Kraktures

As a reviewer I base some portion of my recommendation on price. Please bear in mind that I'm reviewing this game as an indie costing under $10, not as a competitor for something like TemTem or another larger Pokemon competitor. This game has a lot of great ideas. Here's just a few: - Customizable game settings (ex. difficulty; real-time vs turn-based battling; randomizer) - Ranger-like capture system where you can catch after battle or on the overworld, both with a minigame - Adjustable abilities - Choose how to balance your own Krakture's stats with levels There's also QOL improvements to the old creature collecting/battling genre such as: - PC accessible from menu - Settings for XP Share - Choose whether NPCs "see" you to initiate battle - Option for level scaling All that, plus varied designs and so far some decent puzzling, make this game well-worth a shot. That being said, here's my main issues with this game: - Combat gets tiring fast. Unlike Pokemon, where your mon has a set type, this game has a rock-paper-scissors type "choose your type" mechanic at the start of each turn, which determines the efficacy of any attacks (think Fire Emblem's weapon type triangle). This is much simpler than Pokemon, which might make it easier to grasp, but it's also really basic and makes me less interested in strategically setting up a team. - In a similar regard, moves are very simple. There's a "signature" move for each creature that's potentially pretty cool, but otherwise there's just a set of standard moves they can use that don't feel much different per species. Maybe that's good if you just want the creature you like cosmetically the most? - Creatures spawn in the overworld quite densely and will chase you at a decent speed. I got tired very quickly of the many forced encounters. You can crouch, but this is slow and doesn't prevent being noticed altogether, especially in a bottleneck. - ETA: Fruit use seems to regularly crash the game. Minor gripes: - Creatures' animations do not turn when you're walking, so for example the starter will "walk" backwards with you. - Significant errors in the English for the "dex" entries. I'd be happy to help with this if needed. - Font is honestly kind of straining on the eyes and difficult to read.