Cassette Beasts

I was going into this game expecting to hate it. Every time I heard "it's better than modern Pokemon!" I just rolled my eyes. And while I don't think it's better than Pokemon (honestly I think there are enough differences to where it's kind of reductive to compare them), this game knocked it out of the park. My only complaint is that I think the fusion mechanic was a little half-baked, although I kind of get why

This is SUCH a cool game! Like that other major creature collector game but better! I would DEFINITELY give this 5 stars, if we could give stars.

Cassette Beasts has a great concept, charming visuals, good music, and an interesting combat system, but the progression is frustrating and often feels like it wastes your time. The game gives you several questlines at once, but you can travel across the map only to discover that you need another traversal ability, a higher level, or a different quest completed first. The Ranger Captains are scattered everywhere, and losing can mean a long trip back because checkpoints and fast travel are not always convenient. Wild encounters also interrupt exploration constantly, while normal battles and repeated animations become repetitive. Even some quests feel like busywork, such as collecting 300 Wood early in the game just to build a sign. The game can be fun, but too much of that fun is buried under grinding, backtracking, unclear progression, and unnecessary frustration.

My time with Cassette Beats was great, I really enjoyed my time playing the game to completion! Althought theres some things I feel I should mention for anyone wanting to journey into Cassette Beasts: The games style and feel felt like it would've been better suited for a non linear story, the catching creatures feels great however what didnt do it for me was the travelling around the map, some areas can feel a little empty, certain paths or areas felt visually flat and unfinished, my favourite area in the game has to be the forest area on the top of the map, its just full and its very filled visually compared to the other areas of the world. The ending felt like a proper battle you'd have during J-RPG but it felt out of place from the rest of the game, I really do wish for their 2002 game coming, they lean more into the story elements more as the relationships and building characters up in my opinion is always the funnest part of the game, seeing them level as the relationship grew just tickles my brain, and makes me enjoy the characters more. The Type and battle system is freakin AWESOME ngl, granted during my playthrough of 31 hours I did no use every move or type i…

A great monster catcher/battler game. The story was intriguing and the characters well defined. I loved the innovations on the shiny mechanic, as well as having the sprites for the shiny mons flicker in the overworld--seeing one out of the corner of my eye was always exciting, even if I did overkill a few lol. The moves ("stickers") worked in such a fun way, and playing around with fusing stickers in the post game occupied me for quite a while, though admittedly most of it was figuring out which attributes could be fused with which stickers. It also opened up every mon to be OP as possible, and used in a variety of niches. It did feel like multi-target mons were more desirable, what with the majority of battles being 2v2, but that could also just be how I like to play. I do think fusion battles should give fusion material based on level than whatever it is now, considering fusion material is in such demand post main story. Earning one per fight even past lv 100 does not feel very good, a grind just for the sake of a grind and not a reward. Otherwise a very satisfying game.

Honestly was a little worried about getting this, but quickly found it to be very enjoyable! I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy it because I got burned out from Pokemon games due to the format being the exact same in every game, and I was worried that Cassette Beasts would be too similar to enjoy as well. However, the story, the characters, the battles all feel so fresh and it reminds me of the enjoyment I got from my first Pokemon games. Highly recommend.