I have always been fascinated by the thought of shrinking down to the size of a Monopoly piece and exploring pedestrian areas of my home – I did this daily through the eyes of my action figures as a child. From Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and so many more, it has always been such a fun concept to me. The thought that even the most harmless bugs or an unassuming desk fan could become life ending threats provides an interesting set of stakes, this is exemplified by the Thomas the Tank Engine scene in Ant-Man. Sadly, this is something seldom done in the medium of video games. Enter: Tinykin.
Tinykin allows you to live this fantasy (if you would call it that) in a casual way that provides joy, satisfaction and tranquility in equal measure. I can’t wait to share more in this review, I hope you enjoy, and I hope you consider giving this underappreciated gem a go.
Small packages
In Tinykin, you play an astronaut named Milodane, Milo for short on a mission to uncover the origins of humanity. Now, this may be trivial for a regular-sized astronaut, but Milo is far from this, he is a small man, not in the metaphorical sense, literally a small man. Almost immediately after setting off on his mission, Milo finds himself in a spot of bother, crash landing in a suburban house. With the help of a wise, sage-like bug, you must help Milo assemble an escape craft pieced together by household objects such as tea strainers and kitchen scissors. It’s a charming premise to be sure, invoking feelings I had when playing the Toy Story 2 video game on my chipped Playstation 1 back in the 90s.
Despite the twee set up, the way the tale progresses, whilst not entirely unpredictable, was much darker than I anticipated. I can take or leave this. I was in the mood for a sickly sweet, family-friendly adventure over the holiday break, so I didn’t love the direction the story went in, but this may be subject to change as the January blues begin to set in.
Now, the presentation of Tinykin is awesome. The bright, bold colours look glorious on my newly acquired OLED TV. The funky 2D character designs are all neatly punctuated by a thick dark outline which contrasts nicely when placed against the softer edges in the 3D backdrop. I love this approach to 2.5D, rather than having the character models in 3D against 2D backdrops, flipping this gives Tinykin a more unique personality and isn’t something you often see in the landscape at the moment. I am certain this will begin to change when designers take note of how good it can look when handled properly.
Art direction too is excellent, each of the Tinykin you discover over your 5-6 hour journey have a distinct personality. From the kind-hearted purple Tinykin, the mischievous red explosive Tinykin and the relatable blue Tinykin who have a sleepy demeanor. Milo himself also has a great design. I didn’t love him at first though, brandishing the drip of a Supreme employee, complete with rounded spectacles and a brightly coloured bowl cut. However, Milo didn’t have an air of superiority or make me feel like the most uncool guy on the planet, so I did grow to love him.
Squeaky clean exploration
Let’s start off by stating that Tinykin is, first and foremost, a collectathon. That’s right, we don’t see them often anymore, but when we do, I love it. Much like the semi-recent, but still fantastic A Hat in Time, you are thrust into a wide open space, littered with trinkets to gather and told to snaffle them all up. Those of you coming into this thinking that it may be similar to Pikmin will be disappointed. They are similar in tone and whimsy, sure. However, there is little real-time strategy to be found here, with a focus on platforming and exploration. Luckily for me, I love platformers.
Milo has a few key actions available to him right from the start, however on his own he is not particularly formidable. When paired with a squad of Tinykin though, he is much more capable of exploring the 1990s house he finds himself stranded in. Milo can jump and glide around the area with the use of his soap bubble, and most excitingly he can slide around at great speed by using a bar of soap as a skateboard. Or surfboard? I suppose it is more like surfing than skating, but that isn’t the point. Tinykin increase this moveset further, allowing Milo to build bridges, ladders, and even throw bombs to name but a few.
The exploration and control that you have in Tinykin feels great, even with the two-dimensional characters, there isn’t any confusion about where is safe and not safe to stand – my initial worry upon seeing the art style.
There is also no combat in Tinykin, only exploration which was welcomed for me, and certainly fits the vibe and tone that Splash Team, the developers, were going for. I’d much rather they refined the traversal and exploration, omitting any half-baked combat ideas which could detract from this focus..
Despite the collectathon set up, none of the areas feel too large or daunting to explore, consistently opening up shortcuts in the form of ropes that you can drop to scale vertically, or the silk zip wires provided by bugs to travel laterally. This approachability meant that I was never worried about getting lost, or too terrified of falling when I literally reached the rafters in one room. There would always be a reasonable route to return meaning that it remains laid-back and approachable, through and through.
Changing Rooms
Each area starts by giving you a main objective which must be completed in order to progress, usually by helping out one of the local tribes. Once you have accomplished to required feat, you acquire the macguffin which allows you to move on to the next area.
Each area you’ll explore in Tinykin is based on a room in a typical house. It starts out simple by exploring a narrow corridor. By the end of it however, you will be exploring massive homescapes like greenhouses, play rooms, bathrooms and laundry cupboards. These collection games live or die by fulfilling the urge to explore. I definitely wanted to scour every nook and cranny, peek behind every book case, and investigate every room, skirting board to coving. It was a constant joy to explore this world. You will spend your time helping the silverfish to have a Gatsby-style yacht party in a bathroom sink and preparing bug people for a Hot Wheels style grand prix, complete with loop-the-loops, just to name a couple. It’s lovely, lovely stuff.
In addition to this however, there are side objectives to complete. You can choose to hunt down artifacts from the human world, each named in a reductive, chuckle inducing fashion.
There are also hundreds upon hundreds of pollen particles to collect which act similar to the musical notes in Banjo-Kazooie. These pollen particles are not only out in the open, but seem to be hidden within every breakable object and behind every bookcase. Grabbing all of these is certainly an addictive endeavor. Once you have collected a certain amount in a given area, these can be cashed in for an upgrade to your glide distance, which in turn opens up more new areas.
Finally, there are races to be completed which force you to master the soap surfing, as you make the most of the downward momentum offered by doorstops and other objects with a gradient. These are easily where the most challenge can be found in Tinykin. Despite the challenge, they offer up a ‘just one more try’ incentive, daring you to shave a few more milliseconds off and earn that platinum medal. Once beaten, these races grant access to some new outfits, should you wish to indulge the fashion conscious hornet in your home base.
Final thoughts
Tinykin is a delightful, bite-sized (pun intended) platformer which doesn’t outstay its welcome and scratches that collectathon itch that is becoming increasingly difficult to satiate as we enter 2024. The miniature price point and availability on subscription services also make this an easy recommendation. It is the perfect weekend game, being finished in around 5 hours, it can also serve as a great palette cleanser for those who have recently indulged in some of the more gargantuan titles of last year like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Final Fantasy 16.
It is fitting then, I’ll keep this review a little shorter than normal. Tinykin is good, you should try it.
Lap Full of Crumbs 