A great experience for the price you're likely to get it at. And probably the best monster collector on Steam.

Having a fusion mechanic is always awesome, and the sprite work is great.

As someone who misses the older Pokemon games, this game really scratched that itch and was a fun experience.

Veredito: melhor que Pokémon, vem pro pau quem discorda.

Vamos tirar logo o elefante da sala: sim, Cassette Beasts é um clone de Pokémon. As inspirações são óbvias e o jogo nem tenta esconder. Dito isso, reduzir esse tipo de jogo a "clone de Pokémon" é uma visão tosca e míope. Pokémon não criou JRPGs de treinar criaturas. E mesmo que tivesse criado, não é o único jogo desse gênero. Já imaginou se todo mundo reduzisse roguelikes a "clones de Rogue" como se isso fosse um demérito?

Pra quem não tá acostumado com o gênero, em Cassette Beasts você vai parar numa ilha desconhecida, onde aparentemente várias pessoas de universos diferentes acabaram caindo também ao longo do tempo. Rapidinho você ganha fitas cassette e um gravador/tocador, e descobre que nessa ilha pode usar os gravadores para se transformar nos monstros que estiverem gravados nas fitas. Existem monstros de fogo, água, elétricos, plástico, vidro, purpurina, e por aí vai. Cada tipo de monstro tem características próprias, e ao longo do jogo você pode gravar os que quiser e montar o time que quiser. O que Cassette Beasts faz é pegar o sistema de batalha de Pokémon (vantagens, desvantagens, níveis, "evoluções", etc) e melhorar CONSIDERAVELMENTE.

Pra começar, quem upa de nível é você, e não o seu monstro, então você não é punido por experimentar combinações diferentes nem por tentar completar o bestiário. Segundo, a quantidade de comandos não é fixa, não é "todo mundo só pode ter 4 comandos". Os monstros até upam também, num sistema de estrelas que é separado dos seus níveis, mas a quantidade de estrelas do seu monstro só quer dizer que ele pode ter mais comandos e que está mais perto de remasterizar para outro monstro mais forte. O resultado é que todo monstro é viável de se usar, sem precisar de uma quantidade ridícula de grindagem, se você souber o que está fazendo.

Isso também ajuda a montar o universo do jogo. Afinal, você não captura e doma monstros selvagens, você SE TRANSFORMA neles usando o poder das fitas cassette. Mas por que os gravadores e fitas têm poderes especiais? Por que várias pessoas de épocas diferentes e universos diferentes estão vindo parar todas nesse mesmo lugar? O que exatamente são esses monstros chamados Arcanjos, consideravelmente mais fortes e que.... são... tudo... errados?

Inclusive, os monstros todos são bastante inspirados, e não teve nenhum que eu não tenha curtido. Claro, eu gostei mais do desenho de uns do que de outros, e você também vai ter suas preferências, mas não teve nenhum que eu olhei e falei "pô, sem graça você". Um detalhe interessante é que cada um deles tem dois parágrafos de descrição: um que você desbloqueia quando grava, descrevendo como ele se insere no mundo do jogo, e um segundo parágrafo que você desbloqueia quando chega em 5 estrelas, e que explica a inspiração por trás daquele monstro. Meu primeiro foi um demônio de doces e um dos meus últimos foi uma fada feita de vitrais de igreja, aliás.

Se eu tenho alguma reclamação (além de uns problemas na física do jogo, puta merda, a movimentação na água é TENEBROSA!!!) é que o pós-créditos é muito fraquinho. Ele não é ruim, mas tem um ritmo muito arrastado. Algumas quests são maneiras (maior legal você enturmar e treinar uma recém-chegada na ilha) mas a maioria esmagadora do conteúdo depois de zerar é "mate tantos monstros em tal área" ou "fale com Fulano pra completar a quest". O ritmo no começo da jornada também demora um pouco pra engatar.

Enfim, jogão. Curto, caprichado e super denso, recheado de coisa legal. Recomendo não só pra fãs de Pokémon. Pô, eu não sou fã de Pokémon e gostei bastante. XD

PS: Esqueci de falar, mas todas as músicas de batalha desse jogo são DIVINAS, puta que pariu! ❤️

Adorable Pokemon-like, with a uniquely in-depth battle system that sets it apart. The art style is a charming homage, and I really loved the melancholic music throughout - and you can romance characters, too. Always welcome. The story was a bit all over the place, and the art of the various bosses you face could've been a bit more consistent. Even with these narrative shortcomings, I don't think any of us play Pokemon or Pokemon-likes for the plot, and what is here is perfectly servicable. The true charm is in Cassette Beast's world and moment-to-moment gameplay, and I found the game to be incredibly addictive, and a perfect first playthrough on my then-new Steam Deck. Looking forward to playing the DLC!

I loved the exploration! It was simple but beautiful! The soundtrack was great (I'm still listening to Wherever We Are Now 3 months after beating the game), but I think the highlight for me was definitely the exploration. I just loved exploring every inch of the map with the different exploration abilities you get. I enjoyed the battling and finding different combinations with each monster! However, I think one of my main gripes with the game was the ending, as it didn't have as much of an emotional impact on me as I thought it would. But overall, great game, would highly recommend!

I had a great time and this is way closer to what I wish modern Pokemon felt like compared to what we get. The battle system strikes a good balance of wearing it's homage on it's sleeves and provided something new. The way the elements interact is super engaging and creates a lot of consideration for strategy. The focus on double battles creates a good opening to have you actual bond and feel like you're working with the buddy characters.
I do kinda feel like this is a precursor to a much better sequel that I hope we get down the line. I don't really like how the way most of it's structured to where most of the teammates quests can't really be started to close the end. It really gives you no reason to use anyone but the main girl as your partner until close to end game. The box system is also closer to gen 4 and lower in pokemon which is also really tedious. I also just overall feel like the raising the beasts needs a bit more sauce. Generally most just have one evolution and I don't see too many ways to build them differently other than through moveset or the bootlegs (alt element typing).

Strong monster-taming RPG that draws heavily on Pokemon while adding its own unique flare.

Despite the juggernaut that is the Pokemon franchise, monster taming/catching games are rather sparse. I think a large reason for this is that these games live and die by their monster designs and it can be a tough thing to nail. Cassette Beasts manages to (mostly) accomplish this while also bringing some welcome additions to the genre.

Just like Pokemon, in Cassette Beasts you catch monsters using a specific item (Cassettes in this case) and then transform into them in battle against other monsters / trainers. The vast majority of battles are double battles where each side has 2 (or more) monsters. CB diverges in a handful of ways from Pokemon's formula such as:

1. Monsters cannot be defeated while attempting to catch them, but you can damage them and they can damage you.

2. Monsters do not have levels, instead the player does and their companions does. Monsters instead are able to rank up to 5 times, earning a move each time, and in many cases being able to remaster (evolve) upon reaching the 5th rank. Ranks do not increase a monster's stats, but remastering does.

3. The player and their companions have a health bar separate from their monsters that is exposed when their current monster is defeated, meaning that if enough damage is dealt in a single turn, you could be defeated despite your entire team not being defeated.

4. Cassette Beasts version of "shinies" goes beyond a simple palette swap and changes a monster's typing and even moveset.

A lot of these changes remove the tedium that would be commonly found in Pokemon titles. There's a smooth level curve that keeps the game challenging but never left me feeling like I needed to grind to overcome fights.
The combat system feels overall less complex than Pokemon, and you can build some truly busted monsters that are able to end nearly any battle in a single turn, but by utilizing the multiple difficulty options for the enemy AI, there can be a greater challenge found here.

Outside of battling, you traverse the world of New Wirral that gradually opens up as you solve puzzles, progress the story, and acquire player abilities which are essentially this game's version of HMs. These abilities include gliding, a dash that can break boulders/crates, and more. New Wirral isn't the most exciting location in a game, but it is fun to explore and traverse once you've gotten a few abilities under your belt.

Graphics are charming and the monster/character designs are memorable and creative. The soundtrack is also very well done which ties in well given the theme of the game. Many tracks have vocals which were great but I did find a bit distracting after some time so the option to disable just the vocals is a welcome addition. I think the story is okay, certainly better than the usual Pokemon story line, but the writing sometimes had a little too much "millennial sappiness" that made my eyes roll. That being said, there are certainly funny moments of dialogue within the game.

There is a post game with a handful of repeatable quests that unlock further tidbits of story and rewards as you complete enough of them but I felt the grind to do so wasn't enjoyable so it's unfortunate to see story content locked behind it.

Overall, Cassette Beasts is a great monster-catcher that I'd recommended all fans of the genre check out. It scratches that Pokemon itch very well, despite a few shortcomings, and adds enough to keep it from being an outright Pokemon clone. Check it out!

De fato uma experiência bem diferente dos outros jogos que copiam a franquia Pokémon, seus monstrinhos são todos carismáticos suas evoluções são divertidas, possui um mapa bem pensado dividido em diversas regiões, porém, as vezes durante a gameplay o jogo tende a ser bem maçante, os bosses em sua maioria são fáceis, ao mesmo tempo que eles são fáceis eles são não possuem muitas diferenças aos anteriores, você não precisa elaborar grandes times para ganhar batalhas, basta abusar de itens e causar dano, ainda sim, o jogo tem suas partes divertidas como colecionar os monstrinhos, fazer amizades e explorar o mapa e seus mistérios(de fato essa a clássica forma carrega o jogo e suas batalhas).

This game is excellent. My very first video game was Pokemon Yellow Version, and I taught myself how to read so that I could play it as a little kid. I stuck with pokemon all the way through the 5th gen, but I got tired of the formula after that. This game did a great job of capitalizing on the elements of Pokemon that are good while breathing some much needed life into the monster collection genre. Firstly, while individual monsters have a sublevel that determines what moves the monsters learn, the overall level of the character determines the strength of every monster. In practice, you can switch between any monster and its stats will be on generally par with any other monster you might use, accounting for different stat scaling across monsters. Additionally, the moves you learn on one monster can be taken off and applied to other compatible monsters. The way the game handles levels made it feel worthwhile to actually get and transform ("evolve") every monster in the game. Additionally, the monsters have a chemistry mechanic where it is possible to make monsters change their types with some frequency. The dynamism made for really interesting battles. The shinies of the game also interplayed with the type switching, where shinies were not just a recolor, but were monsters with different types than their default types.
The last interesting battle mechanic is the ability to fuse. All battles are double battles, and you can fuse with your partner, which combines the stats of both monsters at the cost of only selecting one action per turn instead of two.

Next, you are free to explore the world at your own pace and in any order. It was nice to be let loose and go where was interesting. Additionally, the world was small enough that it never felt like an overwhelming task. There was always something to discover in every section of the world. It was a delight, especially when you add in the games excellent soundtrack. Shout outs to the forest track. It was my favorite. To compliment the exploration, I enjoyed the world's characters. They were not exceptionally deep, but they were appropriately developed given the scope of the game.

The game has a robust post-game, though by that point you will likely have explored the whole world. It becomes oriented around fetch-quest/battle a quota of monsters style tasks, though with some story development thrown in. Even if the post-game did not hold my attention as much as the main game, there was some thought and intrigue there that I can appreciate. Besides, after you beat the main game, you unlock Nuzlocke options and randomizer options that allow for another worthwhile playthrough.

On the whole, I strongly recommend this game to any monster collection fan. It was a delight start to finish with some interesting monster designs that sparked so much joy. It is still receives updates, and I expect to pick the game up again when the devs release another DLC.

Tiene un comienzo lento y un poco tedioso pero una vez que comienzas a conseguir cassettes y entiendes mejor los combos y la enorme lista ventajas y desventajas de cada tipo, el juego se hace mucho mas adictivo.
Calculo que es uno de esos juegos que si no te enganchan en las primeras 2-3 horas quizas ya no sea tu juego.
La musica esta genial, el arte es bastante hermoso también! Hay tantas funciones que es increíble y la verdad solamente por el pixel art es worth al menos intentar.
No es tan complejo como otros juegos pero una vez que le agarras la mano a lo combos te haces una bestia imparable. Fácilmente puedes ganar peleas contra enemigos 10 o 20 lvs por encima tuyo con el combo perfecto.

En resumen, muy recomendable!

Real fun monster collector RPG that while clearly emulating Pokemon in style feels more like Mega Ten mechanically in some ways. The game starts off rather slow in how your MC doesn't have great movement but once you get the ability from the fire bullet beast you start moving around at a good clip. The game is also pretty open too allowing you to battle gym leaders and boss monsters in almost any order you can choose around the world map. Most beasts seem pretty viable too and I had fun collecting most of them. Overall just had a great time with it.