The Monster-tamer genre has rapidly grown in recent years with gamers having so many options to choose from.
Dutch indie developers TRAGsoft look to join the fray with their new title Coromon.
Coromon takes place in the land of Velua where a young Battle Researcher joins a scientific society called Lux Solis.
After the protagonist completes their training, they are assigned to a special team called the Titan Taskforce, who are entrusted with completing Project Chimaera.
The goal of Project Chimaera is to find the six Titans scattered around Velua and collect their Titan Essences to gain a deeper understanding of their power.
This daunting mission thrusts the protagonist into a whirlwind adventure that’s filled with villains, dungeons, battles and of course Coromon.
Coromon’s plot plays out like a mature anime with each Titan segment feeling like a different story arc.
There is a wide array of charming and villainous characters who have been well worked and come across as very original.
There’s a lot of world-building in Coromon and the story does a good job at keeping players up to date with terms, locales and its sci-fi-themed lore.
I feel the plot is compelling enough to be more than just a device to advance the gameplay, rather the story is an integral element of the overall experience.
Coromon has great pixel visuals that look fantastic with the game’s vibrant colours leaving me in awe, especially when playing on the Nintendo Switch OLED.
The titular Coromon look astounding, featuring designs that are unique even within the Monster-tamer genre. They truly shine during battles with their idle animations and dazzling attacks that really stand out.
There is a great variety of Coromon and I felt the developers did a grand job at crafting each different species.
The character models are cute and charming with the game offering extensive customisation for the main character.
I do think the game falls short with the different locations that look a little generic, as fans of the genre would have explored grass, deserts or even cemeteries in past games. It just all felt too safe.
The soundtrack is a smart blend of melodies that accompany each location you are in. They help to convey the different moods that each biome projects.
The audio design is very familiar in the sense that the music will shift to a battle theme during each encounter.
The stand-out tracks are definitely the Titan themes which have a malevolence to them.
Coromon’s main gaming loop will consist of players traversing the land of Velua while battling and catching Coromon.
Catching Coromo is done by throwing an item called a spinner at the weakened monsters. But catching isn't always easy as players will encounter two to three Coromon at a time, which pushes the player to be much more strategic.
There are seven types of Coromon with each being stronger and weaker against another type. .
Coromon can also evolve but they always stay as a mono-type monster, so when Cubzero evolves into Aroara it will stay as just Ice.
This would be a bad thing as you would think that the Coromon will have a skill set limited to their type, but no the game allows each mon to learn attacks from a different type.
A great feature is the "Potential system" which rates each Coromon from 1-21. The potential stat will determine the colour of the Coromon and how many bonus points can be unlocked to improve their base stats.
It’s pretty random which kind of Coromon you will get with the perfect ones having a much lower encounter rate.
This is a fantastic system that adds more replay value to the game for those who want to hunt stronger Coromon for PvP battles or the completionist who just wants to capture every type.
The region Velua is pretty vast with a lot of lands to traverse through. The game will have various dungeons that are filled with puzzles to progress through them, these didn’t really offer a high level of challenge but they did add some variation to the gameplay.
Players will also be able to complete other functions through the use of their gauntlet which can even enlist Coromon to help them.
Outside of the main quest players will be able to take on side quests from NPCs, which offer a wider variety of challenges.
There are also Milestones which is the game’s trophy system, granting all kinds of goodies for completing them.
However, even with these additional inclusions, I feel the game is really light on content outside combat and the quest.
Coromon's big selling point like other games in the genre is combat and this game has its own unique system.
Battles will take place in a turn-based format, with the speed of each Coromon deciding who will attack first in each battle.
Battles will revolve around a Stamina points system where Coromon will only be able to execute certain attacks depending on how many points they have.
If a Coromon runs out of stamina, players will have the option to rest them and recover the points.
This system is very thrilling as it adds a huge risk and reward factor to battles that can dictate players' overall strategy.
Skills come in three different categories Physical, Special and Status, which are further broken down into contact and no-contact.
Each skill comes with its own special traits and payoff. These aspects go hand in hand and are crucial to victory in every battle.
The Titans serve as the boss battles in the game and will need to be defeated to progress. They follow the same battle mechanics like other Coromon but have better attacks, a bigger stamina meter and will enter multiple phases when they are about to be defeated.
I did find that the Titans varied in how difficult they were with some offering much more of a challenge than others. I was able to easily defeat ones that were on a similar level to my Coromon.
Coromon has extensive settings that allow the player to really take control of the game's difficulty.
There are preset difficulty levels that allow for different levels of challenges, but I love the fact that the game will allow players to pick and choose how they want to play.
Coromon has cross-platform PvP between Switch and PC, which is great to grow the online community.
The game lets players battle from the get-go with the option of Casual and Ranked matches. Players can either use their own custom squad or loan Coromon from the game.
Unfortunately, I was unable to match anyone for battle whilst writing this review. It’s going to be really interesting to see all the different team loadouts that players will create.
Verdict 3/5
Coromon does pay homage to big titles in the monster-tamer genre but it does feature its own unique system and even improves on past mechanics.
Catching and training Coromon is where the game truly shines as the developers have tried to tailor an original experience full of customisation and strategising.
Other than that the main game is lacking in content, there just simply isn’t enough outside of combat.
Once the 20-25 hours of adventure are completed there isn’t much of a post-game unless players want to complete all the quests.
Saying that the completionist will want to find all the perfect Coromon. But I feel this game will need to grow its online community if it’s going to outlast its rivals in this competitive genre.
Coromon is already available for PC but comes out for the Nintendo Switch on 21 July
