A fresh look at Splashteam’s adventure platformer
Sometimes, you hear about a game, take a look, come away feeling positive,and put a pin in it. That’s where I was at withTinykin, a critter-flinging insect adventure from Splashteam and TinyBuild that’s building off some of my favorite Nintendo titles —PikminandPaper Mario— in different ways. If you’ve heard ofTinykinbefore, you’ll get where I’m coming from here; if not, this latest story trailer is the perfect jumping-off point. It’s a polished-up package that’s selling meon a gameI thought I was alreadyplentysold on.
Let co-directors Marie Marquet and Romain Claude paint a pint-sized picture:
As they explain in the gameplay-filled trailer,Tinykinis a journey about a shrunken boy, Milo, in a strange land of insects. Unlike Obsidian’sGrounded, though, this isn’t a surprisingly scary survival outing — it’s a more laid-back exploration-platformer vibe.
And those insect designs! They look so crisp and creative. Let’s run through a few.
The orchid mantis aesthetic is top-notch
Even if the visuals were a bit lacking, I’d be pretty into this basic concept of roaming an unfamiliar land while strategically bossing around little pipsqueaks to carve a path forward and return home. But the clean 2D meets detailed enough 3D art direction makes a strong impression. In the tireless war for players’ attention, we’re at a point where good gameplay and good art aren’t enough on their own in so many cases, so it’s nice to see this pairing in a less commonly seen sub-genre. (Here’s to you too,Wild at Heart.)
This isn’t the first or last we’ve heard fromTinykin, but I thought it was worth a refresh.
For more, circle back on theprior gameplay trailer. Splashteam is aiming to releaseTinykinin summer 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
