Tinykin beginner’s guide: 5 tips and tricks

Tinykin is an adorable 3D platformer that’s a quirky mash-up of Pikmin, Paper Mario, and Banjo Kazooie. The game revolves around Milo, a diminutive adventurer that’s searching for a way back home, unraveling a series of mysteries and helping a colorful cast of characters along the way. It’s an incredibly family-friendly game, although some of its nuances are a bit challenging to pick up.

If you’re looking to make the most of your time with Tinykin, here are a few beginner tips to get you started. This includes making liberal use of your soapboard, chatting up the locals, and searching for all that elusive Pollen.

Further reading

Throw your Tinykin everywhere

It should come as no surprise, but the eponymous Tinykin are the heart of this experience. You’ll slowly unlock more as you travel to new locations, each one offering a unique ability such as the power to move heavy objects or the stackability to turn into living ladders. Tinykin are color-coded based on their skills, and objects they can interact with in the environment will have a faint outline of the same color. So, if you’re unsure of where to go or what to do next, look for an object with a colored outline, since it’s probably something important.

Explore every inch of every map

Tinykin gives you little instruction as to how to accomplish your goals. You might be given the vague task of “collecting a component,” but there’s no quest marker pointing your way (and your barebones mission tracker isn’t much help either). While that makes your job a bit more challenging, things quickly fall into place as you explore each location. Most locations feature a few focal points that are locked away until you collect enough Tinykin to access them. Exploring every inch of the map will not only help you pinpoint where to focus your attention but will also help you find enough Tinykin to complete your mission. Be sure to check every angle too, as Tinykin are often hiding in nooks and crannies that are easy to miss if you’re just running by.

Chat with every NPC

Speaking of quests, many of these often require you to chat with a nearby NPC, but the game won’t come out and explicitly state this. One early mission, for example, is made significantly easier after chatting up two NPCs on opposite sides of the map. NPCs give better instructions than what you’ll find in your journal, so don’t be afraid to slow down and talk with everyone in sight.

Don’t forget about Pollen

Pollen is one of the primary collectibles in Tinykin. It can be found on every map in the form of glowing gold orbs, and going out of your way to collect the goop is more than worth the effort. Collect enough, and you can upgrade your Bubble Glider by talking with Sikaru at your home base. The more Pollen you collect, the longer you’ll be able to float around with your glider. And because falling from extreme heights will cause damage, it never hurts to have a few extra seconds of hangtime in your pocket.

The Soapboard is your friend

The Soapboard is introduced within your first few minutes of playing Tinykin, but it’s easy to forget it exists. This quirky piece of equipment is great for riding silk strands and accessing new locations, although savvy players will use it as their main method of transportation. Riding your Soapboard on the ground is much faster than simply walking. Better yet, you can ride it down ramps to gain incredible speed and propel yourself across the map in record time. If you’re tired of slowly trekking across Tinykin’s massive levels, make sure to whip out that Soapboard as often as possible.

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