Kine
- October 19, 2020
- Chump Squad
Get on Steam
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Get on Epic Games Store"Kine is a single-player musical 3D puzzle game featuring three quirky yellow robot dreamers seeking fame. Manipulate and maneuver each character using their unique abilities, and navigate a beautifully designed world filled with over 120 unique puzzles to the beat of an award-winning original soundtrack. Join Kine's musical journey and leave a review to support this tiny team."
Reviews
- The game features an incredible variety of well-thought-out puzzles with unique mechanics that keep the gameplay fresh and engaging.
- The charming characters and delightful jazz soundtrack enhance the overall experience, making it a joy to play.
- The integration of a simple yet effective narrative with the puzzles adds depth to the gameplay, making players feel connected to the characters.
- The controls can be frustrating, particularly when cycling through characters and their limbs, leading to potential mistakes during gameplay.
- Some players found the puzzles to lack depth, feeling more like random trial-and-error rather than requiring strategic thinking.
- The music, while enjoyable, can become repetitive and distracting during longer puzzle sessions, detracting from the overall immersion.
- music47 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its vibrant jazz soundtrack, which complements the charming narrative and quirky characters, who are anthropomorphic musical instruments. However, some players note that the music can become repetitive and distracting during extended puzzle-solving sessions, detracting from the overall experience. Despite this minor flaw, the soundtrack is considered a significant highlight, enhancing the game's creative mechanics and engaging atmosphere.
“The jazzy, funky style of both the art and (of course) the music are the perfect complement for this gem of a game.”
“Beautiful story, beautiful music, and most importantly of all, beautiful design.”
“The characters are super charming, the music is delightful (not to mention dynamic based on the selected character) and the puzzles have all been quite engaging in regards to spatial reasoning.”
“A minor flaw pertains to the music: as invigorating as it is, it's also repetitive due to very short loops, and so can be slightly irritating at times.”
“When you spend over 10 minutes on a puzzle, there just isn't enough variation in the background music here to keep it from getting repetitive and grating.”
“Whereas ambient music takes a backseat to the puzzle solving, the music in this game has too much character to let it meld into the background, but not enough character/variation to keep the same riff you hear over and over from wearing down your nerves.”
- story21 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The story in the game is generally well-received, with players appreciating its charm and how it integrates with the puzzle mechanics, despite being minimal and presented through brief text and character dialogue. While some players noted that the narrative could be easily ignored, many found it to enhance the overall experience, making the game feel more cohesive and engaging. Overall, the combination of a cute storyline, enjoyable characters, and fitting music contributes positively to the game's appeal.
“I absolutely loved how well interconnected and fitting the story is on the various level sets and also how it follows the evolution and the variations on the main puzzle mechanism.”
“The characters and music are lots of fun, it's got a nice story, and it introduces and combines mechanics in pretty creative ways.”
“Beautiful story, beautiful music, and most importantly of all, beautiful design.”
“The story is just little bits of text and whatnot around the beginning/end of levels; you could easily ignore it, but it's a fun little story.”
“If you don't care about story, it never gets in the way or anything, just speech bubbles that pop up a few times per level and you can focus all on the puzzles.”
“There is also a simple story that progresses as you solve puzzles, but it doesn't get in the way of anything.”
- gameplay17 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The gameplay in Kine is praised for its incredible variety of well-crafted puzzles and innovative mechanics that create a satisfying challenge. Players appreciate the integration of character interactions and narrative elements, which enhance the overall experience, although some find the puzzle mechanics less satisfying. The game successfully combines its themes, story, and gameplay, resulting in a polished and engaging puzzle experience.
“Incredible variety and quantity of well thought out puzzles, with tons of interesting mechanics!”
“The way all the mechanics fit together is magical; by the halfway point, I was finishing every level with a smile on my face and in awe of the puzzle design.”
“The multi-character stages are especially interesting due to the differing movement mechanics for each character and how they interplay with each other.”
“Poor gameplay music: there are reasons why puzzle games have very ambient music and not upbeat or swing; it melts into the background and lets puzzle solving take center stage.”
“Some of the puzzle layouts could have been cleaner, but Kine is a first-rate puzzle game that is one of the few to successfully integrate theme, story, and mechanics.”
“While I found the mechanics of each character being able to change their shape in different ways refreshing, they were not ground-breaking.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their impressive quality, featuring a lovely comic book art style and visually refreshing artwork. Players appreciate the solid animations and the overall aesthetic, which complements the upbeat music and enhances the gaming experience. Despite the absence of voice acting, the effort put into the visuals and music is noted as a significant strength of the game.
“The aesthetic and style of the game are top notch.”
“The most impressive thing for me about this game is the visuals.”
“The comic book art-style is lovely.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its humor, featuring self-aware writing that cleverly breaks the fourth wall, alongside funny dialogue that enhances the experience. Players find it both challenging and entertaining, complemented by a great art style and engaging music-based puzzles.
“It is a funny and challenging game.”
“Self-aware writing that breaks the fourth wall in humorous ways.”
“Great music-based puzzle game with a beautiful art style and funny dialogue.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect tedious, particularly in levels featuring all three characters, and many feel they haven't fully mastered the controls by the game's conclusion, leading to ongoing mistakes.
“This is especially tedious when playing levels where all three characters are present, and I can't even say that I fully mastered the controls by the end of the game, as I was still making plenty of mistakes towards the end.”
