need to know
what is that? A Pokémon-inspired monster-taming RPG with a lively shared online world.
Expected payment: $45/£40
Release date: September 6, 2022
Developer: Crema
the publisher: humble game
Review date: Windows 11, Nvidia 2080 Ti, Intel i9-9900k @ 4.9ghz, 32GB RAM
Multiplayer? Yes (cross-platform always-on multiplayer, co-op, PvP)
Link: Official site (opens in new tab)
Don’t let the long grass beat you down here. Temtem is, by design, a Pokémon clone. Small Spanish studio Crema aimed to make something immediately familiar and accessible to fans of Nintendo’s monster-collecting JRPG series, while leaving room for bold new ideas of their own. The devs assume you already know Pizzy from Pikachu, so do I. This makes it easier to break down Temtem differences for better or worse.
First, Temtem is an MMO. A little. Interacting with other players is limited to chatting, emoting, and challenging battles, so you won’t step on others’ feet while exploring, but the Overworld is a bustling place filled with players and their pets. Although it’s meant for solo play, the entire story can be played cooperatively with a friend, and Endgame offers plenty of opportunities for the group to crawl dungeons together.
This makes the world of Temtem, a floating island orbiting a magical pseudo-sun, a vibrant place. The trade-off for this persistent shared world is monetization. In addition to sticker prices, there’s premium currency to spend on makeup items and a Season Battle Pass that distributes dress-up items over time. Luckily, money doesn’t buy success. This requires spending time, effort, and memorizing a ton of damage type charts.
i want to be the best
The biggest difference between Temtem and Pokémon is the more complex combat between Pokémon’s kid-friendly design and Shin Megami Tensei’s hardcore dungeon crawling. Temtem battles with NPC tamers are often full 6v6 affairs, both deploying two creatures at once. A surprisingly rewarding campaign. Those used to sleepwalking in Pokémon may need to get up and pay attention here.
Multiplayer battles (available in informal challenges in the overworld or ranked play on a level scale) are more complicated. Those familiar with DOTA’s competitive rules are familiar with the format. Players bring his squad of eight Temtem to the table and take turns picking and deploying five of his while banning two of his opponent’s picks. It’s a big twist until you get used to it, but thankfully, once defeated, he can practice this on his single player by challenging the Dojo leader (the Pokémon equivalent of his gym leader) to a simulated competitive match. increase.
Combat in Temtem is also more subtle than in Pokémon. Temtem have both HP and a stamina pool that is depleted when attacking. Low-level creatures are easier to waste, as they can be wrecked in one big attack. The stamina debt is deducted from that Temtem’s health, making it impossible to attack on the next turn, but actions such as tagging out and healing with items are allowed during this cooldown period, making it a viable tactical option. Further complicating matters is the “Hold Technique”, a powerful attack that cannot be selected until the Temtem is in combat for several turns.
don’t say anything weird
It’s also interesting what Temtem removes from Pokémon. Aside from capture chances, no dice are rolled during combat. No critical hits and always have status effects. Everything is deterministic, but there are ways to cheat the numbers. All skills have a speed multiplier that allows slower creatures to quick poke against faster creatures with heavier attacks. You can, but playing smart is almost always better than brute force.
Complex combat, 2v2 combat, 12 types of damage (imagine two-handed rock-paper-scissors with 12 different options), and a Temtem skill loadout at any point outside of combat. Among other wrinkles such as being able to change, Temtem is a game that engages almost intimidatingly. As someone who lost interest in Pokémon early on, Exactly what i needed. At almost every mechanical level (apart from the number of creatures, there are only 164 at the moment), this is Pokémon: Advanced Edition. Familiar yet satisfying complexity.
Charm using Temtem!not very effective
Objectively, Temtem is a very good adaptation of the genre. Subjectively, its aesthetics and world don’t suit me very well. Your mileage may vary, but many of the creature designs are strangely generic, lacking the simple charm of Pokémon or the wild childish imagination of Digimon. , I would like to describe as being a stylized animal. Many of those names are also very unpalatable. I understand that combining “squirrel” and “punch” makes sense for a brawny fighting rodent, scanti If anything, it sounds like a disease you want to avoid getting infected with.
Likewise, the game’s human cast (and most of their dialogue) fall short of Nintendo’s panny charm, even though the occasional gag makes me laugh. ) is also not a Team Rocket patch. Costumes and character customization options for player characters and NPCs are plentiful, but the basic character model feels unnecessarily interchangeable. , male and female models for seniors) can feel like they are quickly switching outfits to suit their respective regional roles.
Still, the creatures and character art don’t really capture my imagination, but on a technical level it’s a nice looking game. The creatures are well-animated and I wish there was an option to fast-forward through combat, but the bigger attacks are often satisfying barrages of polygons and particle effects. , I feel more at home on the PC than on the console. Even though the multiplayer is fully cross-platform, the mouse and keyboard controls feel great to me, and there are some nice quality-of-life features, like being able to click and drag team configurations. did.
I wish there were a few more in-game reference pieces (such as hotkeys to bring up the dizzying damage type matrix), but Temtem visually presents most of the important information, but not everything. Players who keep it in mind have an advantage. You have to learn them all if you want to be the best. Even if it falls a little short in terms of charm, the battle pass feels a little out of place, and Temtem can easily be recommended to Pokémon fans who want something a little tougher and meatier while still feeling familiar.
