You play as Milodane, a professor who has just gotten stuck on Earth. He's stranded until his ship is repaired, but luckily, Ridmi offers to help as long as Milodane does something for him. Ridmi needs to collect all of the pieces to Ardwin's great invention, which can only be done with the assistance of the Tinykin, adorable little creatures that seem to have taken a liking to Milodane. Now, it's up to Milodane to round up as many Tinykin as he can find, explore every nook and cranny of the house, and gather up the appropriate items.
The story took a very unexpected turn at the end, but I liked it! Overall, this game is hilarious and adorable. 90% of the dialogue has nothing to do with the main story, but it's absolutely worth chatting up all of the NPCs just to see what quirky thing they have to say. There's also a ton of jokes and references.
Visuals
Tinykin is set in a 3D world with 2D sprites and I absolutely love that combination! The world is huge and bright and exciting! Well, it's made up of mundane, everyday objects you find in most homes, but being shrunken down makes it all look new and intriguing. And all of the NPCs are insects! They're realistic but super cute!
There are also animated cut-scenes whenever you find a new type of Tinykin. They're short and simply show you what their ability is. There's also cut-scenes to start and end the game done in the same style.
Sound Effects + Music
I honestly barely noticed in the music in Tinykin, which means it wasn't great or bad. The one track that really stood out to me sounded like some retro Sci-Fi Horror music, which was really weird, but kind of fit the tone of the game. Other than that, the music didn't leave much of an impression on me.
The sound effects of throwing the Tinykin does get repetitive, since each one makes the same noise, and you often have to throw many at once. It's not too annoying, but it would have been nice to have a few different sounds, or not having all of them do it in a row.
Gameplay + Controls
Tinykin is obviously a Pikmin clone. I've only played the demo of Pikmin 3, which I enjoyed, but I dare to say that I enjoyed Tinykin way more right from the start. You essentially use Milodane as the director of the Tinykin. He moves around the world, collecting them, then throwing them at objects. Each Tinykin has a color which matches its unique ability. For example, the first two colors you find are pink and red. The pink Tinykin are strong and can move or carry large objects. The red ones...explode. You'll need to collect Tinykin of various colors to solve puzzles and unlock more areas in each room.
I found Milodane very easy to control. It did take me a few tries to get use to jumping on the bouncy surfaces, but that's true for all games that have something that bounces you after jumping on it. Once I got the rhythm, it was smooth sailing. And Milodane actually can sail, which was fun. He only has a small amount of soap to keep his bubble afloat though (it can be upgraded!). He can also use a bar of soap to glide across some surfaces. There are also threads he can rail across. Luckily, that's automatic once you hop on.
Tinkykin has no combat, so feel free to explore at your leisure. You can die though, which I discovered while testing how far Milodane can float. From what I can tell, falling from too high will kill Milodane, but there's no penalty. He just respawns near where he fell from.
There are other collectibles to be found during your adventures aside from the main story objects. There's pollen puffs to be picked up and brought back to Sikaru to brew into something. Prattle also asks you to find her stolen artifacts in exchange for knowledge. There will be some tasks and fetch quests given by the other characters in each room, which were a lot of fun to discover.
My only gameplay issue, which wasn't really an issue, just a minor annoyance, was the blue Tinykin. I did appreciate that they functioned differently than the other colors, but placing them individually was a bit tedious. I initially tried putting a bunch in a row and then stretching them across to make like an extension cord, but that is not how they work. You have to put them one by one, and correctly space them. It's fine once you get into a rhythm, but it could have been better.
Replayability
As much as I loved Tinykin, I don't know if I'd play it all the way through again. It's very linear and once you know how to get around and unlock everything, there's nothing new to discover. However, this is absolutely a game I'd love to 100%! The side quests are quite fun, and I loved interacting with all of the side characters.
The games does technically end once you send Milo home, but if you open your save it puts you back to before he leaves so you can finish up any quests you still have active. I assume you'll have to relaunch the ship afterward to end the game again.
Overall
I loved Tinykin! It had some minor annoyances, but overall, this was definitely a "me" game. It's so cute and fun. Highly recommend!
The story took a very unexpected turn at the end, but I liked it! Overall, this game is hilarious and adorable. 90% of the dialogue has nothing to do with the main story, but it's absolutely worth chatting up all of the NPCs just to see what quirky thing they have to say. There's also a ton of jokes and references.
Visuals
Tinykin is set in a 3D world with 2D sprites and I absolutely love that combination! The world is huge and bright and exciting! Well, it's made up of mundane, everyday objects you find in most homes, but being shrunken down makes it all look new and intriguing. And all of the NPCs are insects! They're realistic but super cute!
There are also animated cut-scenes whenever you find a new type of Tinykin. They're short and simply show you what their ability is. There's also cut-scenes to start and end the game done in the same style.
Sound Effects + Music
I honestly barely noticed in the music in Tinykin, which means it wasn't great or bad. The one track that really stood out to me sounded like some retro Sci-Fi Horror music, which was really weird, but kind of fit the tone of the game. Other than that, the music didn't leave much of an impression on me.
The sound effects of throwing the Tinykin does get repetitive, since each one makes the same noise, and you often have to throw many at once. It's not too annoying, but it would have been nice to have a few different sounds, or not having all of them do it in a row.
Gameplay + Controls
Tinykin is obviously a Pikmin clone. I've only played the demo of Pikmin 3, which I enjoyed, but I dare to say that I enjoyed Tinykin way more right from the start. You essentially use Milodane as the director of the Tinykin. He moves around the world, collecting them, then throwing them at objects. Each Tinykin has a color which matches its unique ability. For example, the first two colors you find are pink and red. The pink Tinykin are strong and can move or carry large objects. The red ones...explode. You'll need to collect Tinykin of various colors to solve puzzles and unlock more areas in each room.
I found Milodane very easy to control. It did take me a few tries to get use to jumping on the bouncy surfaces, but that's true for all games that have something that bounces you after jumping on it. Once I got the rhythm, it was smooth sailing. And Milodane actually can sail, which was fun. He only has a small amount of soap to keep his bubble afloat though (it can be upgraded!). He can also use a bar of soap to glide across some surfaces. There are also threads he can rail across. Luckily, that's automatic once you hop on.
Tinkykin has no combat, so feel free to explore at your leisure. You can die though, which I discovered while testing how far Milodane can float. From what I can tell, falling from too high will kill Milodane, but there's no penalty. He just respawns near where he fell from.
There are other collectibles to be found during your adventures aside from the main story objects. There's pollen puffs to be picked up and brought back to Sikaru to brew into something. Prattle also asks you to find her stolen artifacts in exchange for knowledge. There will be some tasks and fetch quests given by the other characters in each room, which were a lot of fun to discover.
My only gameplay issue, which wasn't really an issue, just a minor annoyance, was the blue Tinykin. I did appreciate that they functioned differently than the other colors, but placing them individually was a bit tedious. I initially tried putting a bunch in a row and then stretching them across to make like an extension cord, but that is not how they work. You have to put them one by one, and correctly space them. It's fine once you get into a rhythm, but it could have been better.
Replayability
As much as I loved Tinykin, I don't know if I'd play it all the way through again. It's very linear and once you know how to get around and unlock everything, there's nothing new to discover. However, this is absolutely a game I'd love to 100%! The side quests are quite fun, and I loved interacting with all of the side characters.
The games does technically end once you send Milo home, but if you open your save it puts you back to before he leaves so you can finish up any quests you still have active. I assume you'll have to relaunch the ship afterward to end the game again.
Overall
I loved Tinykin! It had some minor annoyances, but overall, this was definitely a "me" game. It's so cute and fun. Highly recommend!