More than just a homage to Pikmin?
Milo arrives on Earth to find that he’s way too small, everybody’s gone, and a day hasn’t passed since 1991! Catch hundreds of mysterious tinykin and use their unique powers to create ladders, bridges, explosions and a lot more! Find a way home through a sprawling ant-sized metropolis and unravel Earth’s biggest mystery!
Tinykin is a love letter to Pikmin fans with its premise of escaping a world set up in an abandoned house and you are microscopic in size. You’ll gather the creatures naturally called Tinykin to carry items, blow up barriers, conduct electricity from one source to another as well as building ladders and bridges in all manner of rooms from the kitchen and the bathroom to the bedroom and the attic.
The game is set up with different characters in each room, which is set up as cities or towns that have some commotion going on. Milo’s task is to convince the leader of each to hand over a certain item so you can put together a ship and leave, much like Captain Olimar in Pikmin. The good news is that you aren’t restricted to time limits, so you can take all the time you want in solving the puzzles and gathering as many tinykin as possible to progress. There’s also no combat to worry about, Tinykin is essentially a puzzle-platformer in this regard, but it works, and it works well.
Scattered across each room are gold pieces of amber which can be handed to one resident so you can hover for longer, which is essential if you want to nab all other amber pieces and artifacts that are hidden everywhere. Each level has its own objectives, but there are also side objectives that will get you the aforementioned artifacts that will end up in the main hub’s museum and is required for trophies.
There are literally tons and tons of the amber pieces though and they can be very well hidden, so completionists will no doubt be turning over every stone to find the last few, me included. That being said, the game itself shouldn’t take you too long to get through if you just want to experience the main game without going mad for collectibles.
The visuals themselves are also a big highlight of the game, with an almost Paper Mario art style that makes me crave another traditional Paper Mario, but it works incredibly well with the game’s design and it runs incredibly smoothly with minimal load times. The script has some good humour to it too, while the soundtrack is also impressive overall.
The Verdict
While not the longest game, Tinykin impresses with its atmosphere, puzzles and cuteness in the form of the tinykin themselves and the other characters you come across. Pikmin fans will absolutely love what is on offer here and I really hope we get some form of sequel as I was craving more when the credits rolled and I think you will too if you give it a chance.