In Tinykin you play as Milo, who has found himself on Earth and in a house that has been taken over by ants and insects. Your only way back home is to reconstruct your ship using parts from every room in the house. That means exploring the vast environments, collecting pollen and supplies, solving disputes between factions, and more.
Focus too much on that overall goal though, and you can very easily miss out on some hidden areas, secret spots, cool moments, and quirky characters. Tinykin is filled with these things, and it rewards you kindly for discovering them.
9 The Hallway Light
One area of the house you’ll frequently pass through is the hallway, or the Transidor Crossing. It acts as a bridge between the larger levels and environments, but it has its own areas of exploration, items to collect, and objectives to achieve.
Its transient nature means that you can very easily overlook one of its secret locations. Once you have the ability to go upstairs, if you turn back you can get a good view of a cabinet and a lamp hanging from the ceiling. There is pollen to collect on the cabinet, the plant pot, and the lamp, but it requires plenty of built-up air bubbles to make the journey.
8 Ghasper
Throughout your exploration of the house, you can stumble across hidden locations beneath stairs, dusty recesses in dark corners and small nooks and crannies with secret pollen. Sometimes, you might also bump into Ghasper.
Ghasper is an ant who will jump out and try to spook you. He can be found in every area of the game, except for the main hub. There is also an achievement for meeting Ghasper in every location, and if you do so, you get rewarded with a unique conversation with the mysterious ant.
7 The Forbidden Tunnel
In the kitchen level of Tinykin, there is a tough to reach location that only becomes necessary during one of that level’s side missions. The Forbidden Tunnel is located near the ceiling and requires a lot of green Tinykin to boost you up, as well as ample bubbles to make the flight to it.
Once you reach the entrance to the tunnel, things get a little easier. A series of tunnels made from the pipes requires you to surf across a tight rope to collect your reward. Once at the finish line you receive a ring, and you can complete the objective.
6 Haus M.D.
Once you have access to the upper floor of the house, you can find a small hospital where a doctor is seeing to a patient. The doctor is named Haus, and the patient is named Addler. Nearby are his nurses, named Forgot and Cameround. These are all references to the TV show and characters of House MD.
Additionally, if you observe their conversation there is another reference to House MD. The doctor is debating the patient’s condition and insists that ‘It’s never Lupus,’ a statement relating to a recurring gag in the TV show.
5 The Washing Machine
The Bathroom level is one of the trickiest in the game because it is split into two rooms, divided by a door that is initially shut. Once you reach the second room, where the level opens up more and its many locales are revealed, you can spot the washing machine.
You can use the washing machine by first finding a dirty teddy bear beneath the bath cabinets, and then clearing a path for your Tinykin to carry it to the machine. You can then turn on the machine by mounting a tree of green Tinykin and jumping over to the machine button. At that point, the machine does the rest of the work.
4 Titanic Love
In the bathroom level, which is divided by a door, you can take on a side mission that has you trying to reunite a pair of lovers. To do this, you have to first find where they are located. The first is located in the far corner of the initial room, surrounded by toilet roll. They’ll ask you to take a gift to their lover in the next room.
Once you open the door, you can instruct your Tinykin to carry the present to the lover. They’ll take you right to them, and in turn the lover will have a gift to return. What’s most interesting about this are the names of the lovers. Jack and Rose are a reference to the main characters in the blockbuster movie, Titanic.
3 Under The Sea
Also in the bathroom level of the game, you can come upon a restaurant called The Squishy Crab. There, you can observe an argument between the trio of owners and another bug called Tonplank. The owners of the restaurant are called McCrabs, Robb and Squiddo.
These names and the name of the establishment are all references to, and parodies of, the animated TV show, Spongebob Squarepants. The Squishy Crab is based on the Krusty Krab, and it is run my Mr. Krabs, with Patrick and Squidward employees of the diner.
2 Avatar
Spongebob Squarepants and House MD. are not the only TV shows referenced in Tinykin. If you venture to the bar in Celerion Park, the upstairs bedroom, you can find two wasps named Hiro and Zucco. There, you can eavesdrop on their conversation.
Having been banished by the Red Clan, Zucco is feeling down and is complaining about his loss of honor. Hiro is attempting to cheer him up with an offer of some Jasmine Tea. The names of the wasps and the scenario are all references to the animated TV show, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
1 The Secret Room
Throughout Milo’s journey in Tinykin, he starts to make a name for himself. The citizens of each area mingle and talk and spread word of Milo’s adventures and achievements. This means that by the time you reach the final level, Milo is sort of a celebrity.
In the arcade of that level, you can throw a Tinykin at a playing card on the wall. Doing this opens a gate on the floor above. Once inside, you can jump and climb your way to the top of what is essentially a Milo museum. Whether it’s cool or creepy is up to you to decide.
