Double Fine has long been known for making super creative games. From Psychonauts to last year’s excellent Keeper, they have been at the forefront of bold, creative games. What they aren’t really known for however is multiplayer, so when they announced Kiln earlier this year there was a lot of interest, but also some caution on whether they could pull it off. So have they? the answer is mostly yes.

The premise of Kiln screams Double Fine’s creativity. It is a 4v4 multiplayer brawler where your goal is to fill a pot that you have created with water and run it across the map to quench the other teams Kiln. Do so 3 times and you win the match. While you do this you can attack the other team with your pot to break them and make sure they don’t quench your Kiln.

Before you do any of that you are greeted with a fun little tutorial. The game is very basic in terms of controls, but the tutorial does introduce you to Celadon, the master of ceremonies if you will, and one of the few NPC characters in the game. After the tutorial you are put into a hub world called the Wedge.

The Wedge is where all the magic happens. Here you can find the wheels to create your pots, a shop which you unlock after gaining a few levels, as well as a practice area. Additionally when you are in with other players you can see some of the pots they’ve created and if you like one enough you can hop your spirit into the pot and add it to your collection.

Just Clayin’ Around

Before you head into any actual matches, you are going to want to design your pot. At first you are very limited on what you can create, both in terms of types of pots and the decor of them. The process is simple enough, and if you’ve ever seen a pottery wheel before it is exactly like that in simplified video game form.

First you choose the size of pot you want to make. At first you can only make medium sized pots, but again after just a few levels you can unlock the ability to make small or large pots. With that first decision out of the way you can begin to mold the shape of your pot.

There are 8 different types of pots you can make in the game and each has their own unique ability and purpose. For example a large chalice can hold a ton of water and has a lot of health, however it will be extremely slow and lumber around the map. A small plate won’t hold much water and will have very little health but can whiz around the map at a lightning fast speed.

Once you have your size and type of pot picked out you can then get to decorating it. There is a decent variety of colours you can choose from to glaze your pot as well as give it things like a handle, topper, spout and charm. The more you play the game and level up, the more you options you will get for decorating and how you create your pot.

Overall creating a pot can be a lot of fun and I’ve seen some very creative pots out in the world. Don’t expect to see anything super creative out there made by me, but you can definitely get some pretty cool looking designs if you work at it.

Kiln Me Softly

With your pot ready to go it’s time to head into a match. The matches themselves are, as mentioned, 4v4 brawlers where your objective is to quench the other teams Kiln. You go around finding water filled vases to break and fill your own pot with water and then rush over to try and quench the other teams Kiln while avoiding the enemy.

The combat and gameplay is quite simple. You have a basic attack with X and a special cooldown ability with RB. Each of these attacks are unique depending on what pot you have chosen and they all do feel different which is nice. You can also shoot out any water you have with RT. If you can manage to get to the Kiln with a full pot of water you can hold RT down and unleash a super stream of water and do a lot of Kiln damage.

You can also roll around the map using LT to move faster. Depending on the size of pot you have you may even be able to fit into smaller areas that will help you gain an advantage, or to escape if you are low on health. Rolling will cause you to spill some water though so be careful about rolling if you are looking to hit the Kiln.

The maps, of which there are only 5 at launch, are relatively small and keep the pace frantic. There is always non stop action whether you are trying to rush in for the quench or playing defense. The matches themselves are also quite quick. Most matches I played in were sub 5 minutes and I never had a single match go the full 10.

Each of the maps have their own unique little quirks. Athena’s War Room has been my personal favourite so far. It almost plays like a mini maze with very narrow corridors, and you can strategically shoot water at sponges scattered about the map which will then cause them to grow and block off the paths. This can either trap enemies in for a fight, or keep them away from getting to you as you fill your water or attack their Kiln.

The map Set is just pure chaos as it is extremely small with only 1 spot to get water from. This led to some quick matches and also a lot of fighting. Like I said each map feels unique enough to keep things fresh from match to match.

More Content Needed

Unfortunately for Kiln, it is quite bare bones in terms of content right now. With only 1 match type and 5 maps it likely won’t have very long legs without constant updates. There is no leaderboard for players to see where they stack up or anything like that, so the only real reason to keep playing is to keep unlocking new decorations for your pots.

And while that will be enough for some, most will likely get tired of the same 5 maps and single mode after a few hours. They’ve done a nice job with the achievement list to try and stretch that out, and as an achievement hunter I have been enjoying myself chasing them.

Hopefully Double Fine can add some content quickly and figure out another game mode or two because Kiln is quite fun. If you have younger kids especially I can see this being a fun little multiplayer experience for them without the intensity of a Call of Duty or something like that.

Final Thoughts

Double Fine has created a fun multiplayer experience. Creating your own pots is enjoyable and easy and the gameplay is simple yet effective. Unfortunately the game has very little content at launch with only 1 game mode and 5 maps. Without much reason to progress beyond new cosmetics, the team will need to quickly add content for Kiln to have any staying power. With how fun the game is, here’s hoping they can.

Kiln was reviewed on Xbox Series X. The game released the 23rd of April 2026, on PC, PlayStation 5 and
Xbox Series X/S with the game launching on Xbox Game Pass.