I’m usually the last person to jump into an online-only multiplayer arena. Give me a long campaign over a matchmaking queue any day. But when Double Fine puts its name on something, I take notice. Kiln sounded too weird to ignore. You play as a spirit possessing a clay pot, you literally mold that pot yourself on an in-game wheel, and then you take it into four-on-four battles.
To answer the biggest question right away: Kiln is a wildly creative and genuinely fun brawler that succeeds entirely with its pottery-making premise. However, it currently suffers from a severe lack of content. With only one game mode and five maps at launch, the long-term value is questionable. But does the core gameplay routine justify the asking price right now? Let’s take a closer look.
The Wedge Hub and Crafting Your Ceramic Fighter
The hub world is called The Wedge. This is where you spend your downtime between matches. You walk up to a potter’s wheel and pick a lump of clay. The analog stick controls the clay as you push it up, down, in, and out to form your shape. You can make a vase, a plate, a jug, or a simple cup. I spent a good twenty minutes just messing around with the tools, adding handles and medieval spiked helmets to a tiny teacup.
Your physical design dictates your in-game attributes. A massive chalice has high health and carries a lot of water. It lumbers across the map. A tiny plate moves incredibly fast and can slip through narrow gaps. It shatters after taking a few hits. Once you reach level four you unlock small clay sizes, and level six opens up large ones, giving you the full range beyond the default medium. You can store your three favourite creations on the Top Shelf and swap between them during the respawn screen. If you see someone else walking around The Wedge with a cool design, you can hop your spirit into their vessel and save it to your own collection.
Quenching the Enemy Fire in Four-On-Four Battles
The only game mode available is called Quench. The goal is straightforward. Two teams of four compete to extinguish the opposing team’s flaming kiln. You collect water from pools scattered around the map and drive it to the enemy base. Holding the right trigger with a full vessel unleashes a super stream into the kiln’s mouth. Depleting the kiln’s health bar three times secures the win.
Combat is frantic. You press X to ram opponents and shatter them. Each shape also grants a specific special attack mapped to the right bumper. A large jug rings like a bell to stun nearby enemies. A medium bowl swipes with a sword. A cup shoots a burst of popcorn. I highly recommend jumping into the action and using the left trigger roll to evade incoming attacks. Keep in mind that rolling causes you to spill your carried water. You have to balance speed with resource management.
A Beautiful Art Style Held Back by Limited Content
Double Fine brings its signature cartoon art direction to the arenas. The environments are colourful and packed with mythological hazards. In Dionysus’ Boogie Lounge, spotlights force you to stop and dance if you get caught in them. The foley work is excellent. The sound of wet clay squelching and fired pots clanking across stone floors adds a lot to the overall match.
The major problem is the scope. Five maps and one mode get repetitive fast. Matches usually wrap up in under five minutes. You earn XP and Chips after every round to spend at a shop run by Slip, a blue dog, to unlock new glazes and stickers. There aren’t any leaderboards, and the game doesn’t have single-player options. Once you buy all the cosmetics you want, the motivation to keep playing drops off completely.
Kiln Offers a Fantastic Foundation to Build On
Double Fine clearly knows how to make throwing virtual clay inherently fun. The core routine of shaping a vessel, painting it, and immediately driving it into a wild arena works incredibly well. When you get a lobby full of people who understand how everything works, the back-and-forth fights over the fire are genuinely competitive and hilarious. I had a blast figuring out the physics of a massive jug versus a tiny cup, and seeing the bizarre creations other people brought to the fight never got old.
The problem is you hit the progression wall almost immediately. After you rotate through the five maps a few times and buy the medieval stickers you want from Slip, the drive to keep playing completely stops. Without leaderboards, a ranked mode, or any single-player challenges to tackle, there isn’t anything pulling you back in. It plays more like an incredibly slick demo rather than a fully finished release. You see everything it has to offer in an afternoon.
If you have a group of friends ready to jump in together, there is absolutely enough fun here for a weekend. The creativity on display is undeniably Double Fine. But if you are looking for your next long-term multiplayer obsession, I suggest holding off for a sale or a major content update. Kiln provides an excellent base. I just hope the community sticks around long enough for the developers to add the modes it desperately needs to survive.
Kiln
Summary
Kiln delivers a wildly creative and genuinely fun pottery-brawler premise that Double Fine fans will appreciate. Shaping your own ceramic fighter and taking it into four-on-four battles works incredibly well, supported by excellent art direction and intuitive tools. However, launching with only one game mode, five maps, and zero single-player options severely limits its long-term value. Kiln is absolutely worth playing if you have a group of friends ready for a weekend of laughs, but if you are jumping in alone looking for a lasting multiplayer obsession, you should wait for a sale or major content updates.
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