Review for Monster Crown. PC game, the video game came out on 31/07/2020
You know the Pokémon saga? Well, try to forget every single thing you knew about it, because after trying this particular indie nature product entitled "Monster Crown" you might see with different eyes the entire genre of video games that Temtem is also a part of.
Crown Island is an island whose history starts with a mix of rulers, saviors and monsters. But that is a past that also has to do with the legend, while from the very beginning of the game the bases are very slowly provided to the player to be able to change the future of the island.
Shortly after creating our character through a very simple and minimal creation mode, we will undertake a tutorial that will explain the basic mechanics in an extremely direct and clear way. After all, we have already turned 14, which apparently seems to be the right age to become a monster tamer.
As for the gameplay, from the menu screen you play entirely with the keyboard. As you have probably understood, the procedure is similar to any of the Nintendo products with the same theme: leave the house, say hello to your mother, choose your starter, capture all possible monsters, solve a big mystery, defeat everyone, bring down evil. that grips the island and finally you become the strongest ever.
But don't think about giving Monster Crown to your little son, because the game is much darker and more adult than you might think. In fact, there will be swear words and violence, as Studio Aurum's intent is to overcome the usual banality often present in the genre and consequently have a different target through the use of such expedients.
It is appreciable that there are over 200 monsters all divided into 5 types: will, brute, Malicious, Unstable, Relentless. In short, something different from the usual types that are based on the elements as in Digimon World DS and which is about their personality rather than their nature. For the rest, the combat is quite the same as the Pokémon-like genre, in the sense that each of our fellow adventures levels up by fighting, presents their own moves and finally is strong or weak against another type.
And so "catch them all!" Or better, invite them to sign a contract. The writer is not making fun of you, because here the idea of pokéball is replaced with that of pacts. In fact, each monster can be convinced to join their team by providing them with a pact, especially if during the fight it has few health points.
Certainly Monster Crown did not indulge only in terms of pacts. If the dear and well-known brand has indulged in designing a possessed sand castle named Gastly, then also the product published by SOEDESCO and produced by Studio Aurum, can afford to create Laz, a reincarnated monster that, as you can guess, takes the name from Lazarus. The imagination, irony and quirks of this title have no limits, which is probably why it turns out to be fascinating.
It does not end here in fact because at a certain point in the story the possibility of cross two monsters in order to obtain an egg, which will hatch and therefore give rise to a child while having unique new traits, it will also inherit characteristic peculiarities from the parents. Play God with genetics I miss the Roslin Institute with Dolly the sheep!
Another unique feature is given by the items: if you are taken by monsters you lose all the objects in the bag but these can be found around randomly and can be deposited or bought in shops in every city in the game world.
It can therefore be safely said that the gameplay is much more varied than one can imagine, but the numerous bugs due to the current early access they spoil the experience a lot and make it terrible at times.
The title is made with the Unity graphic engine, in a two-dimensional environment with a scrolling camera having the character in the center.
The style has a choice of very bright colors and clearly separated from each other, which in the long run could be annoying: the intent of this aspect could be to re-propose the old graphic impact typical of an old console like the Game Boy Color, made even stronger with electronic background music that manages to make the player feel a sense of nostalgia.
Monster Crown is a great and more adult alternative to the usual games whose main purpose is to capture and train monsters, such as Monster Rancher. The game is currently in early access, but it looks very promising despite the high amount of more than justifiable problems currently present.
► Monster Crown is an RPG-Adventure-indie game developed by Studio Aurum and published by SOEDESCO for PC, the video game was released on 31/07/2020
