''Monster Crown'' is a 2021

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

developed by Studio Aurum and published by

Soedesco Soedesco (stylized in all caps) is a 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 Rotte ...

. Heavily inspired by early games in the ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' series, it features similar mechanics, but with a darker

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

and storyline. The game received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay and graphical style, but noted significant bugs and performance issues, and also criticized it for

game balance Game balance is a branch of game design that is described as a mathematical-algorithmic model of a game’s numbers, game mechanics, and relations between the two. Game balance consists of adjusting values to create a certain user experience. Play ...

issues as well as its story.

Gameplay

Monster Crown features 200 base

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

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 Video game development (or gamedev) is the software development, process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a video game developer, developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. ...

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. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

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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 development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

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

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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

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Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

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, and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. A

physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

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

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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 base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

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

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

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 mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

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

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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 and

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

References

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