Coromon is a monster-taming RPG in the same vein as the revered Pokémon series, but a with few twists of its own that set it apart from its inspiration. By combining sprite-based visuals with a robust dungeon system, outstanding character customization, and unique puzzle-solving tools, Coromon is poised to deliver a catch-‘em-all experience that feels fresh, yet nostalgic and familiar. The PC game is scheduled for release in early 2022, and doesn’t currently have a price.
Coromon’s World
Coromon takes place in Velua, a high-tech world where mankind and magical creatures called Coromon coexist. You play as a young, new hire at a tech company that researches Titan Essence, a mysterious energy source produced by powerful elemental Titans scattered throughout the world. Unfortunately, a shady organization also seeks to obtain and abuse this power, spurring you on a quest to reach the Titans first. With powerful Coromon beasties at your side, and with more than 100 types to find, you’re encouraged to capture, train, and develop a team to battle the challenging Titans and collect their essences before the bad guys do.
Coromon lets you customize your avatar using various skin colors, hair types, and outfits before you head out to the lab. Sure, your character is a small, sprite-based blip on the screen, but the attention to detail is appreciated. Coromon makes extensive use of sprites, strong outlines, and vibrant colors to give its game world a retro look that’s rich with detail. Overworld maps feature a top-down view as seen in older Pokémon games or in the 2D Zelda games.
Like Zelda, Coromon has complex maps that include several dungeon-like areas packed with puzzles to solve and hazards to avoid. For example, a dungeon in the desert zone features an elaborate set of dart traps that must be avoided as you navigate short mazes en route to the ruin’s inner chambers. The main path is relatively straightforward in this example, but the dungeon also features a few branching rooms with treasure to earn for the more ambitious secret hunters.
Unique to Coromon are exploration actions that you earn and unlock as you play. These are similar to the Pokémon games’ field moves, such as Cut or Rock Smash, though they can be set to a hot key and used more extensively in puzzle solving and exploration. One early move is the Stink function. Using Stink in a patch of grass eliminates encounters, letting you explore in peace for a few moments. Other actions include Push, which works very much like the push magic in the Golden Sun games. Performing this action summons a hand that pushes whatever object you are facing, which is useful for solving puzzles.
The Art of Battle
Combat takes place in themed battle screens, such as pyramid-laden deserts, frosty tundras, marshy coastlines, and volcanic caverns. These screens are more richly detailed than the game’s overworld, and they utilize a cartoonish art style to depict the zone and the Coromon taking action.
Much like the Pokémon games that inspired it, Coromon pits your monster against wild ones that jump you in the field, with each beast trading blows in turn-based combat. Besides the elemental alignments and naming conventions, the fights feel similar to classic Pokémon battles, so fans of that franchise should feel right at home.
Coromon’s improvements build on the base Pokemon formula, and they make fighting, leveling, and customizing your team so much more rewarding. There is a wealth of information that can be gleaned from every gameplay facet; with a push of a button, you can open a second window that demonstrates what an action does, reveals your opponents’ elemental alignments, and more. Coromon’s gameplay is wonderfully intuitive, and easy to understand from the jump.
Coromon also features unique stat allocation and rare creature systems that reward you with many hours of additional monster hunting and team building content. When a Coromon levels up, you can allocate stats to it in whatever manner you see fit. Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, Speed, and Health can be increased by a certain number of points with each level, so you can choose to build a well-rounded Coromon, a tanky HP sponge, or a glass cannon.
The number of points that can be allocated to a critter also depends on the quality of the Coromon. Much like Shiny Pokémon, Coromon features a rarity system, so each creature has rarer variants of its type. Unlike Pokemon, however, the Coromon’s potential is determined by its rarity, with Potent and Perfect variants enjoying the greatest amount of growth. Coromon encourages you to hunt for these, but the game also gives you several options to increase your chances of finding one, and even developing common Coromon into a rare types. Of course, Coromon also features an extensive evolution system, so most common Coromon are capable of metamorphosing into larger and more potent variations once they reach a certain level (or through certain quest chains).
Can Your PC Play Coromon?
Coromon is not a particularly demanding game. To play Coromon, your PC must house at least an 1GHz CPU, any OpenGL 2.1 or higher compatible graphics card, and the Windows 7 operating system. On Steam, Coromon features full controller support, plus the option to use a keyboard and mouse.
Coromon won’t launch with multiplayer functionality; it’s being designed as a primarily single-player game. That said, Coromon’s development team, TRAGsoft, stated that a multiplayer model may be a potential addition after the game’s release.
Retro Charm
Coromon is a clever combination of classic Nintendo franchises rolled into a surprisingly polished bundle. The map designs and puzzles wouldn’t be out of place in a 2D Zelda or Golden Sun game, and the combat system and collecting aspects feel like a natural extension of the Pokémon series’ winning formula. Coromon doesn’t radically reinvent any of the elements that inspire it, but the game is shaping up to be greater than the sum of its parts. Coromon is scheduled for a 2022 release, but a demo is available now via Steam if you want to give monster collecting a spin.
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