By Fletcher Wilkinson When Double Fine Productions revealed Kiln during Xbox Developer Direct back in January, I think most people had the exact same reaction: what exactly is this? A 4v4 multiplayer game centred around creating pottery and using it to destroy enemy kilns sounds completely ridiculous on paper, yet somehow it works far better than anyone could have expected. After spending more than 10 hours with the game in just over 24 hours since launch and playing over 50 matches, I’ve come away genuinely surprised by how much fun I’ve had with it.
There’s a fantastic foundation here. Kiln feels creative, refreshingly different and packed with the kind of charm you would expect from Double Fine. At the same time, it also feels like a multiplayer game that launched a little too early, with limited content and progression systems that currently struggle to maintain long-term momentum.
At its core, Kiln feels like exactly the kind of bizarre idea only Double Fine Productions could bring to life. This is the same studio responsible for Brutal Legend and Stacking, so perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked that they’ve somehow made competitive pottery combat feel like a legitimate multiplayer concept.
Before every match, players create their own ceramic fighter by physically shaping their own pottery. You can create bowls, kettles, vases, plates or whatever chaotic design your imagination comes up with. As you’d probably expect from an online game, some players are already pushing that creativity in questionable directions, although thankfully there’s a filter for anyone who would rather avoid some of the more immature creations floating around online. Naturally, I left that disabled for entirely professional review purposes.
What makes this system genuinely impressive is that your pottery design directly affects gameplay. Smaller builds move faster and can become incredibly difficult to catch, but they sacrifice durability and water capacity. Larger builds are significantly slower but can absorb more damage, carry larger amounts of water and hit harder during combat. Medium-sized builds feel like a comfortable balance between both extremes. It adds far more strategy than I expected because you are not simply creating something that looks amusing, you are building a character that actively changes how you approach matches.
Once your design is complete, you can customise it further with colours, glazes, handles, spouts and additional cosmetic details before firing it. There’s a surprising amount of authenticity to the pottery process itself, and it helps sell the game’s bizarre premise. Players are then dropped into a small social hub where they can interact with others, visit the shop and continue creating new designs. There’s also a small character called Potty who can be attacked once per day for bonus XP, which feels unnecessarily cruel but remains difficult to ignore when free rewards are involved.
The biggest surprise in Kiln is just how enjoyable the actual gameplay loop is. The main mode currently available is called Quench, where two teams of four battle across various arenas while attempting to extinguish the opposing team’s kiln before losing their own.
While the objective sounds straightforward, matches quickly become far more strategic than expected. Players constantly balance collecting water resources, defending their own kiln and coordinating offensive pushes toward enemy territory. At times, the game almost feels like a simplified multiplayer online battle arena experience because every match creates constant decisions about whether you should defend, attack or gather resources.
The pottery classes help keep matches interesting as well. Smaller builds can navigate tighter spaces and flank enemies more effectively, while larger builds excel at controlling objectives and gathering resources quickly. Having multiple builds prepared for different maps and team compositions becomes increasingly important as you spend more time with the game.
One of the strongest mechanics involves attacking enemy kilns. Players can throw smaller amounts of water at opposing kilns for consistent damage, but fully filling your water meter allows you to unleash a much larger attack that deals significant damage. The risk is that you become completely vulnerable while charging the attack, and if opponents interrupt you, all of that progress is lost. It creates some genuinely tense moments and adds a satisfying risk-versus-reward dynamic.
While the gameplay loop remains enjoyable, the combat itself feels noticeably more limited after extended play sessions. Players have access to a standard combo attack, a jump attack and a special ability, but that’s largely where the combat depth ends.
Much of the variety comes from experimenting with different pottery builds rather than mastering an evolving combat system. For casual players this simplicity may actually work in the game’s favour because it makes matches immediately accessible, but after around 10 hours I started noticing repetition beginning to creep in. I was still enjoying myself, but I could also feel the game needing more mechanical depth to maintain long-term interest.
The biggest issue facing Kiln right now is simply a lack of content. Launching with only five maps and a single game mode feels extremely limited for a multiplayer-focused release in 2026.
Even while enjoying the core gameplay, I regularly found myself asking what else the game had to offer after extended sessions. That’s particularly frustrating because the foundation here feels genuinely strong enough to support much more variety. New maps, additional game modes and more gameplay modifiers could significantly improve long-term replayability.
The progression system also feels underwhelming. Players unlock cosmetics, pottery tools and additional creative options as they level up, which fits the overall theme well, but XP progression slows dramatically after level 15 and the in-game currency economy feels slightly restrictive. Daily challenges, weekly objectives and more meaningful progression milestones would go a long way in keeping players invested.
Kiln is one of the strangest multiplayer concepts I’ve seen in years, yet it’s also one of the most surprisingly enjoyable. Double Fine Productions deserves credit for creating something that feels genuinely original in an increasingly crowded multiplayer market.
The pottery creation system is fantastic, the core gameplay loop is far more addictive than it initially appears and the game’s charm shines throughout. Right now though, it feels like a strong foundation rather than a fully realised multiplayer experience.
If Double Fine continues supporting the game with meaningful post-launch content, Kiln could develop a very loyal community over time. For now, especially for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, this is absolutely worth trying with friends.
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