noboners

I need to preface all this with saying I haven't beaten the game yet, but feel far enough to still voice my opinions: I think this game started off really solid, and the combat was reminding me a little bit like Guacamelee (a series I love), but I found the bosses too difficult and the pacing felt a little off with longer moments of running through the town to know the setup before some kinda boring "dungeon" areas.

I found the combat to be really fun during normal encounters, but 2 of the 3 bosses I faced felt like tedious slogs. And the dungeons themselves felt a little boring with some bad feeling platforming sections. I dunno if it was just me, but I never got used to the jump in this game and especially never got used to the air dodge to get through hazards. At least the checkpointing was pretty generous.

All in all, I'd probably give this a 2/5 but would still recommend it to someone with gamepass who likes Metroid style games.

@bionicjoe: they haven't confirmed if the vouchers are something that will stay moving forward, but these vouchers are good for most 2023 purchases and I'd assume it would cover every first party game.

I think the vouchers are definitely worth it. It shouldn't be hard to find 2 full priced games to use it on, and with tears of the kingdom already costing $70, any other game over $30 means you're saving money.

But if you don't think you'll buy another switch game this year, don't bother. Just swallow the $70 pill (if willing).

1. I think it's finally time for Coffee Talk

2. Somerville

@bisonhero: it had a pretty big marketing push in the middle of January where most major video game publication (IGN, RPS, Gamespot, Digital Trends) ran a preview on the game after playing some hours of it. I watched several videos on it and this is just now the first I'm hearing about these ties to the Russian government.

I did originally think the gameplay looked fun, but this news is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Went back in and finished this last night. I, too, realized I did not pay attention to the story at all when you're introduced to that guy in the attic. This was just an easy collectible game for me, where everything I did gave me some sort of dopamine hit.

And I did almost everything in the game. Missed 3 tinykins on the kitchen level, and 13 on the kids bedroom at the end, but got everything else. Part of me wants to go find those final kin, but without an easy way to know where they would even be, I probably won't.

Thanks for sharing this information. I've been watching his Sunday shows recently to make up for the lack of Pit on the site and kept forgetting to ask the chat there if they knew anything.

Thanks for this write up. Honestly, the only thing keeping me from reinstalling is the massive file size. But with limited time to game nowadays, I have to ask, can you save and exit at all mid mission? Like, not to save scum but to just go do something else. I figure you can at least save when you're at the base between missions.

This is a huge bummer. Rumbleverse was one of the only Battle Royales that I could hold my own in, but also that I was never that upset about when I lost. It's also one of the only games that I've bothered saving clips from. I'm glad I'll have those memories, but the fact that it didn't even get a year to grow is just depressing.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this game like I had planned to this weekend. I am on the kitchen level, and loving the gameplay of it, but the sneak launch of Hi Fi RUSH took over my weekend and I played several hours of that instead.

But I really like Tinykin. As an avid fan of these collectathon platformers, I fell in love with it almost immediately. It does such a good job of constantly leading you to its collectibles or breadcrumbing you around each self-contained room. The puzzles haven't been overly complicated or obtuse, and I only rarely haven't had the tools needed to solve something right then and there.

I think the reason I haven't completed it is because I wouldn't move on from a zone unless I found everything in it. So some levels I beat easily in one sitting, and others I spent 45 minutes looking for the final 3 pollen bits I missed. If only there had been a way to highlight the collectibles you are missing (or at least which region they are in) to speed up that process, because, yeah, the final bits can be a real pain.

All in all, this gets a solid 4/5 from me unless the final level and a half introduces some wild mechanic like a boss fight that doesn't make any sense or something.

(edited for typos)