XBOX |OT|

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ice said:

After 30 hours of Kiln, I figure I'll do a review.

Welcome to Double Fine's newest title "Kiln", a class based brawler where you inhabit various pots with a spirit with one goal in mind, to extinguish the enemies Kiln. Right off the bat you are greeted with Double Fine's signature charm with it's cutesy cartoon visuals and humor and thrown into a tutorial. The tutorial does a good job teaching the mechanics of the game. Once you make it to the hub world you can create your own pots, meet with other players, and start matchmaking.

Quickly you'll realize that aside from unlocking decorations and different clay sizes/tools (that you unlock early on), there isn't really much to work towards in this game. No true progression system, No career missions, nothing to really keep players engaged. The true star of the game is the actual pot making process where you can create different shapes and sizes, there's 8 different shapes that determine your skill move. The wider and taller the pot the more water it can carry and the less health it has and vice versa. It can also determine how fast you are for an example small pots are the fastest but also have the lowest health but they also have some advantages on maps where they are the only ones able to access a certain path. For the most part, this class based system seems fairly balanced.

My biggest gripe is there isn't much depth to it, there's only a standard basic attack, ground slam attack, and your special move. All of these are determined by your shape and size. There's no ability customization at all, which makes combat feel basic and stale at times. Having so many shapes and sizes in a match also can make for some very clunky gameplay around the maps, bigger pots unable to fit through main entries or the bottle type being unable to roll through a lot of places and blocking the path for everyone. Another issue is that there is only one game mode (Quench), launching with one game mode and 5 maps for a MP only game is severely lacking. They have a roadmap announced where they hint at more ways to play but will this game last till fall?

The Hub world also feels a little barren, there's the wheels to craft your pots, a shop, a place to start matchmaking, and a very basic training area. The saving grace is being able to see other people's creations and trading pots in the same server otherwise like everything else it leaves much to be desired. Despite all the complaints I did have a fun time with the game, I see the vision DF had for it, I just wish it spent a little more time in the Kiln.

+ Pot Creation

+ DH Charm

- Needs more content

- Would like more depth in combat

6.9/10

This game was trash, fuck you for playing without me.