Lake Kindred is a turn-based RPG made for Gaia Online, a social website that allows users to create anime-style avatars to represent themselves in forum discussions and other activities. In this game, the player’s avatar finds themselves at Camp Nimbus, where supernatural creatures called Kins have begun to make their home. Taking the role of a Kin trainer, the player explores Lake Kindred and surrounding areas. Progress in the game awards items and in-game currency for the main Gaia Online site, as well as helpful items and new Kins to use within the Lake Kindred game itself. Other Kins are available through site events or by purchasing them with Gaia Online’s premium currency, Gaia Cash, which is bought with real money.
After the player selects their first Kin, the game starts them off at a campsite which serves as the main hub area. From here, the player can switch up their active roster, check a Kin’s stats, evolve or splice Kin that have met specific requirements, and let exhausted Kin nap to regain stamina.
Exploration takes place over a variety of areas, which are gradually unlocked as the player defeats wild Kin. Each area has several locations that can be chosen, each designed for Kins of a specific level range. Battle starts as soon as one of these locations is selected. The player is shown the enemy Kin’s species, level, and HP, and then chooses one of their five active Kins to do battle with it. There is no way to switch a Kin out after it has been sent to fight, nor can a teammate take its place if it has been defeated. However, it is possible to flee battle at any given time. Winning or losing a battle decreases the participating Kin’s stamina, and a Kin cannot fight if its stamina hits zero.
All Kin are aligned with either the Solar or Lunar Radiance. If two Kins of the same species and opposite Radiance meet a specified level requirement, and their owner has a compatible splicing item, they can be bred to produce offspring. The resulting Kin will be a variant of their parents’ species that can’t be obtained any other way, though there is a chance for the splicing process to fail.
