Kiln review: a smashing pottery brawler with bright ideas

Inspired by the real world of pottery, the brawler Kiln was clearly developed with loving hands. From its colourful aesthetic to its thoughtful pot-making mini-game, there are so many touches here that make it thoroughly unique.

This is a game that brims with bright, fun ideas about creativity. In a crowd of other multiplayer gaming experiences, it stands out on its artistic merits and tone, with its smash-mouth creation-and-destruction gameplay providing plenty of reasons to dive in.

Like other games in the multiplayer genre though, Kiln does also have its own challenges and frustrations.

Kiln pairs brawling combat with light touches of strategy

To begin your time with Kiln, you’re invited to create your very own pot, with its shape and size determining its designation, how much water it can hold, as well as its special abilities. There are ample opportunities for customisation, with players able to create any shape, add in special features, glaze it and sticker it. Each set pot type also has its own personality, such as sassy, scared or plucky, making them feel like their own characters.

Pairing up with three other pots, controlled by other players in online matches, your goal is to douse the enemy team’s kiln. To do so, you’ll need to fill your pot with water, and then blast it into their kiln’s furnace. In theory, the practice is simple: you run across various stages collecting water, then you run over to the open flame and spill out your guts.

But of course, it’s not so easy because you’re also contending with enemy teams that can smash you, crack you and shoot you to pieces. What typically results is lovely high chaos, as you’re attempting to get past pot guards, break their defences, or otherwise sneak past to shower the enemy kiln with water.

You have an array of abilities you can use, depending on your pot shape. Some pots have magical swords that sweep out in a wide arc. Others have access to a popcorn blast, a defensive chick summon that lays explosive eggs, a spiked club, and more.

Depending on the strategy of your enemy team, you may find yourself on the receiving end of any of these weapons, as you frantically attempt to save a match or otherwise defend yourself.

An equal-opportunity brawler

What makes the chaos of being slammed and smashed so fun is that it’s all equal opportunity. Kiln has been designed to be friendly to new players, with anyone able to hop into matches and get relatively the same experience as a more tenured player.

While you do level up, this mostly just unlocks cosmetic features, as well as the option to create larger clay vessels – holding greater water but easier to smash.

Heading into rounds is a blast thanks to that focus on approachability. There are no complex skill trees to learn, or really anything that would allow you to frog-leap your opponents (or be frog-leaped).

Instead, it’s all about good, clean, smashing fun. Simply head in, run for the nearest water vessel – or stay behind to defend your kiln – and you’re off to the races. You’ll likely get smashed at least once before the round is through, but with an easy load-in, you can return, make an impact on the battlefield and continue your quest for glory.

In rounds so far, my wins and losses have been equal, and neither takes away from the thrill of gameplay. If you do win, it’s simply an added bonus to gameplay that feels light-hearted and ultra-fun, in a way that keeps you coming back for more.

Variety is lacking but will hopefully improve with time

The only real obstacle to diving deeply into Kiln, and perhaps to having it thrive as an online multiplayer experience, is a lack of variety in stages and game modes so far.

We know there are plans for Kiln to expand in future, as shared by developer Double Fine Productions in a recent interview with ScreenHub.

For now, the array of stages is perfectly fine, but after hours with the game, the repetition does grate. You’ll be trundling around the same stages within even a few hours of play. While that does allow for strategy building, as you can become quickly familiar with the quirks of each location, where the water is located, and how best to make a run for an enemy’s kiln, a bit more variety would be appreciated.

Likewise, the game would benefit from additional modes to shake up gameplay, if only to expand on the core themes and allow for deeper engagement. As it stands, you can experience most of what Kiln has to offer very swiftly, and at that point it becomes more about building and refining your strategy than discovering anything new.

Hopefully, Kiln will get the chance to reach this next step with the support of its player base. But it’s worth noting first impressions are heavily weighted in the modern era of gaming. As it stands, reception to Kiln so far has been relatively positive, but with similar themes emerging in criticism from players – that there isn’t enough variety, and that a relatively small player base makes it hard to see growth in its future.

Anecdotally, matches in Kiln currently take between two to three minutes to find – which is fine, but it’s possible that wait becomes longer as existing players dive in, see everything they can, and turn to other online gaming experiences that are perhaps more fruitful.

Kiln deserves a chance to go further. It’s got incredibly novel, cool ideas about character building in its menagerie of quirky pots, along with a customisation system that feels tactile and very creative. Even lacking variety, there’s explosive charm in its gameplay and a sense of moreishness that some competitors lack.

The world of multiplayer gaming, particularly in 2026, can be brutal. Here’s to hoping Kiln can survive the fire and come out stronger on the other side.

A code for Kiln was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.

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