''Monster Crown'' is a 2021

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

developed by Studio Aurum and published by

Soedesco Soedesco (stylized in all caps) is a Dutch video game publisher of both digital and physical games on multiple platforms. The company has been active in the game industry since 2002 and ventured into publishing in 2014, with the headquarters in ...

. Heavily inspired by the ''

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

'' series, it features similar gameplay mechanics while adopting a darker

fictional universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scie ...

and storyline. The game received mixed reviews from critics: who praised its gameplay and graphical style, but noted a significant quantity of bugs, performance issues, and poor

game balance Game balance is a branch of game design with the intention of improving gameplay and user experience by balancing difficulty and fairness. Game balance consists of adjusting rewards, challenges, and/or elements of a game to create the intended pl ...

. The game's story has also been criticized.

Gameplay

Monster Crown features 200 base

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

s for the player to form pacts with. Over 1200 monsters are usable in the game through the monster breeding mechanic.

Development

Development of the game was performed by Canadian game developer Studio Aurum, with

game development game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more specialize ...

beginning in 2016. The game was

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

in 2018. In 2019 it was announced that

would be the publisher of the game. Monster Crown entered an

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

availability period on PC on July 31, 2020, being distributed on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

during that time. Over 40 updates were made to the game during the early access period. The 1.0 version of Monster Crown was released on October 12, 2021, for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

MacOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

. A physical Nintendo Switch edition of the game was released on November 2, 2021. The

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

releases were delayed in late 2021, eventually releasing on February 22, 2022.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the game received an aggregate score of 59/100 for the Nintendo Switch version, and 62/100 for the Xbox One version, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewers generally praised the extensive monster breeding mechanics used by the game. Mitch Vogel of

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...

commented on the aesthetics and audio of the game, noting that they drew inspiration from the

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

well, while also finding the monster designs generally "uninspired", with a few exceptions. Neal Chandran of RPGFan positively reviewed the exploration aspects of the game, while noting a more mixed reception to the story, particularly noting poor execution in

pacing Pacing may refer to: In sport * Pacing, an athletic technique of spreading one's effort out over longer-distance track and field races (also in swimming) * Pacing (horse gait), a horse gait used in standardbred horse races * Motor-paced racing ...

and

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

References

{{reflist 2021 video games Indie games Kickstarter-funded video games Linux games MacOS games Monster-taming games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Video games developed in Canada Windows games Xbox One games Retro-style video games Soedesco games