All the fringe extras are present too: trading, breeding, monster storage boxes, and the moment-to-moment gameplay is essentially a carbon copy of the gameplay you know from the Game Freak titles, with some twists that try to set it apart. You make your way through the continent battling other trainers, collecting monsters, and thwarting the dastardly plans of the various thugs and villains you meet along the way. You play as a young teen, living on a farm on the outskirts of a small town, and the time has finally come for you to embark on your very own poke-… I mean monster collecting journey. Colour me lightly embarrassed, but also glad to see the issue isn’t an issue at all.Monster Crown’s narrative follows an all too familiar premise. Has anyone else played this game? I’m really curious to know what other people think.ĮDIT: Soooooo the dev has responded in the comments, and politely noted that my biggest gripe about grinding is fixed by certain times that I missed. I so far am still having fun with it, but depending on your tastes, the rather grindy nature of the game might be a big turn off. But parts of the game feel at odds with each other in a way I feel they don’t really need to. I have nothing but praise to give to the devs regarding everything breeding related. Overall, it’s hard to say where I stand on Monster Crown, because when it works, it REALLY works. This is not the cutesy, “everything is nice” world of Pokemon. The story is surprisingly interesting so far. I’d like to add, this game has other strengths as well. I don’t know what the devs plans are for this game going forward, but implementing a way to fast track new breeds would be an excellent feature. It just feels kind of frustrating, like you’re being punished a little for playing the game. You want to progress, but your new monsters aren’t strong enough yet, so you grind and train them up, but just as your ready to go on you find a new monster you want to use, which now also needs to be leveled up. I understand why this was done, since the creature you’ve birthed now needs to be raised, but it creates a loop where you’re just constantly grinding. However, this pretty much halts all progression because the monsters you breed start at basically the lowest possible level. As I mentioned, you’re highly encouraged to breed various beasts to make your own custom team, and as you meet/catch more monsters, you want to start breeding more and more. These problems I can forgive, but what’s worse is how the game’s primary feature (breeding) is constantly at odds with your progression. Traversing the world and menus can feel very clunky at times, and much of the world feels haphazard.

Finding that one monster that’s perfect for you is an incredible feeling, and reason enough to play the game if you like the beast taming genre.īut this is where we run into problems, because IMO, the rest of the game doesn’t quite live up to the incredible breeding system. Crossbred monster are inherently stronger then their “pure” counterparts, so you’re encouraged to experiment as much as possible. This results in your team truly feeling like it’s your own. Not only that, but movesets and the creature’s color change depending on what creatures you had breed. Including every crossbreed, there are 1200 beasties to choose from (that’s more then Pokémon has had over its 25ish years).

There are so many variations to choose from, that your team of monsters feels incredibly personal. Breeding is fun, intricate, and addictive. This feature I cannot give enough praise. The biggest feature is the breeding system, which allows you to experiment and make your own cross breeds of the various monsters found throughout the world. For those unaware, Monster Crown is an indie beast taming RPG in the same vein as the early Pokémon games. I’d like to discuss Monster Crown for a moment.

Switch monster crown