The game also feels mightily unbalanced I was blasting through basically the entire game just using my starting monster, an unremarkable wolf-creature, and almost never felt the need to strategise or utilise my party’s various types and movesets. Default movement is slow, and then the run option feels too fast. To start simple, the game just doesn’t feel right. I found the darker tone a welcome change to the tried-and-true storylines of monster collecting titles of the past.

Indeed, early in the game, there is a confronting scene where the villain sets one of her monsters upon you, lashing out with its claws to try and beat you into sharing some information. The game’s narrative, while following the blueprints of the genre, is a darker and more mature approach to the coming-of-age adventurer tale. 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. Monster Crown’s narrative follows an all too familiar premise.

Monster crown saiko takaki