Temtem formally got here out in early September 2022 and it’s, as of the time of writing, in Version 1.1. While its creature accumulating and fight really feel polished, there are some features that make it clear this recreation nonetheless has loads of room to develop. An excellent instance of that is within the basic aesthetic of the sport. Art is subjective, after all. But I personally discover the mix of low distinction colours, lack of textures, and pastel palette make Temtem appear to be it’s in beta. However, its music and battle animations are of excellent high quality. They virtually really feel like one thing from a contemporary JRPG.

I didn’t wish to evaluate this to Pokémon that a lot. It wouldn’t be truthful, I assumed. However, it was fairly tough to mentally divorce the 2 properties. Temtem begins in a means that’s extremely just like the Pokémon anime. Your mother wakes you up, after which scolds you for sleeping in as a result of it’s a must to go meet the professor. At the professor’s home, you meet your snotty and smug rival Max. Afterwards, you select your starter Temtem from a group of three. Max then wipes the ground with you along with his Temtem, after which off you go in your merry journey. Your aim is to go round preventing in all of the Dojos, which is able to then flip into weekly bosses. Beating every Dojo grants you an merchandise that will help you in exploring. It’s so acquainted a gap that it virtually explicitly invitations comparability.

Something that does make Temtem stand out is in how Temtems evolve. There is not any set degree like in Pokémon. If you catch a Poliwag at degree 30, for instance, it can instantly evolve right into a Poliwhirl within the subsequent battle. This is as a result of a Poliwag usually evolves at degree 25. However, in Temtem, they evolve based mostly on what number of ranges they achieve after you catch them. No matter what degree a Kaku is once you catch it, you continue to should degree it up 11 instances for it to show right into a Saku. That is just not a foul mechanic, because it provides extra time with every evolutionary stage. But I hope they implement a approach to verify once you first meet a Temtem. I do not know what number of extra ranges sure Temtems have to degree up.

Temtem is a surprisingly difficult recreation. Even as a Pokémon veteran, I discovered myself pushed to the restrict a number of instances (although this could possibly be as a consequence of my stinginess relating to shopping for and utilizing therapeutic gadgets). Wild Temtems on the sphere aren’t so unhealthy, however tamers and lengthy dungeons can get fairly dicey. Instead of PP, you’ve Stamina, which recovers on the finish of every battle. Overexerting your Temtem will trigger it to take harm, which signifies that it limits what number of highly effective expertise you may let your Temtem study. It additionally prevents you from merely utilizing one Temtem’s strongest talent each flip.

Even with over-leveled Temtems, I needed to actually use standing illnesses and make the most of kind weaknesses with a purpose to preserve my finest Temtems comparatively wholesome by lengthy dungeons. This is in distinction to Pokémon the place a Vulpix might nonetheless wipe the ground with a Squirtle given there’s a vital degree distinction. Depending on what set of Temtems you’ve, some strikes could get a power-up as a consequence of affinities. This provides an additional layer to the way you arrange your celebration, in addition to what strikes you retain. Pokémon gamers who’ve grown bored of a few of the sequence’ extra simplistic implementations could discover pleasure in exploring and discovering the depths of Temtem‘s elemental fight.

That being mentioned, there are some quality-of-life options I hope the builders patch into the sport finally. One of them is a useful kind chart to make use of in fight. It could be tough to recollect what kind a Temtem is, in addition to elemental weaknesses and strengths. Another is including extra crucial data to your Temtem’s standing display. I want to know my Temtem’s species as an alternative of getting to scour the Tempedia, in addition to what degree they have been after they joined (to calculate when they may evolve). The map might be the most important difficulty. While the sport does have a navigation system for quests, there is no such thing as a arrow in your mini-map indicating what route you need to head in the direction of. It can also be tough to inform what every part of the map is, since there aren’t any names for the places.

From an MMORPG standpoint, this recreation doesn’t truly require you to do a lot speaking to anyone. I solely noticed one dialog in all my hours taking part in, and it was a really pleasant change between strangers. The connection is de facto good, with minimal lag and no stuttering. You can play your complete story solo, or co-op with a pal in case you have one. I would not have any buddies who play Temtem. However, I by no means really feel like I’m lacking out on some enjoyable expertise. The end-game does have co-op dungeons, however I’ve not gotten that far but. There are additionally extra aggressive on-line choices, which I’ve not tried but.

Temtem doesn’t really feel like it’s shying away from its Pokémon clone standing, with how comparable they’re in each aesthetics and narratives. Nonetheless, it by no means makes me wish to drop it with a purpose to play Pokémon as an alternative. Its inherently strategic fight system signifies that you can not all the time brute drive your means by encounters, preserving it a problem for gamers like myself who constantly over-level their monsters. However, it lacks some primary quality-of-life choices resembling a greater navigation system that may hopefully seem afterward.

Temtem is on the market on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, PS5, and Windows PC.