Monster Crown enters early access with classic Pokemon-like battles

Are we ready to fully accept Pokemon-like as a genre now? If so, this one probably takes the crown. Because it's actually called—yeah you get it. For real though, Monster Crown does definitely have the most classic Pokemon vibes of the bunch compared with other recent critter catchers like Temtem or Ooblets. Just like those other two, Monster Crown is starting out in early access as of today.

"Unravel Crown Island’s dark story as you create your own monster legacy," say Studio Aurum. "With a history of sadistic rulers and heroic saviors, the island faces another threat in the form of a malicious young woman seeking power. It’s up to you and the monsters you make pacts with to prevent the return of tyranny."

One of the bits that caught my ear is that in Monster Crown you aren't actually catching monsters, you're making pacts with them to join your team. Feels a bit demonic, eh? Your character still gets to do traditional critter mastery things like telling them which moves to use in combat and deciding which other monsters they should breed with though.

Monsters each of course have their own moves and stats for battle, but it sounds like Monster Crown allows you to get creative. It has 200 "base monsters" it says, which you can breed together to create new species. You can also trade and battle your monsters online with other players.

Monster Crown is planning to be in early access somewhere between six and 12 months. The current early access version contains just one third of the story and the monsters planned for the full release, Aurum say. "The game features an open world with monsters that can be cross-breed into thousands of species, so we need a fair amount of feedback to properly balance the game."

You can find Monster Crown over on Steam where it's currently 10% off at £10.25/€13.49/$13.49 until August 7th.