One of the complaints about pokemon (we're going to talk about pokemon while we review something that ripped it off..tributes it?) is that it's much much too easy. at least for PVE there is no real challenge, beyond the end game of some of them.

Coromon keeps the challenge up, it keeps trainers and wild po-Coromon even with your levels. you'll need to carry plenty of healing items and actually strategize, especially against the titans (this game's gym leaders? I guess?) if you want to succeed. In theory this is good. In practice, all it actually does it make it all slower. progress is slow, every battle is a slog, you are constantly back tracking to heal. Every dungeon becomes a chore, leveling is so slow that there's no room to experiment with your team and evolutions are a rarity. You realize, you miss just plowing through your foes with ease. This wasn't what you wanted afterall.

This isn't the only way that Coromon doesn't replicate the charm of pokemon. It tries to mix up the formula by having Titans in place of Gyms. Titans are sentient monsters (that you can't catch) you must work your way to and fight to collect their essence, as part of the clumsy storyline. It's almost refreshing to do something novel, but without gyms, a league, or a rival, something is missing. There's no motivation. the story, as little as there is, supplies no motive to train up a strong team and take on the challenge. There are other trainers, but they're just aimless one off encounters that have no lasting part of your journey and are all unremarkable.

The Coromon themselves are fine. The designs keep a consistent aesthetic and are varied and interesting. cast in a better story, they would have shined.

There's a few nice tweaks to the formula. Instead of Shiny you have two variants colors on every Coromon with better stats, making finding them more than just about collecting. moves can be re learned the way they can in newer pokemon games. Trainers you trade with will re appear and battle you. sometimes. the puzzles you have to do along the way, and there's a ton, are actaully engaging and fun, the challenge is just right.

all of this just serves as a let down. because there are so many good elements that serve a weak unmotivating overall experience. it's still fun. It's a solid pokemon like game. but it just doesn't capture the magic.

Just listing some of the major points instead of how I'd normally review. I'd say this was a 3.5⋆ for me. Not really anything mind-blowing, but a solid game on most fronts.

Some cool things:

• The take on “shinies” in Coromon is two-fold: there are three different variants of every Coromon—standard, potent, and perfect. Each form has a different color, as well as better stat improvements when you go up from standard. The simplest explanation is that your Coromon have a “potential” score and this is generally higher with potent and perfect Coromon. As your Coromon grow, they level up number-wise, but also with a second bar that grants 3 stat points that you can allocate as you please each time it levels. With a higher potential, this bar fills faster, so you get points more often.

• There are Coromon types, but there are also types that apply only to skills (moves/attacks/whatever you want to call them). There are seven types that apply to Coromon themselves (Fire, Water, Electric, Ice, Sand, Normal, and Ghost), and six additional types that apply only to skills (Magic, Foul, Heavy, Air, Poison, Cut). The number of types are pretty limited when you’re used to Pokémon, especially with no dual types, but I still think it’s an interesting system with its own level of complexity.

• There’s a stamina system, instead of PP. Each skill costs a certain number of stamina points. You can have your Coromon rest at any point during battle to regain half of their stamina, or use items to recover it. This kind of forced me to change my habits that I have from Pokemon where, say, I take out 90% of an enemy’s HP in one hit, so I use a “Normal” attack or something weaker to conserve PP of my Fire/Water/whatever attack to finish them off. In this case, that might be a strong Normal move that uses more stamina, so you might as well just use the Fire attack again.

• Just a generally tougher monster collector than Pokémon. There aren’t Gyms or a real likeness to them, but there are several “bosses” and they’re solidly difficult if you aren’t prepared. Some normal-ass trainer fights are also pretty tough sometimes, which is pretty refreshing. You don’t really need to GRIND, especially when you find several exp share-type hold items, but you do need to have a pretty strong team throughout. End-game stuff is around level 70. I was not at level 70 and the final battle was rough.

• Fantastic music throughout the game. Coromon are fully animated in battles, as are the backgrounds, which are beautiful. It’s a really pretty game.

Some not-so-cool things:

• There are double- and triple-battles at random in the wild. You still only get to use one Coromon. This is pretty different from the swarms in Pokémon where they’re all pretty weak. The level might be a bit lower, but generally not drastically. A lot of times it’ll be an evolved and unevolved form together, which is kinda cool, but these fights get tedious.

• This could be a plus for some people, but most of the dungeons were just really long with annoying and/or tedious puzzles which meant a lot of back and forth hitting switches and shit in a game where I was already backtracking to heal a lot (mostly early game to save money), so huge chunks of the game were a bit frustrating.

• There's not much to the story. There's a simple plot as to why you're saving the world and whatnot but there's zero explanation behind it. There are some fourth wall-breaking moments from some NPCs and the game is pretty funny at times, though.

My team (all potent):

Volcadon (starter), Kyraptor, Swampa, Purrghast, Toravolt, Glamoth.

I know that as the resident cat lady I should love Purrghast the most, but Swampa has my heart. And Glamoth. <3

I KNOW THE PICTURES ARE MESSY AHHHH.