A new MMORPG has been released on Steam with Chainmonsters, which is heavily inspired by Pokémon. You catch, train, and battle with monsters while facing PvE and PvP challenges. Highlights include dungeons and raids that can only be conquered with other players. If you want, you can even test it for free right now.
What kind of game is this? Chainmonsters aims to combine the concept of Pokémon with MMORPGs, much like Temtem did, which our editor Maik Schneider referred to as “the crowning achievement of classic monster collecting games”.
However, it promises an even greater focus on cooperative gameplay.
- You follow a story told through quests. These quests are meant to be completed together with friends.
- At launch, there should be over 135 different monsters with various types and abilities.
- The combat system is turn-based, featuring combo and chain attacks to add more strategy. You can also battle in 2v2.
- A dynamic weather system is supposed to influence the environment and the monsters in the world, as well as abilities.
- There will be dungeons, raids, and special boss events that can only be tackled as a group.
- There will be housing in the form of your own island. There, you can build crafting stations and your own houses.
- Thanks to blockchain technology, all monsters, items, and cosmetics will truly belong to you. They should be tradable both in-game and outside of the game.
Chainmonsters is set to launch in Early Access on Steam and on Android and iOS in 2023. Cross-play and a console version are planned. The MMORPG will be free-to-play.
You can check out the first gameplay in this trailer:
German developer raises 108,000 euros on Kickstarter and launches free demo
Who is developing the game? Chainmonsters is being developed by B-Side Games, an indie studio. They managed to raise 108,765 euros for their project via Kickstarter (via Kickstarter). Interestingly, the studio is based in Hamburg.
What kind of demo is this? The demo on Steam is free, and anyone can simply download the game. The download size is around 2 GB.
In the game, there is an initial area that you can explore. You can encounter 36 Chainmonsters, several NPCs, a shop to buy replicators (for “catching” the monsters), and the ability to battle other trainers.
The demo version is very rudimentary but shows the direction the MMORPG wants to take. There are quests, and you can interact with the environment. For instance, there are plants to collect or crates that you can open to find money inside.
Somewhat unusual is the combat system, as you need to drag the abilities onto the opponents when you want to use them. This function should be quite useful on the smartphone, though.
Otherwise, not much can be concluded from the demo yet. Too many elements are still missing. It’s funny that some texts in the game are defaulted to German. This may confuse the international audience a bit.
What do you think about Chainmonsters? Is such a game needed right now, or are you content with classic Pokémon? And what does Chainmonsters need from your perspective to be truly successful?
Just in August, a Pokémon MMORPG had to halt its development because they ran out of money:
