D.A.M. Champion

I cannot in good faith recommend buying this game. First of all, it severely lacks polish: the sprites and tilesets are mismatched, the maps make no sense, the towns and different areas all look samey and like they exist solely to pad out the gameplay by putting dozens of random encounters on your way. Even at the highest level, the challenge is almost inexistant as it can be overcome purely by grinding. The first thing I did in the game was try to get a full party of monsters, which due to the mechanics of the game required I go out and beat at least 10 of each mon I wanted to get, which wasn't the best beginning. Furthermore, you can only unlock new Mons in specific towns where you have to use one of several computers (that aren't labeled in any way, so you just have to guess which one creates the monster you want) to give you a key item that adds the Mon to your party (why even give you a key item and not add it to your party directly? Why the extra step?) The starting quest, which you can ignore, has a NPC telling you to stock up on healing items at the shop, even though the game starts you off with zero money. There is also an optional conversation in one of the houses revealing your character has a dark and tormented past that is delivered so awkwardly I genuinely couldn't tell if it was a parody or supposed to be taken seriously. In my random wandering, after being curbstomped by endgame-level monsters in an area literally next door to one of the starting fields, I reached a "farming town" where I "engaged" with the farming mechanic...which only consists in buying high-priced seeds and water (A night at an Inn costs 10 coins, but a bottle of water costs 650...what) and selecting "yes" on three prompts in a row: one to sow, one to water, one to pick. And your reward is a mediocre healing item. Other than that, none of the mechanics gripped me. I originally thought it would be a RPG with some depth like Digimon or Medabots, but most of it is mindlessly grinding. One thing that clicked eventually was that the "element" system (which is NOT explained to you, or if it is it's in a completely missable conversation) is literally the types from Pokémon with another name. Steel was renamed to "Metallic", Poison to "Toxic", Grass to "Nature" and so on. This combined with the unedited and odd-looking sprites really gives the vibe of a Pokémon ripoff, which sadly has no real hook for me as a player. This game definitely needs to address its severe lack of polish, clashing graphical styles and pacing issues before it can be worth the price of admission.

Fun game with an active developer who listens to his fanbase. Hours of fun to be had with DAM Champ. It's quaint and relaxing.

DAM Champions does not leave a good first impression. Immediately upon starting a new game you will be instantly reminded of Pokemon, as it copies the professor intro common in Pokemon games. Is that bad? No, of course not. But what it does do is copy an iconic aspect of a well known property, immediately making me think about a different (and much better) game than this one, which then of course results in drawing comparisons between the other game and this one. Where things really start to go wrong, however, is the on-boarding, as the professor intro begins dumping a bunch of unnecessary tutorial text on you that - in the moment - is not immediately necessary (and therefore easily forgotten). By the time you can play the game, you are so inundated with useless tutorial information, when the game invites you to do more tutorial stuff, it's very easy to just want to ignore it and actually play the game you purchased. So how does combat fare? Not so great either. "Trainer" battles are not triggered automatically. Instead you need to talk to the NPC and ask them to challenge you. Why it is done this way is anybody's guess, but it certainly removes the agency from the adventure. Combat basically boils down to using your strongest attack the target isn't resistant to. Not that Pokemon's combat is particularly difficult, but at least the PP system and pokemon specializing in either special or (regular) attack skills requires the player to at least be somewhat conscious of their resources and skills, plus the type match ups playing an important role. Here, type match up isn't too important so long as the other isn't resistant. There is no PP, every skill draws from the same magic pool, and most skills cost the same MP; so why NOT just cast the best skill you have? There are lots of questionable design choices (like the aforementioned "ask to challenge" trainer battles) that just don't make sense and are not a lot of fun. The one map I experienced was a linear path with lots of random encounters that ended in a dead end with a (seemingly) racist "dark humor" scene that was not funny, then required me to back track through the linear path back to town. I wound up finding that leaving a trainer undefeated was faster; letting the trainer defeat me in battle to fast travel me back to town to avoid random encounters. Which is where another poorly considered design choice resides; trainer battles will NOT game over you, however random encounters will cause you to get a game over, booting you back to the menu. Archaic and hateful design, truly a bewildering design decision. Finally, I find it odd that the developer never credits their artist. I noticed in response to another user's review of the game, they specified the art is not AI. It's rather odd when the trailer credits their composer, but does not credit their artist. In their comment where they state they did not use AI...that's all they say, they never even say who their artist is. I don't know if it's because the dev is lying or is just an unfortunate foolish oversight of the dev to snub their artist like that; either way, it's not a good look. With that being said, I cannot recommend this game. It lacks its own identity and too heavily relies on riding the coattails of an existing, and far better, franchise. DAM Champion would be better if it sought to bring it's own originality, but instead the product is that which is flawed at a fundamental level. My first impressions were covered live and can be watched here: https://youtube.com/live/SFHZ5sFD59o?feature=share

You play Kenji, a monster tamer who must go out into the world and catch as many monsters as possible. The purpose for doing it is an annual competition in which all of the greatest tamers compete for the title. Naturally, since there are several organizations aiming for the same thing, there’s also rivalry involved. Following the introduction, where you can choose your name and difficulty level, you are presented with the choice of your first monster. There are three options that correspond to a balanced, defensive, or offensive playstyle. Monsters are divided into fourteen classes, including fire, ice, and shadow. This is significant because certain classes are more or less effective than others. While the entire list may be reviewed from your inventory, you do not have to go through it too much. Only five combinations are immune, with the remainder dealing regular, double, or half damage. What you need to watch out for is that a monster doesn’t lose all magic points because you won’t be able to attack. It’s possible to waste a turn and replenish some, but resting in bed is a much better idea. The gameplay is standard for a top-down RPGs. You walk around, talk to people, purchase stuff, and engage in battles. The world itself isn’t interesting because it’s mainly the wilds connecting towns. Battles take place randomly in grassy regions or by challenging almost every NPC you encounter in the wilds. One extremely useful option in the options is to disable fight animations. This will speed up encounters and make simple battles less tedious because you will not have to watch everything. Another nice feature is that you can save anywhere. There is no need to look for save points. By the way, the beginning is quite welcoming to players because there are free healing locations right in the monster area. This allows you to get accustomed with the game and expand your squad with new monsters. A monster has different stats and abilities. By fighting in battles and earning experience points, they get better across the board and sometimes gain new skills. Leveling up is set in stone so you don’t have to choose which stat to increase. Although there is no traditional gear such as armor and weapons, you can equip special chips to monsters to increase their stats. Your primary tool is the monster storage device, a handheld computer in which you collect information about the monsters. This information is unlocked the first time you defeat an enemy and includes a brief description, starting stats, and where to find it. The idea is to fight a single monster so many times that you have enough data to store. Once enough data is collected, you can swap it for files on special computers. This will allow you to add the monster to your squad and use it during battles. This means there is no need to purchase special containers to “catch” the monster. Each monster has its own computer, however because monsters are limited to specific locations, you may find the appropriate computer in that region's town. What I enjoy about this approach is that it eliminates the need to grind. Getting a new monster is quick because you always gain data after fight and just need about ten of them. The only drawback is that you do not receive a notice when you have enough data. The only way to be sure is to go to a computer and try uploading. Of course, you can try each computer and write down the precise amount, but this might create a huge list because there are over 100 monsters in the game.

This game is nostalgic with a refreshing twist; mainly in the dialogue and format in which one would capture a monster. There is a nice blend of unique monsters. Some with tasteful originality and other designs serve as homages to past inspirations. In what seems like a love letter to fan favorite games, the creator achieved what they set out to accomplish. All said and done 9/10 rating.

The game is awesome! It has a unique mechanic to tame Monsters. It lets you choose your own destination so 10/10!

D.A.M Champions is a good twist to monster tamer style games. Monsters are unique and the 3v3 battle style is different from other games. In tough matchups players have to think about which moves to make to win each match. With each monster being able to learn up to 11 moves there are a variety of ways a match can go. This game also has an interesting & hilarious storyline.

Very fun game! The mechanics are interesting and the presentation is nice. Good music and monster designs as well.

My son has put over 12 hours into the game so far. He is loving it. Gives him the "Pokemon" likes game play but something fresh and different.

i seen gym Ed play this game and so i played it, now i get why it have DAM as a part of it's name