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Creature Keeper is a monster - taming RPG that station you on an escapade to free the terra firma from an ancient corruption before it destroys all that is natural . Along the way , you naturalise , befriend , and battle local fauna while filling out your trustworthy beastiary with knowledge . Something like Pokémon get in touch with the Legend of Zelda , Creature Keeper is built on a substantial idea and has some great character and tool designs . However , there are domain where the magnetic core mechanics of the game break down to wow me , peculiarly when liken to similar games already on the grocery store , and minor bugs prevent me from enjoying the full experience .
Creature Keeper begins as you set out your first day as a titular Creature Keeper , one of the guardians of the nation of Sodland . Every civilian must expend at least a year of service and preparation under the Creature Keepers to aid maintain peace . These guardians are known for their special connection and weaponization of the country ’s fauna , but they are no simple squishy trainers . Every one of them is a warrior who struggle alongside their favourite companion .
That is the chief means Creature Keeper wants to break itself from other pet - taming action games . Rather than trust on your squad of monsters to do all of the scathe for you , you struggle alongside them in every struggle , exert your own artillery as your pet fights essentially independently . In battles against other ‘ trainers , ’ it becomes something of an exciting 2v2 where you often fight down the human foe before turning to engage their monster .
That is , at least , the hypothesis of how thing should process in Creature Keeper . It ’s a gameplay design somewhat evocative of Sword of the Necromancer , another game that has you fight alongside your pets . However , Creature Keeper is no Sword of the Necromancer , and in my impression , it is drastically underwhelming in its wight fighting .
See , in Creature Keeper , you have almost no control over your fiend . you’re able to switch them out , heal them through petting , even them up , and tell them when to use a particular attack . This means the game need a pretty undecomposed scheme of AI for your wight to feel impactful . Creature Keeper , to my disappointment , does n’t honestly have this .
Many battles in the game find less like me and my trusty familiar versus debased enemies and more like me fighting for my life history while my pet wanders around , sniffing daisies and chasing squirrels . Creature AI in the plot can be so bad at metre that your monsters often avoid the battle altogether . If they assault at all , they only do so once or twice for every six hits you take from the foe . There is basically nothing you may do to work around this either , as the only interactivity you really have with your tool is sending them aside or overtop a special fire , which many will not have for a long time . gaffer fight against “ trainers ” and their ogre are especially defective , as often both monsters forget that a struggle is going on and just hang out on the other side of the mathematical function .
While my creatures rarely find impactful , I will say the overall collection mechanics are pretty fun . You do not have to defeat monsters to entrance them , and you’re able to basically approach any non - corrupt enemy and simply pet it to capture it . From then , you train them by overcome opposition , increasing their stats ( not that they matter , since again , the creatures do not have any real tangible wallop on the conflict ) , and unlocking Modern perk for them in your beastiary . This was my favourite part of the process , as it is done in a way that look like you are adumbrate more and more of the creature into your journal as you fill it out .
Another way of life in which Creature Keeper separates itself from some other monster - call for game is by playing out as a traditional 2D RPG . You follow the events of the story as they playact out , going from region to area to fill out the main questline and serve keep enter the demesne from the evil harass it .
There are elements of the story I found a minute cliché and tropey , especially for the musical style , but what stood out to me was the grapheme . You encounter many characters throughout your risky venture in Creature Keeper , and many of them are very unequalled and fun to talk to . exceptional favorites of mine were the Archmage and the Scarecrow . While a circle of the interaction you have with these characters are fairly aboveboard and there is not a whole lot of depth to explore or kinship mechanics to cut into into , I still enjoyed the little interactions we had .
There are , unfortunately , a few bugs still present in Creature Keeper that kept me from amply enjoying my experience . The lighter of those that I could remember include the unfitness to set my character ’s name at the get-go of a young rivulet , intend I always went by the name ‘ Blank . ’ A more intrusive hemipterous insect was that I could never in reality get at my character ’s pursuit log , get word only the title of quest and no actual contingent or information about them . Without a map , this made the early game especially puzzling , but generally going “ up ” on the screen keep me from getting lose .
The Final Word
As far as monster aggregation games go , Creature Keeper is certainly an interesting one that does thing otherwise than other titles in the genre . However , bug and poor AI on the devil themselves keep me from in full bask the experience and made my monsters feel more like favourite than valuable combat companions .
prove Hard Guides was provided a PC codification for Creature Keeper . Find more detailed looks at popular and forthcoming title on ourGame Reviewspage ! Creature Keeper is available onSteamand Nintendo Switch at a later day of the month .
