Recent reviews by WetToadette

This was absolutely incredible. Easily my favorite 2D Sonic.

So... Next year is Sonic and friends in the escape room, right?

I bought this game kind of on an impulse and waited until I was about 20hrs in to write this. First off, I definitely don't regret the buy. In a lot of ways, this game is what I wanted from Pokemon Sword and Shield. It's ambitious with how far it strays from the formula it was inspired by while also managing to tweak familiar systems.

Pros:
- The combat is much more intuitive and requires a deeper level of strategy than anything I was initially expecting. Due to the use of stamina in moves giving a high cost with the high reward of more powerful moves, every battle feels like more of an event rather than spamming the one strong move your monster knows.
- The breeding is a lot more interesting and has some risk to it too which weirdly makes it more fun.
- The writing here is solid, definitely a step up from really any pokemon game, not that that's saying much or anyone really plays those for the story. This game has a good sense of humor throughout and something I really appreciate is how hateable your rival is.
- I can't speak to the multiplayer aspects really, but seeing other people walk around and crowd up places is pretty enjoyable and helps the world feel alive. Also, it's really cool to see someone being followed by a luma (shiny) monster.
- It manages to be really approachable for new players and veterans alike. For those who try to get the best mons like I do in these kinds of games, it shows their IVs at all times.
- It's all around, really solid and I can tell longer lasting than any recent pokemon game.

Cons:
- Subjective opinion, but I find the character designs for NPCs and even dojo (gym) leaders to be underwhelming. Additionally, I think it could be a consequence of the art style, but some of the monsters don't stand out design wise as much as I think they could.
- There were some server issues with the mass amounts of people playing that the devs weren't initially prepared for, but over the time since release, it has gotten progressively more stable to the point where the biggest problem now might be a minute or two of a wait to log in.

TLDR: This game improves upon pokemon in every area except, in my opinion, the aesthetics.

I first played the demo way back when it first went up on steam for early access. My initial thoughts were that it was good, but would probably sit in the endless purgatory of early access with minimal updates and maybe, possibly, a lackluster release. I am happy to have been completely wrong.

There is a ton of love and time that clearly went into making this game. While it takes a bit to get going, it has a very interesting premise and a lot of surprises. This is what early access should be and I can't recommend this gem of a game enough.