Kynseed Review – A Pixelated Life Worth Living

The games that use pixelated graphics were never my cup of tea. To be completely honest, if it was up to me, I would never play a single one. And what is the reason for that? You might wonder. Well, simply because graphics mean a lot to me, and the better the game looks, the more I like it. This was my philosophy until I entered this line of work, and many different games started to pile up for reviews.

I vividly remember the moment when I received a code for Sea of Stars, a pixelated adventure I had my reservations about, just because of its looks, and then I realised how good this game actually was. Long story short, I know better now not to judge a book by its cover, and with such a mindset, I approached Kynseed as well. A strange pixelated adventure I knew nothing about before playing it for the first time, and after some internet digging, I found out that this game came out for PC four years ago and that people actually love it. I know now why that is the case.

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Never judge a book by its cover, or a game by its pixels, a lesson I learned all over again with Kynseed.

Story – Life, Death, and Legacy

The story of Kynseed might be the weirdest and most unusual thing I have experienced ever since I played video games, and that time span is not short. You play as a twin (male or female; it is your choice at the beginning of the game), who got adopted by Uncle Bill. After that, you move with your other sibling to Bill's, and there you're given a mystical acorn called Kynseed, which will grow into the tree, whose branches symbolise your decisions throughout the game.

But that's not the weirdest thing here, oh no. Your character leads their life normally, owning land, building their home, getting married, and having kids, but they can also die. And not die like characters die in other video games and then respawn from a previous save or checkpoint, no. Here, death is permanent. What stays forever is Kynseed, which can be inherited by your children and continues your legacy.

I told you, I definitely never experienced anything alike in any video game before, and the best thing is that this actually works pretty well. Since Kynseed is more a fable than a normal story, there are different ways to cheat death and lengthen your life. There is a mysterious character you'll come across in the game (I won't mention when and where to avoid spoilers), who will sell you some rule-bending artefacts, but the price might be too great to pay. It will all be up to you, but the story and its flow are really strange in Kynseed and definitely something worth experiencing. I tell you this firsthand.

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The story of Kynseed is the weirdest and the most original thing I ever experienced in a video game.

Gameplay – A Life Fully Lived

If the story is eccentric and unorthodox in Kynseed, the gameplay will be more 'on the ground', with some elements that can be really impressive. As part of Kynseed's repertoire, you'll be able to do many activities, such as farming, customising your farmhouse, running a business as a blacksmith, apothecary, tavern keeper or goods trader. You'll be able to forge weapons, mix potions, raise a family, and fight off Hob armies threatening the land, all inside the same save file. The game is designed in the 'let's-try-it-all' sort of style, where doing one thing is simply not enough, because why not do everything there is?

The combat in Kynseed deserves special mention because, as with pretty much everything in this game, it is quite strange and requires time to be properly learnt. Battles take place in special locations, and the combat itself is a combination of a hack-and-slash system paired with turn-based positioning-style combat. You have classic weapons at your disposal, including swords for melee and bows for ranged attacks, while dodging and parrying enemy attacks plays an essential role in staying alive. Apart from those, you have pets who can help you during battles and also some charms and items that can turn the tide of the battles in your favour. All in all, the combat in Kynseed is not bad at all, and until you learn its ins and outs, it can be quite difficult.

Relationships are an important part of Kynseed as well, and NPCs will actually remember your choices and interaction with them. You can always give them gifts to grow the relationship meter bigger, but that might work just once; to properly deepen a relationship, you'll have to actively interact with an NPC and do the actual work, which is really commendable for a game of this kind.

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Fishing is one of many activities you'll be able to take part in in Kynseed.

One of the complaints I had, when it comes to the game's very core, is that after your character dies for the first time, and their successors take over their heritage, the entire family tied to that character, apart from the one that inherited Kynseed, gets wiped out entirely as well, meaning no aunts or uncles walking around to interact with. Simply, no relative from the previous era exists anymore. I dug up a bit and found out that some PC players already requested this to be added once the version for consoles comes out, but this version I played has this problem. Will it be added post-launch? It remains to be seen.

The gameplay in Kynseed is really diverse and rarely grows boring. The loop is very intelligent and addictive, which can easily burn tonnes of your free time while playing. Although the story exists and can be followed, the game has so much to offer that you'll definitely be entertained here.

Visuals and Sounds – A Storybook Rendered in Pixels

Although I learnt to tolerate pixelated graphics, this art style still doesn't awaken the same feeling as some gorgeous games with hyper-realistic graphics, but it is just a subjective sentiment after all. To speak objectively, Kynseed looks okay, at least by the standards of pixelated-designed games. What makes Kynseed special and kind of different in a huge pile of pixel art games is an enormous attention to detail. The game has so many items you can collect, from different materials for crafting to different items for all activities you can take part in, and all of them are designed distinctively and with loads of detail.

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Kynseed's visual style is okay, but no more than that.

The world is also very big, featuring different biomes that use different colour palettes. For everyone who appreciates such styles, I'd say the visual presentation in Kynseed is passable. Not the best, not the worst. 'Passable' is a correct assessment.

I played Kynseed on PlayStation 5, and regarding performance, I have no complaints at all. The game runs perfectly at 60 FPS with barely noticeable loading times and very fast area transitions. In Kynseed, you'll move between areas of the same map seamlessly, without loading screens, and those transitions are very quick – two to three seconds max.

Since Kynseed leans heavily into storybook style, the music and soundtrack feel exactly the same. The music that plays during the exploration is soothing and feels like it jumped out from a fairytale. When more intense gameplay hits, including combat and tense situations, the tune changes accordingly. What I can point out as a small nuisance is a constant sound of revealing letters during conversations. Those sounds can be very irritating, and since you'll talk a lot in Kynseed, expect frustration.

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Constant clicking sounds during the conversations are a real nuisance.

Conclusion

Kynseed taught me one important lesson all over again: do not judge a book by its cover, or a game by its pixels, to put it correctly. I stepped into Kynseed with preconceptions and came out with knowledge that even weird and strange can be good when observed and experienced as intended. With so much to do and so many activities to take part in, I never had a dull moment with this game, even though I spent more than thirty hours wandering its world.

However, some cracks do exist in Kynseed, and sadly, they are not negligible. Wiping out the entire family with your dead character is something I couldn't come to terms with. Perhaps not everyone will be bothered by this, but for me, it is a serious issue. The soundtrack is good, and it elevates the atmosphere very well, but the annoying sounds of writing words in dialogues drove me crazy, and I wish the option for turning them entirely existed.

Still, an original story of legacy and being anyone you like to be puts Kynseed pretty high on my list of games I don't love but can tolerate. This one is even higher than that, and I genuinely like it, and if you love strange and original, Kynseed has got you covered.