Monster X Monster

Monster X Monster offers an imaginative twist on the traditional fantasy adventure by placing players in control of creatures who have grown tired of being hunted by heroic adventurers. Developed and published by VanGame, this indie roguelike combines deckbuilding, turn-based combat, monster customization, and dungeon exploration into an experience that emphasizes experimentation and tactical planning. Instead of following a conventional story about heroes defeating monsters, the game presents an unusual struggle for freedom as imprisoned creatures attempt to escape their castle. Its charming premise and ambitious mechanics establish an appealing foundation, although its overall execution reveals some limitations associated with smaller independent productions. The gameplay centers on assembling a party of four monsters and navigating procedurally generated dungeons filled with hostile encounters, equipment, and unpredictable events. Every expedition requires thoughtful decisions about party composition, available abilities, and resource management. Combat incorporates cards that represent different actions, encouraging players to develop strategies around offensive attacks, defen…

Tedious.

This game should not receive any negative reviews. $2.99 (full-price) is really a tiny price to pay for such a silly but fairly fun game (that looks very similar to games like Darkest Dungeon but uses cute/quirky little blue slime blobs and other fun critters).

ggood game bad name

For the price its impossible to not be impressed by this title. Somewhere along the way you'll wonder where the line between paying homage and copying blurs. I've seen numerous comparisons to Slay the Spire, but this game has numerous mechanics beyond deck-building. The character system requires that you add cards to one of your units' decks in order to grant them additional HP, making it harder to build a deck centered around 1 universal theme. Due to the multiple decks you'll often find it difficult to make four decks that compliment eachother in the field. A fair amount of the game feels somewhat imbalanced, but I think thats part of its charm, its a strange wacky deck-builder dungeon-crawler.

Yes I recommend it, with a big ol BUT.. BUT this game is nowhere near as polished as most of the games it is emulating. I understand it is in Early Access, but it doesn't really feel like there's been any improvements to what everyone else complains about since I opened it last in July 2019. No detailed explanations(I still have no idea how to use any of the items you can equip on your team), the ESL can be tough to navigate for some, my kids had no idea what to do in a few parts until I encouraged them to just "click around a little bit". All in all it's a fun glimpse of what could be a great game if the devs would fix the issues the community has complained about already.