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You get a couple of sentences about the town’s current state before the event, and after the climax, that’s it. That story gets split between a number of worldbuilding vignettes in towns and important places and the overall story surrounding a very interesting villain named Beth.īut it also feels a bit… rushed? One early example has a very dramatic event occurring in your first town, that you’re about 75% responsible for. Monster Crown is definitely the story-based monster catcher it’s billed as. The same duality applies to the story so far. Environments being rather large and empty doesn’t help offset this feeling either. But it makes the trek from point to point feel lonely and like you’re just being shunted along to the next point. That’s understandable, given the nature of the world. In its current state, Monster Crown ’s routes, caves, and paths do feel a bit empty, though. It makes the world of Monster Crown feel alive and lends these monsters a nice extra touch of both character and menace.

They’re almost like forces of nature, unpredictable and obstructive, but technically just doing their thing. On your way to the first town, you learn of two mega monsters blocking your way.

It’s hard to think of a game outside Shovel Knight that takes pixel aesthetic and uses it so well without just seeming like an obvious attempt to re-create the golden years.Įven outside their rolling waves of pixel grass, Monster Crown ’s environments are a high point in and of themselves, though at a slight cost. The Humanism Kingdom is a ways away, which is good because it’s a chance to soak in Monster Crown ’s gorgeous pixel work. Best to keep these ruler types on your good side, dad says. But your goal is actually just paying tribute to the nearest king. You’re a talented Tamer, because of course you are. So with that juicy introduction to Monster Crown ’s character out of the way, including a mock battle where your mom completely wipes the floor with you, it’s time to head out on an adventure.

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It actually shows you a world built on a relationship, however sour it may be, between humans and these critters - all without making you watch 986 series of an anime to see it in action because the games talk about it and won’t show it. This is their world you just happen to have a foothold in, and the entire game (so far, at least) stems from that important premise.Īnd it’s impressive from the start not just because it’s edgy and dark. That kind of ambiguous tension between humans and monsters permeates Monster Crown. Is it happy work? Are you the bad guy for enslaving these creatures? Or is it just grudging mutual understanding and the monsters secretly still want to kill you? You get a glimpse of how these contracts work right away, since your character’s home is a farm run partly by monsters. That’s not something you’d expect Professor Oak to say, despite the inherent dangers associated with almost every Pokemon in existence. Otherwise, said monsters would probably just eat everyone and move on. But the only reason they work alongside each other is because certain people called Tamers bargain with monsters using a mystical contract. This world is inhabited by people and monsters. Monster Crown opens with a brief explanation of how the game world works, courtesy of good ol’ dad.

Monster Crown is Pokemon ’s (and even Digimon ’s) Stardew Valley, being created very obviously with these inspirations in mind, while building on those foundations - fulfilling them, you might even say - and turning it into a completely new and totally engrossing creation.

Comparing new games in the genre to the likes of Pokemon might make them automatically seem derivative, but it’s a comparison I’m sticking with for Monster Crown.

Monster crown controls