Beastmancer

I love the art design, the creatures look great as does the environment. However, there's small things which really hold it back. Dialogue screens sometimes have a delay and I was unable to find a way to skip text fade in. Made pace of travel feel really sluggish. I imagine combat gets better later but it feels so slow early to the point that I don't think I could make it further. Maybe get it on sale, as it's not the worst thing out there but you can definitely feel 'my first project' energy behind it.

I wasn't expecting to like this game as much as I did.

Pros:
- nice story
- creature design and leveling
- spell system
- crafting system
- UI/UX which means that developers actually played games releases in last 30 years

Cons:
- level cap is reached in mid of game
- game is in my opinion too easy but bear in mind I have 10+ years of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 playtime
- world feels empty
- "adventure map" should display monsters differently like in King's Bounty games


Final conslusion is positive and I recommend paying and playing this game. This is no AAA title so cons can be forgiven and is created by small team and they've done very good job.

This is a soft yes - I thought this to be a 6.5/10. Only for really hardcore fans of the genre.

+ Cool art
+ Good atmosphere
+ Many cool creatures to collect
+ Good game length (approx 7 hours to finish)

- Lots of backtracking
- Too much time spent traversing the maps
- Running speed and text speed too slow, which takes up lots of time.

10/10 for concept, 7/10 for execution. Nonetheless I would still say that it is a nice experience to have. The game is already there, but it definitely lacks polish.

If you like HOMM/King's Bounty gameplay while having the concept of monster taming games, you'll love this.

If you check the discussions, the developer did say that a sequel or the like is very far off due to poor sales which is such a shame since I really do believe that the idea of the game is very great, and if it did get polish, it would been a very great game.

Overall good game. There is some room for improvement, like movement speed, health shone at all times, but a great monster trainer game.

The sound you hear when your monster smacks another monster is hilarious.

You can give nicknames to your creatures. I have a giant armored anthropomorphic feathered monster who I have named "Chicken Boo".

Very 90's-style RPG right down to the scripted multiple dialogue choices, including NPCs telling dark secrets to you, a complete stranger.

Thumbs-up just for the sheer chuckle value.

Overall I had a good time with this game. The game has creature collecting was like Pokemon and turned based combat like a tactical RPG.

I do have some minor grips that didn't ruin the game but did get annoying like...

Some maps being too needlessly large,
Only being able to craft one item at a time,
Only being able to buy one item at a time,
Can't use multiple items at once out of combat,
and having the inventory switch to the all category after using an item (wasn't bothersome in the beginning but got annoying at the end.)

---{Gameplay}---
🔳Try not to get addicted
☑️Very good
🔳Good
🔳Nothing special
🔳Ehh
🔳Bad
🔳Just dont

---{Graphics}---
🔳Masterpiece
🔳Beautiful
☑️Good
🔳Decent
🔳Will do
🔳Bad
🔳Awful
🔳Paint.exe

---{Audio}---
🔳Fascinating
🔳Very good
🔳Good
🔳Decent
☑️Not too bad
🔳Bad
🔳Earrape

---{Audience}---
🔳Kids
☑️Teens
☑️Adults
☑️Everyone

---{PC Requirements}---
🔳Check if you can run paint
☑️Potato
☑️Decent
🔳Fast
🔳Rich boi
🔳Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{Story}---
🔳Doesn't have
🔳Something isn't nothing, I guess
🔳Not greatly told
☑️Average
🔳Good
🔳Will make you cry a lot

---{Playstyle}---
🔳Almost never the same in any two people
☑️Varies a little bit from person to person
🔳Weapon AND character classes
🔳Weapon OR character classes
🔳Creative AND Survival
🔳Creative OR Survival
☑️Melee AND Ranged
🔳Melee OR Ranged

---{Difficulty}---
🔳Just press a bunch of buttons
☑️Easy
☑️Significant brain usage
🔳Easy to learn / Hard to master
🔳Not so easy
🔳Difficult
🔳Dark Souls

---{Grind}---
🔳Nothing
🔳Only if you care about leaderboards/ranks
☑️Isn't necessary to progress
☑️A bit grindy sometimes
🔳Average grind level
🔳A bit grindy
🔳Insanity

---{Game Time}---
🔳Long enough for a cup of tea
☑️Short
☑️Average
🔳Long
🔳Depends on you
🔳Endless

---{Price}---
🔳Just buy it
☑️Worth the price
🔳Wait for sale
🔳Maybe if you have some spare money left
🔳Not recommended
🔳Don't throw money into a rubbish bin
🔳Can't beat free

---{Micro-Transactions}---
🔳EA
🔳Mobile Game(Necessary if you don’t want to wait 15 weeks to construct a toaster)
🔳”Premium” Currency AND Normal Currency
🔳”Premium” Currency OR Normal Currency
🔳Quick way to advance
🔳Fortnite(Skins/Emotes/Etc)
🔳Only to show off big time
🔳Level DLC
☑️None

---{Bugs/Glitches}---
🔳Never had any
☑️Minor bugs/glitches
🔳Few bugs/glitches
🔳Can get annoying
🔳Ruining the game
🔳The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs/glitches

---{?/10}---
🔳1
🔳2
🔳3
🔳4
🔳5
☑️6
🔳7
🔳8
🔳9
🔳10


This game has a lot of potential in many ways. As it stands right now, it is worth the $10, but not much more. The gameplay is fun! It's really kind of my weakness. Monster collector, grid-based combat, and an interesting story. There are really only three major downfalls. 1) This game is pretty short. I have 22 hours in it, I got all the achievements in two plays through, and I even did some significant grinding the first run through since I turned on perma-death mode. I didn't want to lose any of my monsters! This leads directly into the next downfall. 2) There is very little replayability. I've done my two runs, now I feel like this game will sit in my library indefinitely. It's a bummer, because I really would love to play more. Maybe a sequel? Please? And 3) Once the game is over, it's over. You get the best monsters toward the end of the game, and you start to feel really powerful, then BAM! Game's over. You don't get to play with those monsters anymore. I would love to see a sequel that solves these issues: longer story, more reasons to play multiple times, and post-game play.

With that being said, this is definitely worth the price, and if you can catch it on sale, that's an even better reason to pick it up.

One of the underrated games!
Turn base tactical-capturing RPG.
+Monsters variation
+Good combat and looting system
+Good Story
+adequate side quests
+Enjoyable capturing,gadering and level up system

- Bad Graphics

If you enjoy,HOMM,King's Bounty and Disciples style games.Worth the try: 8 out of 10

I want to recommend this game because I think the fact that one single guy made it is amazing, but there are far too many shortcomings. If there were a neutral I would pick that. The description promises unique skills for monsters, but unfortunately the skills are all pretty similar and there aren’t many in the game. There is zero motivation to level up monsters, but rather just get new ones in each area, and once you get to the legendary monster point in the game you are overpowered and can just run to end game. There is a lot of grinding and the game plays very slow, and I don’t mind this if the rewards are there but they just aren’t.

The maps are boring and its’ basically the same 5-10 monster models running around in circles across all of them, one in each area that may or may not reflect the battle itself. Good loot is hard to come by. The dialogue is excruciatingly slow and cannot be skipped. There are just a ton of improvements that could have been made.

It’s not a bad game, but I can’t say it’s good. I’d go for something else.

I just finished the game and I am overall dissapointed. I'll try to be short as most of the review are seldom seen anyway..

PROS
-The turn based - monster hunting theme is generally interesting. It's like Pokémon with (early) Final Fantasy(s) mixup. You train them, you search for more rare and stronger ones, defeat enemies etc.
-The plot is not to be neglected. Nothing that will shake your world, but I wouldn't recommend fast-forwarding the dialogues.
It's light. Doesn't require a lot of space neither a good computer.

CONS
-There are bugs. In the Razed village, there are debris that I -dunno why- tried to walk between them and got stuck..permantently.
-The graphics seem from another decade. It's perfectly fine for an indie game so I don't wanna be harsh with this one.
-It's easy. Although at first you think grinding is rewarding, it's not. Most importantly, when you reach a certain point of the game where you find the Legendaries, you realize that you capture them extremely easily and you then stomp everyone and everything ( except the final boss where I DID need to grind and buy/craft potions ).
-It's small, 17 hours gameplay full of wondering and some side quests. You may finish this in a day.

NEUTRAL
-I had a loooong time to play a gave with Save&Load system. Fortunately, after every room there is an autosave but I wonder... when entering the Cursed Tower where you can't go back, what if your beastiary cannot win the bosses AND you have not a backup Save file before entering? Game Over = start all over again? :/

BONUS CON:
The game offers you the option to kill or spare the life of certain NPCs.
|SPOILER ALERT|
Before the final boss (Z), you fight someone (X) that you later may kill once defeated. But after you defeat the final boss, you are given the opportunity to give a relic to X... although you might have JUST MURDERED HIM ( guilty ). LoL
And being the rigorous player I am, of course I selected this only to find out that it didn't matter that I killed him, the scenario was fortold :p

P.S. Even though I didn't enjoy the game that much, I would recommend it to someone who acknowledges the cons and is fine with 'em. I believe we ought to support indie developpers with good tastes and I don't persist on low-budget disadvantages whatsoever.

While I'm giving it a negative review, I won't say it's a bad game, per se. It's a very... grindy experience. I don't feel like I'm making any real progress, and the uneven distribution of XP between monsters makes leveling new ones (and you need to keep getting new ones) a chore.

A bit of grind is fine, even essential, I'd say; but there's enough grind in here, in my opinion, that it becomes more of a job. And I work enough as it is; I don't need another job.

Concept is good, art is great, music is good, story is pretty good.... but .... the gameplay is not very interesting. I did finish the game so it was not horrible but it did not really feel rewarding.

The monster development was most disapointing, because it was really slim and basically just increasing stats. At start I tried to develop some monsters to see where the game would take me, but it did not take me anywhere. The skills and abilities of monsters were all there to see, there was no "evolving" or "upgrading" of any kind and there were generally too few skills so that the monsters did not feel different enough. Then there were some legendary monsters which made the regular monsters pretty much obsolete. Which mostly had to do with the staring level of legendaries, so they did not require any grinding. Once I started to get some more interesting monsters (legendaries) the game gave me so many in so short period of time, I did not feel like testing everything. Partly beacuse I did not have real challenges in the battles middle of game.

Long story short, this game is a prime example of a game where developer knows what he wants to do, has a strong vision, enjoys making the game, but in the end does not have enough time and recources (or knowledge) to finish the game properly.

Like Pokémon, but on the PC and with a more mature, less cartoonish art-style and storyline... talk about a persuasive elevator-pitch! Still, if you're going to buy this game, you need to keep in mind that it's an Indie-title with capital I - made by a 'team' that could quite literally fit in a phonebooth.

This has consequences - many of them. The most covering word would have to be 'amateurish'. Many of the maps look like the sort of thing you'd draw up in a map-editor for a game you enjoy, before losing interest - lots of inexplicably-straight treelines and mountainsides, lots of empty ground, lots of recycled assets. The maps are, indeed, ultimately too big and empty for the rather slow travel-speed. The optimization also isn't great - some can't get the game to run at all, while others experience long hang-times when zoning (myself included), to the point where the game feels like it's constantly on the edge of crashing. Dialogue is often poorly-written and rife with typos and broken grammar. There is a general, constant sense that the game lacks POLISH - the kind of final touch that a larger, more professional team might give a game before it goes out the door, time and budget permitting.

But hey, an amateur effort can often have a passion and purity to it that no ammount of professionalism can duplicate! And there IS a thumbs-up at the top of this post, you'll notice - because I've found that despite all the aforementioned, niggling details, I'm still enjoying it tremendously. I'm catching monsters and wielding them in tactical, turn-based combat! And while one might have wished for a 'monsterdex' with some interesting descriptions of the various capturable beasties, trying to catch 'em all is quite worthwhile regardless. And yes, there is a mature, complex plot involving political backstabbing, violent cults, twists, lies and manipulation. It's a heady mix!

Also, the bits that WORK are all the more impressive for its humble origins. The graphics are excellent - far from the 'retro' pixel-graphics most indie-titles make do with - and the sound-design and music both work very well. The developer also continues to update and enhance it, responding to player complaints - with a recent patch adding an 'Altar of Sacrifice' that corrected several end-game imbalances in a single move. You might notice many older, negative reviews referring to it being 'grindy'? Well, the Altar fixes that - as well as giving you a use for all the capturing-crystals you'll be able to craft/find/buy in the endgame, at a point where you're largely running out of new monsters to catch.

So yes, I recommend this game - though only if you're willing to overlook a fair-sized stack of minor imperfections.

This is a good game. Great value for its price.
It's a nice mix of game elements: RPG character and exploration, monster collecting, combat similar to Heroes Of Might and Magic.
Nothing is great (and nothing is really bad) but the mix is well done and original.

Exploration and common NPCs are a bit bland, the world feels near empty.
However, you can see enemies while exploring so you can easily avoid encounters when you want to (as opposed to random encounters).
It gets the job done to support the combat.

I like the art style. It's not trying to be retro or cartoony.
Models are a bit polygonal, but they are very detailed and they look serious (as opposed to cute).

I also like the story so far (I did not finish yet).
It has typical fantasy elements that I want such as magic and mysteries of an ancient civilization.
But the main character doesn't feel too stereotyped to me.
You start as a young person with basic beastmancer skills and one good monster, from there you work your way up and get entangled in political schemes and mythical wonders.
It works very well and your character becomes more powerful and relevant as you acquire better monsters.
Some choices you have to make are interesting and feel consequential.

Congrats to the dev! You created a cool game the like of which no big studio would have done.
There was no early access and the game was working well and polished on day one.
Still, you kept improving the game based on feedback.
Impressive!

Lots of fun so far. I am really enjoying coming into a "monster training" type game with no prior knowledge and working out for myself what stats matter and what strategies work.

Thus far, the only criticisms I have are pretty minor.
1.) The stats for the monsters are a little too similar, since they are mostly between 1 and 3 for the early levels, so it makes it hard to tell what strengths and weaknesses of each monster. This issue might work itself out as I level up, but they still seem a little to similar in terms of strength and damage, etc.

2.) the performance is spotty in terms of frame-rate, even on systems that should easily run the game.

3.) The pacing is tricky, which comes with the territory in games that don't hold your hand. It's a little too easy to get in over your head, and I haven't found a quicksave function, so you can wind up repeating substantial portions of the game.

That said, I've got several hours in and I've no plans to stop. My favorite aspects:
1.) The world-building is well done, and interesting enouogh that the possibilities of sequels or DLC expansions are a real draw.

2.) I don't really like anime-style graphics, but the art is well done enough that it doesn't really feel like a super cheesy JRPG knockoff, and the more mature design and art direction on a "Pokemon-style" tactical game is welcome.

3.) The Developer is still actively working on the game, and he's a true indie studio, with just a one-man shop. I've never met the guy, but Jorge, you're killing it. I think this premise/property has a huge amount of potential, and while I'm already enjoying it, I think there's lot more to come, and a lot more "polish" and quality-of-life improvements that will come from experience and/or having more resources.

4.) It's a squad-based, tactical, turn-based RPG, and if I have to explain why that's awesome, then you either won't be interested or you're about to dive down the rabbit hole.

I took a chance buying this on Day 1, and I have not regretted it. My initial misgivings and problems were quickly fixed with a few patches, and the community seems to growing quickly and staying excited about the game (I'm looking at you, Shogun Viking). Overall, if you enjoy an games that involve the words "tactical", or start with "Poke-", you need to get this game, if for know other reason than to support developers taking a chance on the genre. But I think you'll enjoy it ;)

Stumbled upon this game after beating Kings Bounty Crossworlds. I was looking for another turn-based strategy game where I could collect an army while exploring an overworld. Beastmancer scratches the same itch, but with a Pokemon-style collection mechanic rather than the HOMM mechanic that KBC uses.

Pros: The monsters are varied and the death mechanic makes them difficult to resurect, so I ended up using quite a few of them. The dev has been actively improving QOL of the game such as adding a rest mechanic while exploring. Some of the storyline fights are legitimately challenging and enjoyable.

Improvement areas: The overworld is very large and can seem empty. Monsters in the wild are completely avoidable. Traveling can take a lot of time, it would be nice to have the option to increase movement speed or to use a mount.

Overall I am really enjoying the game and I would recommend it!

So let me say a few things about this game.

It isn't a hard game but it is a pain because it requires a LOT of grinding. Be prepared to fight, run back to town, heal/rest and repeat over and over and over. YOU need to farm a lot to get strong monsters. You will find yourself upgrading as you capture them.

Find a way to play the game (lot of speed hacks out there) on a faster setting (2x-3x preferred) because the chat and the long walks are a pain in normal speed.

I honestly wouldn't buy it again if given the chance. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. Story line wasn't bad, but there is no real exploration, and the grind is real. Be prepared to get your butt handed to you at the last boss. YOU WILL have to really grind your mobs and be stockpiled with big mana potions to take them down.

This is a fun game.

The comparison with Pokemon is obvious, but this game is its own world. Its definite anime sensibilites draw accross all the Monster Hunter Tropes. You start as a young, inexperienced, Beastmancer, opperating on the fringe of society in a magic-fantasy world, capturing exotic monsters as you battle more challenging monsters and compete against other Beastmancers. Classic.

While it can get repeditive as you level, the turn-based mechanic works well.

The game does currently lack in customization options. You're launched into the world with a name, as either male or female, and a choice of one of three monsters. Pretty scant, but nothing some DLC or modding wouldn't fix.

Beastmancer was a great and delightful discovery for me on Steam. I do not like to make comparisons, but for sure many people will compare Beastmancer to Pokemon. I believe the essence of capturing monsters, battling and leveling them is here. However, the plot is more adult: with deaths, betrayals and some twists. Even our decisions have "changes" and somehow impact on history. I want to emphasize for those who are undecided about whether or not to buy this game, even though it is from an indie studio, which as we know with limited financial resources and people, the game is beautiful, fun and without bugs. In addition, the developer is aware of community feedback, always bringing changes that will add more value to the game.
For those who wonder how the game works I respond as follows: there are several monsters to collect and train; the combat is in shifts; save several times and choose your battles wisely; fulfill missions or win battles for your character to gain experience and release bonuses for you and your creatures ...
I'm almost finishing the game, so I'll do a much more detailed analysis. For those who are still undecided look for some videos on youtube or buy in the dark as I did. I know you will not regret it.

Beastmancer foi para mim uma grande e prazerosa descoberta na Steam. Eu não gosto de fazer comparações, mas com certeza muitas pessoas irão comparar Beastmancer a Pokemon. Acredito que a essência de capturar monstros, batalhar e nivelá-los esteja aqui. Contudo, a trama é mais adulta: com mortes, traições e algumas reviravoltas. Até nossas decisões tem "alterações" e de certo modo algum impacto na história. Eu desejo enfatizar para aqueles que estão indecisos quanto a comprar ou não esse jogo, mesmo sendo de um estúdio indie, que como bem sabemos com limitação de recursos financeiros e de pessoas, o jogo está lindo, divertido e sem bugs. Além disso, o desenvolvedor está atento ao feedback da comunidade, sempre trazendo alterações que venham agregar mais valor ao jogo.
Para aqueles que se perguntam como o jogo funciona eu respondo da seguinte forma: são diversos monstros para colecionar e treinar; o combate é em turnos; salve diversas vezes e escolha suas batalhas com sabedoria; cumpra missões ou vença batalhas para seu personagem ganhar experiência e liberar bônus para você e suas criaturas...
Estou quase terminando o jogo, logo farei uma análise muito mais detalha. Para aqueles que ainda continuam indecisos procurem alguns vídeos no youtube ou comprem no escuro como eu o fiz. Sei que não vão se arrepender.

It is a pretty solid monster taming rpg. I like it and so far had a lot of fun playing it. I was looking for a monster taming game on PC for quite a while, so I am glad this game was offered here.

So far I captured about 10 monsters and have seen a lot of other monsters in fights, but I just started. There are monster capturing / fighting areas in which you can freely move around to train your monsters or capture new ones. So far I haven´t yet tried out the dueling to other tamers, because I want to train my team beforehand.

The monsters gain skills with levels, some have ranged attacks, some are spellcaster like, some are warriors. You, as monster tamer, have also an own character with stats, that can use items or magic during the fights.

Considering the price of the game, I would say, it is worth the money, I am sure, that I will have a few more hours fun with it.


EDIT: Now I am playing this game for more than 10 hours, still having fun. The story is good, keeping me interested.