Monstronomy

"What happened to you mom?" If you consider buying Monstronomy expecting a monster-tamer game you are right. And you are wrong at the same time. The game has a lot of things, you will be familiar with. And at the same time, Monstronomy throws a lot of strange at you, right from the beginning. In order to showcase this, I will give you a summarization of the first 5-10 minutes. You start at a desktop. Files & folders are there, you can click through. Most important are the controls-file as well as the Downloads-Folder where you find and can start the actual game you expected. So you start the Monstronomy file inside Monstronomy. You wake up in your room and go downstairs where your mother tells you to feed your monster. You go to a chest in the garden where you can choose your starter. You have the choice between an Order-, Chaos- or Demon-type monster. You return to the house, your mother lying on the gorund, blood everywhere. Dead. You leave the house, dead people and monster everywhere and your first fight against a cultist. Here starts your quest for revenge. The monster-tamer game is quite basic but functional. I absolutely love the different monsters and their design. The choice of two final evolution forms for every monster is a really neat idea and later on, you can even switch constantly between the two. The strengths and weaknesses are balanced as well as the whole game. You level fast, and in each fight, the whole group gains experiences. Overall balance is also okay. The game isn't really difficult. You have to pay a bit attention here and there or go back healing. You can catch new monsters with chests and in the end-game there are even "legendaries". The attack-design I would consider on the weaker part. You do not have move limitations but stronger attacks have lower accuracy trying to cancel it out. Overall, the gameplay is not as complex or deep as the most well-known competitor but it is functional and shines especially in the monster design. Though, weird as it is - the game and the situation - Monstronomy shines the most in the moments it isn't a monster-tamer game. The story alone is already unusual. But it only gets weirder and at one point you find yourself intrigued. Trying to understand what is really happening here. Inside the Monstronomy game world a lot of - let's say disturbing - videos are scattered around. Often you find them on TVs, sometimes on random objects and sometimes they are unavidable during story events. Aside from the videos, you notice that NPCs start behaving weirder and weirder and across the game world, you have green and sometimes even red texts. Certain names reappear over and over again. Progressing in the story, also unlocks new files on the Desktop (where you start the game) although locked by passwords. All of this creates a great mystery, you might want to solve. I wouldn't call Monstronomy a horror game but disturbing on certain levels. And in the end-game I would call Monstronomy even a puzzle game where you try to solve the games puzzles & mysteries. You will try to find the "legendaries", trying to figure out the real story, trying to unlock the desktop files. All of this comes together in one entertaining ARG, leading you temporarily even outside the game. And while there exists a guide, telling you how to solve most of it, I would implore you dear potential buyer, to try figuring out all of this stuff by yourself first as it makes for a far better experience. The games also has music which I am undecided on. It is only a few tracks and most of the time, you hear this happy-to-lucky overworld tune which doesn't really fit. On the other hand this discrepancy may be well intended. From the technical side, I have encountered one "critical" bug where the stops working after certain attacks during fighting and does not react anymore. I am not exactly sure what causes it but it happened most often for me with Wind-type attacks causing a status effect. So, saving often is recommanded to reduce frustration. Futrehmore, the game's movement feels kinda choppy. The game has also achievements which need you to solve most of the game's mysteries. The main story itself probably takes around 6-10 hours. If you go for the post-game endgame content, you can add another 5-10 hours if you try it for yourself. Less if you use a lot of help. If all of this sounds interesting to you then [strike] apply for Project Dreamcatcher today [/strike] consider buying the game. If you have more questions, leave a comment and I'll try to come back to it.

This game kissed me on my forehead gently and held my hand. The monster fighting is just as fun as the hidden story and horror elements just below the surface. Highly rec!

I’m only a little bit in, but really enjoying it so far. Love the creepy videos and the old-school design. My biggest con, however, is that I wish I could use a controller for this instead of just a keyboard. But love it all the same.

I just started playing the game and have enjoyed it so far. I love all of the small details and twists and I'm looking forward to continue playing.

〇ケモンにグロとホラーを追加してみました的な作品。 演出の弱さはあるが序盤から期待通りのものを出してくれる。 ホラー展開と並行して〇ケモン風RPGとしてもちゃんと面白い。 隠し要素もそこそこあってやり応えのある一作。

I'm usually not hugely drawn to the monster collector style games, but I'll say that the atmosphere and story makes this game for me. This game has a lot of things that larger studios fail to accomplish, a great atmosphere, good story, and very responsive devs who fix bugs on the fly. The horror/pokemon combo is unique and fun and I can't wait to finish the game!

This game is super cool and has such a unique concept, I can't wait to keep playing!

Just bought the game. Really fun so far, looks well made!

A pokemon creepy pasta made real. Great lore, a couple plot twists. I played 12 hours in 2 days. The only negative I found: 1.I wasn't able to solve a single keypad puzzle by my own. If they had been a bit easier, it would have been more enjoyable, and I would have experience the game in a deeper way. 2. The post-end content is a bit unclear. It's ther, but you don't know it until you randomly stumble upon it.

13 year old me would have loved this. As an adult it doesn't really hit that mark anymore but it's fun enough. Only real downside is the barebone music/sound which starts to get on your nerves within the first hour of playing.