Tinykin - 3D platforming with a soul

[geldra]

12 hours ago, DarkCrisis said:

Anyone got this on Switch? How does it run compared to other platforms?

There’s a demo you can download. 
 

I had a quick go (literally the 1st room). Seemed fine to me. Obvs not 60fps or anything. 

[thesnwmn]

Polished off the main story in this tonight playing through the last two levels. It continues to be good fun without ever presenting a challenge. I'd done all the artifacts and got all the bubbles as I went through the game without too much issue. Just enjoying exploring the world.

 

Still a bit more to mop up in terms of achievements which I think I'll do tomorrow evening because it's just good fun mechanically. The only ones I guess I might skip are the pollen ones. It might just be w chore finding the few I'm missing in each level.

[jon_cybernet]

Really loved this. Think they need to give you a pollen detector post-credits to help you mop up though, like Psychonauts 2 did. 

[Garwoofoo]

I think the fact there is no challenge is my favourite thing about this game. It's just exploration really. Mentally mapping out each room and finding all the little hidden areas is satisfying in itself.

[earlymodernsteve]

3 hours ago, jon_cybernet said:

Really loved this. Think they need to give you a pollen detector post-credits to help you mop up though, like Psychonauts 2 did. 

 

I resorted to a couple of YouTube videos for some really well hidden bits but actually enjoyed searching the corners of the levels for most of them. Agree that an optional hint would be good though.

[thesnwmn]

Polished off all the achievements. Didn't find grabbing the remaining pollen or Tinykins too bad in the end. Although being back on the early levels without the green Tinykins really slows your exploration.

 

A delightful experience overall. Reminds me a lot of Psychonaughts 2 in terms of just being a fun place to explore with some not too challenging puzzles. This is easier but similar vibes.

 

More of this please developers 

[DarkCrisis]

Put about 3hrs into this on PS5 so far and I’m really enjoying it.

 

Great mix of platforming and Pikmin mechanics which I have found super relaxing to play.

 

Hopefully the game is a success as I would love more of the same in the future.

[the_debaser]

Started this. It’s a bit wank, much in the vein of Psychonauts. 

[Majora]

I really enjoyed this. Not enough to scour every level for every last bit of pollen, but enough to do all the optional objectives. The dialogue is pretty rubbish so I just tended to skip it but everything else was really well done. Good 3D indie platformers are rare because the controls and camera are so much harder to pull off well than 2D platformers. This is one of the only good ones I've ever played I think. 

 

Don't totally see the Psychonauts comparisons myself (and honestly, I liked this better than both Psychonauts 1 and 2 )

[alex3d]

Also enjoying it more than Psychonauts. It's super relaxing.

[Rayn]

I think this could've ended up as an instant classic if it only had more focus on the story and a bit more presense from the main character(s). While I loved the game and its mechanics I never really cared about the main dude or the end goal, I was simply enjoying the game with my brain turned off. 

 

 

  

[thesnwmn]

1 hour ago, Rayn said:

I think this could've ended up as an instant classic if it only had more focus on the story and a bit more presense from the main character(s). While I loved the game and its mechanics I never really cared about the main dude or the end goal, I was simply enjoying the game with my brain turned off. 

 

I see its thin story as a bonus. The attempts to make simple and fun games mean something or tell amazing stories simply bloats them. I don't need to feel something to collect stuff around a level. I just need it to be mechanically superb.

 

I wanted my brain engaged id hope for a more puzzling challenge. Or some tougher sections (although very glad there weren't any myself).

[Paulando]

Not every game needs a story. I’m fed of of terrible stories shoe-horned into games when they have no right to be. Give me some really good gameplay and level design over any story.

[Garwoofoo]

2 hours ago, Paulando said:

Not every game needs a story. I’m fed of of terrible stories shoe-horned into games when they have no right to be. Give me some really good gameplay and level design over any story.

 

Completely agree, which is why it's a bit of a shame that Tinykin seemed so enamoured of its story. There are lots of bits where you're expected to stop and talk to the various characters that inhabit the game world (there's often no way of finding the various sub-objectives unless you do so) and they're all very dull.

 

I didn't even understand the ending, which shows the impact the story had had on me.

 

Still a great game of course and the environments are lovely but I do think the story and characters could have used some more work.

[Majora]

1 hour ago, Garwoofoo said:

I didn't even understand the ending, which shows the impact the story had had on me.

 

 

Haha, same. Tinykin does actually try to make something of its story towards the end but I was just confused. Perhaps because I didn't really pay any attention during the intro but it really seemed to be reaching for something emotional and it had no impact on me at all. 

 

Didn't detract from the game at all but there is actually a fair bit of dialogue in the game and it's pretty ropey.

[Lochenvar]

1 hour ago, Majora said:

Perhaps because I didn't really pay any attention during the intro but it really seemed to be reaching for something emotional and it had no impact on me at all.

 

No, I was paying attention to it and I still didn't understand the ending at all. I'd be interested to know if it made more sense in French and was just poorly translated.

[metallicfrodo]

I think the ending made sense, in that I could understand what was going on. However I don't think it added anything to the game at all, it just felt very very tacked on. I don't think it detracted from what was generally a lovely game though, just added ten minutes or so to the ending.

 

So in general a really nice exprience to play though, nice and chill and well put together. Also +1 for having no requirement for violence in it at all.

[alex3d]

Finished it. Ending was weird and abrupt, but overall a super relaxing game. 

[Mogster]

I played through the first couple of areas today after listening to the glowing TCGS chat from last week. It's turned out to be a perfect podcast game, which is great as I have a lot of catching up to do, but otherwise I've been a little disappointed with it so far.

 

That's probably a bit unfair though as it's very well designed, but also so frictionless that I found my brain had basically switched off after a while. I don't even know what the game could do differently that would improve the experience for me, as adding combat for instance would probably be really irritating.

 

It's fun enough though, and like I said it's a perfect game to play while listening to a podcast, but I was hoping for a bit more.

[Quest]

3 hours ago, Mogster said:

so frictionless that I found my brain had basically switched off after a while.

 

This is exactly how I described it to a friend. It makes the whole game very forgettable.

 

It just runs out of meaningful new ideas well before the halfway point and there's almost no escalation in what the levels are asking of you. The last level is essentially the same experience as the first, only bigger.

[thesnwmn]

I'd argue its biggest mistake are the green Tinykins that build a ladder. Once you've experienced them doing any level without them feels very slow to navigate.

 

The lack of escalation never really bothered me. If it was much longer than maybe. But for me it was sub-10 hours to 100% it. At that length even a game which has shown all of its mechanics by hour 2 or 3 didn't outstay it's welcome (particularly as I'd finished the story by about hour 6).

 

[Count Buffalos]

It’s sort of a big load of nothing isn’t it?

[Benny]

This is the videogame equivalent of Valium.

 

I've played it for an hour and I'm bored out of my skull unfortunately. It's like my brain is turning to mush.

[Benny]

It probably doesn't help that it's the first game in a long time that has given me motion sickness. No idea why, probably the way the camera is tied directly to the 2D character or something.

[spatular]

Cant really argue with people saying theres not much to it, the platforming/pikmining/puzzling is all pretty basic. exploration is pretty fun, and i really enjoyed it anyway.

[Unofficial Who]

I loved this. Played it on PC so it was super smooth (playing at 1080, my eyes don't need 4K). I've always wanted to get into Pikmin style games but have always been frustrated by the risk/time limit, neither of which is a thing here. Two things I loved about this, the movement was super smooth and slick and the level design was quite clever in that you might spend ages climbing somewhere out of the way and then you'll be given the option to create a rope or silk line shortcut to make getting back up there a breeze.

 

 

[thesnwmn]

41 minutes ago, Unofficial Who said:

I loved this. Played it on PC so it was super smooth (playing at 1080, my eyes don't need 4K). I've always wanted to get into Pikmin style games but have always been frustrated by the risk/time limit, neither of which is a thing here. Two things I loved about this, the movement was super smooth and slick and the level design was quite clever in that you might spend ages climbing somewhere out of the way and then you'll be given the option to create a rope or silk line shortcut to make getting back up there a breeze.

 

 

That time limit is what I've hated about Pikmin. A fun toybox of a game which just doesn't need any of that in my opinion. Hope they rectify that for 4.

[marcus]

At times on the Xbox Series X the framerate goes to crap.  I also really enjoy this, its great to play a game thats instantly playable and chilled.  

[thesnwmn]

Just now, marcus said:

At times on the Xbox Series X the framerate goes to crap.  I also really enjoy this, its great to play a game thats instantly playable and chilled.  

 

It performs terribly when on or near the wooly rugs and things. Which is annoying and s bit inexcusable. Like level 1 does it. Should have been spotted very quickly.

[Isaac]

Loved this. Completely understand the criticisms about it not being challenging at all, but that was totally fine for me.

 

Like a gaming comfort blanket. Sometimes you just need a chilled 3D platformer to explore, and this hit the spot perfectly.