Temtem takes over many gameplay mechanics from the popular Pokémon series. However, it follows an MMO approach with service game elements and aims to stay interesting longer instead of regularly releasing a new title. In the new endgame trailer, Temtem explains how this will be achieved.
What is Temtem? The small development studio Crema released Temtem in early 2020 as an alternative to Pokémon and hit it big. They raised enough money for development through Kickstarter and have now been in Early Access on Steam for just over 2.5 years.
The fundamental game principle is as simple as it is known: You collect cute, strong, crazy and/or lovable monsters, battle and level up with them to become the greatest Temtem master of the “Flying Island World”.
The game takes much from Pokémon but differentiates itself with certain mechanics, which makes Temtem refreshingly different.
What does the endgame look like? Pokémon traditionally relies on new games every few years. First comes a game with a new color, shortly after an expanded version of these color versions, and a few years later the next color series comes out.
Temtem breaks this monster cycle, aims to bring in new content even after release, and remain exciting for its players for a long time. In the trailer above, you can see the endgame content that is meant to keep players busy post-launch:
- Tamers Paradise – New island with endgame activities.
- Archtamers: Top trainers that you must defeat one after another for rewards.
- Draft: Choose Tems from a list and battle against AI or other players as long as you can.
- Tower: Similar to Draft, but you fight with your own team against the endless tower.
- Wild: Fight against an endless stream of wild Tems with your team.
- Lair: Play as a 2-person team and battle against many opponents to ultimately snag a specific Tem egg. The higher the chosen difficulty, the better the egg.
The activities are limited, and you need a “token” to play them. Each week you receive 5 tokens, one for each of the endgame activities.
The rewards are also adjusted to this system and are most worthwhile during the first run of the week. If you want to repeat the activities, you can buy tokens with the in-game currency Pansun.
There are different rewards for the activities, but most of the time you’ll receive the new endgame currency “Feathers”. With this, you can shop at the big shopping center in Tamers Paradise.
Here you can find everything a trainer’s heart desires: radars for targeted Tem encounters, essences for the stats of your monsters, soul binders with which you can bind your monsters to yourself for special bonuses, and much more.
Moreover, Season 1 begins with the release and the first “Tamer Pass,” a type of battle pass similar to what you already know from other service games – you trade items for playtime, and there is often a free and a purchasable path.
Temtem has already talked about its endgame several months ago but has now reached many new players with its new trailer, who are partly showing enthusiasm.
For instance, YouTube user “Leo” commented under the trailer: “This is how Pokémon games should always have been! I will definitely download it” (via youtube.com). There is generally a very positive mood under the YouTube trailers.
On Reddit, the release of Temtem is viewed a bit more critically. Here, especially the hard grind when breeding in the endgame is mentioned, and there is hope for balance changes by the full release (via reddit.com).
Whether Temtem can surpass Pokémon in long-term motivation remains to be seen. But for fans of the genre, it is definitely worth taking a look – or what do you think? Leave a comment on the topic.
If you’d rather read about how the competition wants to catch up in terms of cooperative gameplay, check this out: New Pokémon Scarlet and Violet shows cooperative mode – reminiscent of Monster Hunter World
