LifeisXbox’s Tinykin Review | A special adventure awaits Milodane, an archaeologist and researcher, as he works to uncover Earth’s incredible mystery in Tinykin. As Milo arrives on Earth, he finds himself shrunk in size but the environment around him hasn’t been altered and remains life-size. He can’t find anybody and time appears to have stopped since 1991. However, not all is lost when he unexpectedly teams up with the peculiar Tinykin. Throughout your venture, you will meet a variety of tinykin who use their unique abilities to help Milo reach places and complete objectives, allowing him to find important objects that will ultimately help you build an important piece of equipment to solve the underlying story. Tinykin has been developed by Splashteam and published by tinyBuild, bringing us an explorer’s dream in which you must navigate an ant-sized metropolis, help out the residents, collect various items, and use your soap-board to reach even the most difficult of places in your mission to solve this crazy mystery you have found yourself in.
Most Memorable Moment
There was never any question that the highlight/most memorable moment of Tinykin for me was the actual Tinykin themselves. Everything about them, including their capabilities and appearance, just made me smile for the entirety of the game. Due to how versatile they can be and how they will follow you everywhere you go, it always made me feel like I had a group of friends at my side who would do anything to help me. Colourful, amusing, and supportive companions every step of the way; I was certainly grateful for them in my adventure.
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher. This review is the personal opinion of the writer.
What we Liked!
- Enjoyable story | The story experience of Tinykin was brilliant every second of the way. The enjoyment factor was definitely present as Milo and the Tinykin teamed up to find the necessary components by completing each level’s main story requirements in an attempt to find his way back home and to his companion, Nevus after theorising humans actually came from a different place completely than to Aegis, his home. Not only this but you will also find out more about the insects in the world and help them in their endeavours. I don’t want to spoil the story itself but I can safely say it has ounces of captivating personality to keep you entertained throughout every part of the gameplay.
- Tinykin mechanics | Across the world of Tinykin, you will come across five varieties of actual Tinykin to assist you in different ways when needed. The introductory scenes you watch every time you encounter a new type always succeeded in bringing a smile to my face. You will need these little guys in order to progress each level and usually in extremely large quantities; loved having my little diverse army. I felt a special and unique connection to them because they never stopped helping out Milo. Exploding with red, climbing with green, plus even more capabilities with yellow, blue, and pink got me through and past obstacles that stood in my way. All Tinykin are colour coordinated and counted so you are always informed on how many you have and may need for certain objects.
- Platforming and exploration | Tinykin is a 3D platformer which allows you to explore and take the adventure into your own hands. You can use your soap board to hover/grind around on and soap bubbles to get to those hard-to-reach places when jumping, along with any Tinykin you find along the way. This makes the exploration element heavy but welcomed as although you are ultimately doing very similar objectives on each separate level, the theme and level design give off a fresh feeling, stopping the game from feeling too repetitive. As there are no enemies, there is no combat but there are multiple ways you can experience a poor fate. However, should this happen, you will respawn practically in the same place, making this rather trivial and amusing.
- Delightful visuals | Visuals are important in any video game but Tinykin adds another level of depth to this. The creative appearance of Tinykin definitely resonates with Super Mario 64 and Pikmin, almost like a combination of the two with its own take. As the game is played as a Sci-fi 3D platformer, the appearance I wouldn’t say matches the typical look you would expect but at the same time looks and works perfectly. There are mass amounts of appeal, colourful vibrance, and fun cartoon detail to admire around every corner and lay your eyes upon. Due to Tinykin having bright imagery, there is a positive energy that cannot be ignored, making it a whole bundle of fun.
- Music and sound effects | With there being no voice acting in Tinykin, the audio purely consists of sound effects from various sources and music, changing through each level. The soundtrack that changes and can be heard in every level definitely matches the atmosphere and mood meaning I never got tired of hearing its pleasant tune during my gameplay. With regard to the sound effects, these were amusing and had me giggling multiple times. Whether it was the Tinykin, insects, or environment – they all had a comical effect, adding to the heartiness felt within this miniature civilization.
- Upgradable bubbles | One way Milo moves around in Tinykin is by using soap bubbles, allowing him to glide and float amongst levels to reach different heights and sections; quite a fun concept that I always found myself using. By using them, they diminish until you have landed and then they replenish instantly to be used again and again. You are able to upgrade the number of bubbles you have by finding enough pollen in each level and then speaking to a specific character, rewarding you for your exploration. As there are a handful of quests that can only be completed by obtaining extra bubbles, because of the distance that needs to be reached, it’s always useful to obtain pollen where possible for this purpose.
- Side quests | Along with the main story played in Tinykin, there are a number of optional side quests that can be completed for additional content. These side quests are related to both miscellaneous and collectible achievements that can be earned should you be interested in the full completion. I found them enjoyable to complete and as I finished them along the way, not moving to the next section until they were fulfilled, it allowed me to explore to my heart’s content and play in whichever order I wanted. The quests tend to involve finding specific items for the different characters in order to trade them for rare artefact collectibles. You can also return to any prior areas once completing the game if anything has been missed.
Mixed Feelings
- Minor frame drops | In a handful of areas throughout Tinykin, I did experience some slight frame drops when running around. It was only in the smallest of perimeters but nonetheless, they did slow down and interrupt my gameplay which was very unfortunate to witness. As these were incredibly small, I didn’t feel they were of great importance to mention but considering how smooth and fluent the rest of Tinykin was, I still felt this was worth mentioning. I feel this could easily be patched out depending on how many people experienced this issue but it’s extremely insignificant to the gameplay itself.
What we Disliked
- Shorter than anticipated | Overall, there is much to explore in the world of Tinykin – from the story quests to collectibles. Regrettably, the story was a little on the short side and I would have liked the main story to preferably have more playtime as the main game can be completed in around under six hours. It’s great that Tinykin has optional side quests to allow players to tackle alternative objectives if they want more to do in each unique area but having more depth in the story, maybe more components to collect or more complex tasks to carry out, I feel would have also been worthwhile to bring the story to life and really capture the element of this abnormal colony we’ve come across. Perhaps there will be a sequel in the future that extends our experience; I think it would be positively received by many.
How long to beat the story | Approximately 5-6 Hours
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximately 8-10 Hours
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Hello, I’m Victoria. I’m from the UK and have been playing video games for as long as I can remember; back on DreamCast. I’ve pretty much fallen for Xbox since I was around eight years old and remember BioShock being my first game on the Xbox360. Although I find it thoroughly enjoyable to not only experience gameplay, I also find comfort in getting lost and engrossed in the online worlds that sometimes differ greatly from what we know. Another side of my Xbox passion would be achievement hunting and gamerscore. I thrive when I hear the little sound of one popping up on the screen and I’m always finding ways to work on my backlog when possible. Horror is my favourite genre so if you have any recommendations, don’t be afraid to send them my way!
