Gamescom is in full swing and gamers all over the planet are frothing at the mouth for all the new trailers and reveals. Amongst these games is Monster Harvest, a game with striking similarities to Stardew Valley with a dash of Pokémon thrown in.
Monster Harvest hopes to make its mark on the crafting/farming sim genre by adding a traditional turn-based fighting system, creatures to obtain/train, and a unique combination of art styles. Stardew Valley fans will notice a familiar isometric art style for the environment, despite the odd colored trees.
At its core, Monster Harvest is about farming, crafting, growing monsters, and using them to battle. Yes, you read that right, you’ll be growing your own minions to fight monsters in the wilds. These minions are called Planimals, and with them, you’ll be able to explore Planimal Point and battle wild monsters and Planimals.
Exploring Planimal Point and the stories involved will likely serve as the main narrative drive, along with growing new and progressively more powerful/unique Planimals. Planimal Point contains a small but busy community, complete with a graveyard, hospital, potion shop, plaza, and plenty of shops to help you decorate your house.
The game will feature what appears to be a simple turn-based fighting system, with Planimals and monsters making attacks that can deal more/less damage depending on how effective the attack is, in a fashion similar to the early Pokémon games.
Of course, if you’ve played games like Stardew Valley in the past, you know that there will be plenty of time to explore every facet of the game, including farming and crafting.
The game will feature an extensive farming and crafting system, as the reveal trailer shows multiple elaborate sprinkler systems within the player’s farm, as well as a variety of plants and planimals that appear to be livestock. As is the case in most farming sims, Monster Harvest will feature a seasonal system that will affect what Planimals the player can grow.
Something that veteran Pokémon fans will love is the Planimals within the game seem to follow the player around rather than inside some sort of device. As of the writing of this article, only two Planimals are confirmed to be able to follow the player, although this could change.
Luckily, for all those anxious about which platforms this game will come out on, Monster Harvest is confirmed for the Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
