You can always count on Pyschonauts studio Double Fine to do something unexpected, and hot off last year’s fantastical lighthouse adventure, the team’s unveiled its latest oddity, Kiln: a pottery themed party brawler that’s making its way to Xbox Series X/S, PC, Game Pass, and PS5 sometime this “spring”.
In Kiln, players – in the role of a tiny spirit – must first create a pot from scratch before they’re able to inhabit it, using an “easy and accessible” control scheme to quickly mould a lump of clay into the pot of their dreams. The idea is the shape and size of the pot they create will impact their abilities in the team-based multiplayer portion of the game.
In order to keep things balance, pots sizes are limited to one of three weight classes: little pots are fast, while big pots are slow, with medium pots sitting somewhere in between. Additionally, Kiln features eight available shapes – including bottles, cups, and bowls – each with a unique special move, basic attack, and air attack. Cylinders, for instance, can slam the ground hammer-style, which plates can trick-shot and ricochet off enemies. And on top of those basic building blocks, pots can be personalised with glazes, patterns, stickers, and handles before going in the oven.
From there, it’s off to The Wedge, which serves as a social hub for players between matches, and when it’s time for battle to commence, participants can choose between a variety of modes and obstacle-strewn maps, the latter all being inspired by ancient Greek or ancient Egyptian gods. At launch, Quench mode will be the focus, challenging two teams of four to jostle across the play space and put out their opponent’s Kiln while protecting their own. That’s where pot size becomes relevant again, given a pot’s capacity determines how much water they can hold – although, as explained over on Xbox Wire, greater capacity is balanced by less health.
And once a battle is over and a victor has been secured, it’s back to The Wedge, where players can use their winnings to purchase the likes of trinkets and stickers to decorate their pots in the in-game store.
If that’s got your curiosity piqued, you’ll be able to fire up Kiln when it launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC (including Steam), and Game Pass this “spring”.
