A new Pokémon type! The new heir of Pokémon! Pokémon with music cassettes! What do all these Cassette Beasts statements have in common? Well, the answer is simple, they are all wrong. The game developed by Estudio Bytten, which arrived at the end of May on Nintendo Switch and Xbox and is now available on PC Steam and Game Pass PC, is actually a video game in the monster taming genre, but it is not a Pokémon clone, in fact it differs from the Series from Nintendo quite markedly.
Full of interesting and deep finds like we would never have expected, we will tell you all the details about the game in the Cassette Beasts Review.
Origin of a genus
The gender monster taming, or that variant of role-playing games in which creatures are captured to collect and use in battle, was born in the late 80s with the Megami Tensei series. A very dark series, whose mature and often exaggerated themes made the expansion of the genre beyond eastern borders complex. In fact, it will be years before the series finds success in the West, mainly thanks to the spin-off Persona. The genre to which it belongs finds fertile ground on the Game Boy thanks to Pokémon: the sweet and friendly creatures invented by Satoshi Tajiri were more "saleable", could fascinate even the little ones and, above all, were not associated with satanic themes. like the Megami Tensei series. The success of Pokémon is well known and the 90s are, therefore, the cradle of a subgenre, that of Pokémon, which will guarantee notoriety to the collection of virtual creatures.
In the following years Jade Cocoon, Legend of Legaia, but also Yo-Kai Watch, Digimon and finally the most recent Monster Hunter Stories and Temtem. All examples of a varied, stratified genre truly full of possibilities. Each of its exponents has been able to draw inspiration from some key elements of the role-playing experience proposed by the monster taming genre to turn it into a distinctive brand. In recent years, the independent scene has been an important niche for the growth and experimentation of new forms of recreational entertainment linked to this type of virtual collecting. Coromon, but especially the focus of this review or Cassette Beasts.
Don't call it Pokémon
As we said at the beginning of the article, the product proposed by Bytten Studio is not similar to Pokémon. In the Game Freak series the initial premise is that of a world in which humans and creatures coexist and in which the trainer is a key figure in the social mechanisms of this fantastic universe. Here at Cassette Beasts, the narrative premise Is different. The game sees us take our steps on the island of New Wirral, a strange and disturbing place that does not base its foundations on a representation of the Earth. New Wirral is a place that we will discover inhospitable and full of dangers in which the social dynamics we know are rewritten and unusual and in which non-human creatures are an obstacle to survival, a danger that we must face if we want to save our skin. .
Cassette Beasts has a lot to offer in terms of plot and storytelling. He The themes addressed are decidedly mature., unexpected and unusual in a similar game, especially those with a very colorful graphic style. The mere idea of transforming into beasts and not capturing them has a whole series of explanations that have little to do with “tenderness.”
From a gameplay point of view, the game uses a classic turn-based system in which attacks, item use, escape, and transformation are modified. Added to this is the registration system (the equivalent of capture if you will). As you can guess from the logo and name, in Cassette Beasts, for a reason that will be revealed to you during the adventures, the creatures of New Wirral can be recorded via a "cassette player". The frequencies that characterize each creature can be stored in blank tapes that will later allow you to transform into the aforementioned creature. However, to do this, you will expose yourself (with your personal life bar, which is separate from the monster's) to the possibility of taking damage. The recording will be complex and its success will be influenced by several factors such as the damage suffered, the damage inflicted, the altered state and the number of enemies present on the battlefield.
During the adventure you will meet several companions that you can take with you. Playing alone you can decide the movements of the protagonist and his companion, while in local cooperative mode, players will split the use of human characters. Thanks to this choice, Bytten Studio has decided to insert a fusion system that will allow players' creatures to merge, thus creating new ones.
Speaking of numbers, Cassette Beasts delivers Creature 120 with a number of possible fusions greater than 14.000 variables. Merging with companions, completing quests related to them, and continuing the story with them will influence a friendship system similar to that used in the Persona series. Precisely this is another successful element of Cassette Beasts: the main plot and secondary narrative threads are coherently intertwined with well-characterized bosses and mini-bosses, and with a story rhythm capable of diluting new information in a satisfactory way. . It's also fun to explore the island, as well as learn new map navigation skills. Test out the ability to see monsters on the map, so you can search for the rarest variants without having to go crazy.
Many lights and very few shadows.
What surprised us was the Elemental damage and resistance system.. As in any role-playing game worth its salt, the creatures have a typology, from the most famous of fire and air to the strangest ones such as plastic and glass. Casssette Beast's element system uses not only the classic table of resistances and weaknesses (water wins over fire, etc.), but also a chemistry system that will allow us to interact in a more advanced way with the elements. For example, if you hit a fire-type creature with the air element, you will create a penalty on the opponent for three turns to both physical contact and ranged damage. This is because air can weaken the fire. Conversely, hitting an Air-type with a Fire element will cause a fire tornado in front of the enemy that will absorb damage for three turns.
It is, therefore, a very deep system that we did not expect to find and that dramatically increases the possibilities of fun and strategy. Cassette Beasts also surprised us thanks to the possibility of activating alternative game modes such as speedrun or nuzelock (with permanent death) from launch, two elements that can guarantee good replayability. Too bad, though. an online cooperative is not planned, which given the nature of the title and the present configuration would undoubtedly have expanded a satisfactory game offering.
The small problems we found during the Cassette Beasts review mainly concern what is called "quality of life": that is, nothing overwhelming or too annoying, but small problems that can get boring from time to time. The main thing is the feeling of movement, a little rigid in some sections (especially in the plane), and also the management of the creatures assigned to the companions that must be eliminated before replacing the traveling companion. Even the present environmental puzzles, although not numerous, have not always completely convinced us in terms of intuition or implementation.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, Xbox Store Price 19,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.0 Readers (14) 7.0 your voteCassette Beasts is an excellent game in many ways, with some slight quality of life hiccups, but nothing too problematic. It's a truly deep experience that shines through its boss battle design and narrative references to the Arthurian cycle. A title that rewards strategy, thanks to a really well implemented system of interactions between elements and that also makes the most of fusions between creatures and synergies with traveling companions. And we would like to say that Cassette Beasts does not need awkward Pokémon-type labels because its personality allows it to walk on its own two feet.
PRO
- Really deep element system
- Narratively satisfying
- Incredible number of creatures between normals, variants and fusions.
AGAINST
- Some problems in the "quality of life" elements
