Kainga Creature Guide: Trudgers, Walkers, Snails, and More

One of the most unique aspects of Kainga’s tribal setting and roguelike village building is the a menagerie of creatures and towering beasts. They can play an integral part in establishing a self-sustaining settlement or simply add to the player’s available tools and resources.

Here are most prominent creatures found in Kainga:

– Snail
– Walker
– Crustacean
– Leviathan
– Trudger
– Flathead

And here’s everything you need to know about Kainga’s wildlife.

 

Snail

Some creatures can be tamed by the player’s tribe. To do so, players will either need to first research the passive ropes technology upgrade or find loot crates that can turn a basic village Brave into a Beastmaster – a unit innately capable of taming animals. The first of these tamable animals is the humble but versatile snail.

Snails are smaller than some of Kainga’s other gargantuan beasts, yet this doesn’t make them any less valuable or imposing to the tribe’s defences and resource production. The most prominent feature of the snail is its acid spit that can be utilized in combat to spray an area-of-effect attack on hostile tribespeople, or after researching the right technology called snail bridles, players can utilize their acid to fertilize ground, which can be useful in drier environments.

Their versatility really comes down to the technology players can research to optimize tamed snails for a particular role. Aside from the bridles, the village Thinkers can also invent saddles, war rigs, and an assortment of other equipment, essentially making the snail Kainga’s tribal multi-role armored personnel carrier.

Snails can naturally be found in the Flatlands and Terraces environments and usually roam around on their own territory in packs of one, two, or three. They will usually defend themselves if you approach them, so be ready to receive their acid spit. Otherwise, they don’t venture far from their slithering grounds and won’t bother the player.

 

Walker

One of the more unique tamable creatures is the towering Walker – a cross between a snake or elephant and a tall giant scarab beetle. Their most prominent feature are the long legs that let them traverse even the most difficult terrain.

Where snails have many practical uses, Walkers, once tamed, are far more specialized in village development and terrain traversal. These long-legged creatures are quite sluggish and difficult to maneuver and their docile nature makes them ill-suited for combat, but great in various support roles.

Thinkers can invent construction saddles or fishing platforms for Walkers, the former letting the player construct a moderate-sized house and even carry some people on the creature’s back. This makes these animals especially useful in traversing flooded land or bounding between islands.

Walkers can be found in the Flatlands, Terraces, and Pebbles and they usually wander solo about the map and don’t really bother anyone. They will try to stomp on pesky village Braves that try to tame them, but the long legs make its attacks clumsy and inaccurate, so it shouldn’t be much of an issue to tame a Walker.

 

Crustacean

One of the bigger creatures of Kainga’s world, the Crustacean is a rare titan. Though it’s technically tameable through a ritual, these giant crab-like colossi that pop up in the wild are too massive to be domesticated by some little humans. Annoy the Crustacean at your own peril.

If a Crustacean is summoned through a ritual, they will spawn directly underneath the village central hearth and essentially carry the campfire and the entire population of the village to wherever it is they need to go. It’s an incredibly slow creature, but it can go over almost any terrain.

 

Leviathan

Arguably the largest beast found in Kainga, the Leviathan is a cross between a whale and a turtle that can only be found in the Pebbles environment. It’s so large that one of the NPC tribes make it their roving home in its above-water conical shell, making it almost impossible for players to tame the Leviathan for themselves.

This seaborne titan acts similarly to the Crustacean and will carry the inhabitants on its back to anywhere there is water. However, it has little combat value and really only acts as a mobile home for those lucky to have made it onto its back.

 

Trudger

There are also a couple of non-tameable creatures found in Kainga that prefer to be left alone or are too funky in their appearance and behavior to be utilized by humans. The first of these is the Trudger – a cross between a turtle, an elephant, and a platypus and can only be found in the Flatlands.

The Trudger slowly shambles its way around the map grinding dirt and whatever else that happens to be in its path into mud. They usually walk around in singles, but can be devastating to a built-up village if they trundle into one.

Thinkers can research objects or structures that can ward off a Trudger, though they normally shouldn’t be too much of a problem due to their speed, low numbers, and size of maps. If you do end up picking a fight with a Trudger, they will try to stomp your Braves, so come prepared with a sizable hunting party.

 

Flathead

The most aggressive, territorial, and dangerous creature in Kainga is the odd-looking Flathead, found only in the Flatlands. They’re about the same size as a snail, but they’re faster and pack quite the wallop.

Flatheads usually come in singles or pairs and patrol around specially marked territory as indicated by a ring of felled reeds. Throughout a playthrough, these beasts will shift from area to area, so it’s vital to be cognizant and observant of their territory. Unlike snails who don’t move far from their roaming grounds, Flatheads can venture a reasonable distance from their marked land, which can be challenging for nearby villages to deal with.

The danger of these creatures comes from their attack behavior in that they will charge in a straight line if some unlucky Brave wanders too close. Any units caught in the Flatheads path will suffer damage, meaning that massed formation tactics can be a risk proposition, especially if approaching them in tight groups.

Most of the time Flatheads will claim territory that isn’t too close to villages, but just to be safe it may be wise to avoid getting too close to them with resource gathering parties or your Thinker looking for points of inspiration (see inspiration guide).

The presence of weird and unique creatures gives Kainga both a unique aesthetic and provides the player with innovative options in dealing with the various environments they may find themselves in. Each run and mission will throw the player into a unique situation and Kainga’s wildlife may end up being the key to a prospering village. It’s up to you now to find a way to live within the game’s world.

Kainga is available on PC.

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