the first few seconds of the game. Everything else is not missable.
In conclusion: for transparency, I have no financial stake in this games sales/performance, I don't know the developers, I'm not a paid reviewer, I'm not an advertisement for the game. But for the love of God, take the word of this random internet dude and please play this incredible title and experience all of the joy and fun that it has to offer.
Buy Tinykin, Play Tinykin, Love Tinykin. ASAP!
My non-condensed review:
You ever play a video game out of nowhere that makes you sit back and say, "this isn't a perfect game, but also... this is a PERFECT game"? Sure, that doesn't make a ton of sense, but when you know, you know. Tinykin is basically a perfect game. To compare it with other existing games: have you ever wanted to play a game that plays like Banjo-Kazooie and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, that looks like Paper Mario, and is sprinkled with elements of Toy Story 2 for N64, Pikmin and Chibi Robo (I haven't played the last 2 but I think those are very safe comparisons)? Then PLAY TINYKIN!
Never has running and jumping and climbing and floating and sliding on a soap-bar skateboard around levels been so goddamn fun and cathartic. This isn't a game full of hard levels, enemies to fight and bosses to thwart, but a relaxing world of gorgeous levels, puzzles and challenging but fair platforming and exploration. The music is also a major highlight, as the levels each have their own themes, but the music changes as you go into different subsections of each level; the first level (my favorite) contains a temple/church like area, as well as a coffeehouse/bar inside of an acoustic guitar, and a large piano you can go inside and explore. The music changes seamlessly and organically when you enter each of these little areas into something beautiful and different; I played this game with headphones and really felt and noticed these changes as well as just how damn good the music was so I would highly recommend that experience.
If I did have any gripes, and these are just for me: I was totally expecting a boss fight or 2 at some point, or anything at all in terms of combat, and while I feel like something like that could be explored in a sequel, Tinykin is perfectly content being a nice peaceful experience without the need for it. And my other gripe... it ended! I wanted it to keep going. I wanted the game to just be like "oh, by the way, here's a whole other floor containing several other levels", I didn't want it to end! It's a decent length for an indie title, but you know a game is that good when you could easily play 10 more levels and not get bored.
I got the Platinum trophy just by completing and collecting everything there is in the game, which I was going to do anyways because of how fun it is. There's a few little miscellaneous ones that you may get on your own, but the only one that I'd say is maybe missable is to hatch a Tinykin egg by throwing another Tinykin at it, which, if you're aware of the trophy, can be done in the first few seconds of the game. Everything else is not missable.
In conclusion: for transparency, I have no financial stake in this games sales/performance, I don't know the developers, I'm not a paid reviewer, I'm not an advertisement for the game. But for the love of God, take the word of this random internet dude and please play this incredible title and experience all of the joy and fun that it has to offer.