Kiln: How Double Fine is Blending Pottery Creation with Chaotic Multiplayer Mayhem

What if your greatest weapon in a team brawl was a piece of art you made yourself? Double Fine Productions' Kiln asks exactly that, smashing the serene craft of pottery into the frenetic chaos of a party brawler.

Announced during the Xbox Developer Direct in January 2024, with a release slated for Spring 2026, Kiln presents a delightful paradox: the meditative art of pottery collides with the frantic energy of a team-based brawler. This isn't just a game about making a pot and then fighting with it; it's a game where how you make your pot fundamentally defines your role on the battlefield. Double Fine's latest innovation tasks players with first sculpting their weapon on a virtual wheel, then leaping into 4v4 battles where form and function collide. Let's dive into the clay to see how this unique fusion of creativity and competition is being forged.

From Clay to Combat: The Creative Core of Kiln

At its heart, Kiln operates on an elegantly simple, two-phase loop: create, then compete. The journey begins at the potter's wheel, where players are given an accessible suite of digital tools—sponges, shapers, and scrapers—to mold a lump of virtual clay into a unique vessel. Double Fine has emphasized an intuitive control scheme, ensuring the barrier to artistic entry is low. This isn't a punishing pottery simulator; it's a creative sandbox designed for playful experimentation.

However, every artistic decision carries strategic weight. The game's core genius lies in the direct link between a pot's physical properties and its combat capabilities. The shape, size, and amount of clay used automatically slot your creation into one of three weight classes—Small, Medium, or Large—which in turn dictate core attributes like speed, durability, and, crucially, water capacity. In Kiln, your art is literally your stat sheet. This transforms the creative phase from mere cosmetic customization into a vital session of pre-match loadout configuration, where aesthetics and armament are one and the same.

Strategic Sculpting: How Your Pot Defines Your Playstyle

Delving deeper, Kiln offers a roster of 24 unique pot shapes spread across its three weight classes, each acting as a distinct "class" in the traditional gaming sense. This is where player expression meets tactical depth. Do you craft a hulking, large-class amphora? You'll be a slower-moving tank, boasting high durability and a massive reservoir for carrying water—a key objective resource. Or perhaps you'll shape a small, flat plate? You'll trade that utility for agility and a higher damage output, zipping around the arena as a nimble skirmisher.

The connection between form and function is beautifully literalized in combat. Each pot shape comes with a unique set of moves inspired by its design. Project Lead Derek Brand gave examples during the reveal: a cup might unleash a "popcorn shot" scatter attack, a plate could have attacks that ricochet off surfaces, and a cylinder may transform into a powerful hammer. You aren't just throwing a pot; you are a spirit piloting your creation, a bespoke "clay mech" with moveset personality baked right into its ceramic hull. Your choice of vessel fundamentally dictates your playstyle, encouraging team compositions that balance different sizes and shapes for strategic advantage.

The Battle of the Kilns: Modes, Maps, and Mayhem

The primary proving ground for these ceramic combatants is the "Quench" mode, a 4v4 objective-based battle. The goal is straightforward yet ripe for chaos: teams must collect water from around the map and douse the opposing team's kiln to extinguish its flame. This creates a dynamic push-and-pull between aggressive hydration and defensive positioning, where the water-carrying capacity of your pot becomes a critical resource.

The arenas themselves are a testament to Double Fine's signature thematic flair. Maps are inspired by ancient gods and societies renowned for their pottery, such as Greek and Egyptian mythologies. These arenas are far from static backdrops. A shipping facility for Hermes or a "Boogie Lounge" for Dionysus complete with a dance floor hint at interactive, playful environments. Most strategically intriguing is the map design that incorporates pathways and areas accessible only to pots of certain sizes. This adds a profound layer to team strategy, where a small pot might flank through a narrow tunnel inaccessible to the enemy's large-class juggernaut, demanding thoughtful team composition and map awareness.

A Lively Community Hub: Customization and the "Wedge"

For those whose passions lean more toward the gallery than the gladiator pit, Kiln offers deep aesthetic customization. Once your pot's functional shape is set, you can adorn it with a variety of glazes, colors, handles, patterns, and stickers, ensuring no two vessels on the battlefield look exactly alike.

All of this creativity and commerce centers on "the Wedge," the game's social hub. More than a simple menu, the Wedge is a dojo for practice, a hangout to show off your latest creation, and a store where you can spend credits earned through gameplay. It's here that Kiln's community-driven heart beats strongest. Players can share their custom pot designs with others, fostering an exchange of both artistic inspiration and potent new "blueprints" for battle. With a planned closed beta and promises of ongoing post-launch support for maps and cosmetics, Double Fine is clearly building Kiln to be a living, evolving space for its players.

Born from the studio's legendary Amnesia Fortnight game jam, with concepts reportedly discussed as far back as 2017, Kiln represents the quintessential Double Fine spirit: quirky, inventive, and rich with personality. It successfully marries the satisfaction of creative expression with the thrill of competitive play, offering a proposition that could attract both the Animal Crossing decorator and the Super Smash Bros. brawler. When it releases in Spring 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and day one on Xbox Game Pass, Kiln has the potential to be more than just a novel party game—it could be a standout, deeply strategic, and wonderfully oddball fixture in the multiplayer landscape. Kiln isn't just about fighting with pots; it's about the stories born from the moment your personally crafted vessel—beautiful, bizarre, or brilliantly tactical—shatters against an opponent's kiln.

Tags: Double Fine, Kiln, Party Brawler, Multiplayer, Game Pass