There are few things that frustrate me more in gaming than the reluctance to change that’s found in the core RPG Pokemon games. Ever since Ruby and Sapphire, there has been a laundry list of either removed features like an additional region or seemingly obvious improvements like a fast-forward mechanic. I’ve played just about every core Pokemon game multiple times through on top of many rom hacks and fan games of varying quality like Pokemon Uranium or Pokemon Prism. It seems like about two months out of a year I dive deep into a Pokemon game or hack. This formula is perfect for experimentation and expansion in ways that would ultimately make for a better game but Pokemon continues to sell extremely well and tends to keep the same issues or strip features. This is why when I heard about Temtem, a Pokemon-like MMO, I was immediately intrigued by the possibilities. Through the game’s initial Early Access, I’ve got a pretty good understanding of what Temtem is going for but it definitely needs more refinement to be a standout of the creature capture genre.
Temtem is pretty much a Pokemon game; that much is obvious. Players create a character, pick one of three Temtem, and journey throughout the region battling, capturing, and trading. Temtem mostly stays within that framework with some slight variations here and there. Those variations is where Temtem can capture Pokemon players that have always wanted more from these games. Apparently, this energy was reflected in the sales as it was recently announced that Temtem had sold more than 500,000 copies already. Crema, the game’s developers, has also revealed several roadmaps for future content. One of those milestones is a port to Nintendo Switch, which is where we could really see Temtem get a chance to shine next to the latest Pokemon titles and other RPGs.
One of the standout differences in Temtem is that all of the battles are 2-on-2 fights. This means that strategies tend to revolve around having the right pair of creatures. Interestingly, Temtem creatures have attacks that synchronize in various ways that can make the battles feel all the more strategic. For example, my starter Houchic has a move called Energy Manipulation that gets a power boost when an ally Temtem is a Nature type. Another strategy I recently uncovered involves the Electric/Wind temtem Ganki and the Water/Electric temtem Nessla. Each of them has Chain Lightning as an attack, which hits three targets clockwise, meaning my second creature also takes the hit. However, Nessla has Electric Synthesize as a passive ability which heals the temtem when being hit with Electric attacks. This means that by using Chain Lightning with both creatures, I can blast away most opponents and keep Nessla healed up. There seem to be lots of little nuances like this too and learning new strategies is fun and rewarding.
Another difference in battle is the game’s Stamina system. Each move costs stamina and once a temtem runs out of stamina they take damage and must pass a turn. There are situations when overexerting a temtem is the best choice though, so there is an element of risk and reward there. Each turn some stamina is gained and one can wait a turn to gain more but there are moves that restore stamina more effectively. Carefully managing that stamina can be the crux of a battle. Battle is similar to Pokemon in that the creatures have flashy attacks that just kind of happen rather than the monsters actually colliding. The attack effects in Temtem can be pretty awesome to witness and there were several moments when using a new attack that my jaw dropped. The battle theme is also super catchy, featuring precise violin strokes. Outside of battle, Temtem plays like a typical Pokemon game that’s mostly going along a path, having battles, using items, and steadily making the monsters stronger.
Co-op in Temtem feels kind of awkward but it can be a fun way to play.
One of the coolest items I’ve gotten so far is the Temessence Vial. This healing item fully revives and restores a full team, which basically gives the player a portable Temporium (the equivalent of a Pokemon Center) that can eventually gain more charges much like the Estus Flasks of Dark Souls.
Healing between fights is a must because of how long the routes can feel unless one has a lot of time to grind. As I traveled throughout the game, I found myself being in tense situations that forced me to carefully consider my approach. Overall, the game was not super hard to figure out but there is a level of challenge there that I didn’t expect. That combined with the extra drops of strategy made much of my temtem battles engaging and I’m eager to see how higher levels of play turn out. I used to spend a lot of time in Pokemon Showdown, a highly competitive browser-based Pokemon battle simulator, so Temtem could have elements to appeal to those players. The foundation I’ve experienced in Temtem so far seems to suggest this but with only 86 temtem in the game currently, there are likely simple meta patterns that could make competitive play repetitive and predictable.
Those looking to just play through the main campaign will have lots of hours in this build of Temtem because the game runs at a pretty slow, deliberate pace. I personally enjoy these sorts of games the most when a fast-forward option is available but Temtem is currently more chill and tactical. I felt that even with grinding I couldn’t just brute force challenges. Team composition and learning how abilities synergize helped push me into victory more often. There are currently five Dojos to challenge and even the master of the first Dojo had a full, varied team of six temtem which was awesome to see considering most Pokemon gym battles rarely are against a full team.
Things can get pretty cluttered thanks to the MMO elements of Temtem.
For many years, Pokemon players have been asking for an MMO and there’s even a robust fan game that makes the ROMs into a multiplayer experience. While Temtem is labeled and marketed as an MMO, those MMO elements are minor and I think they detract from the core experience. I hate it when I’m trying to engage with a plotline and there are several other avatars just standing around, cluttering up a space. I really hope that future updates add a feature where one can play offline or not have to see those other players. I think the best approach here is to be able to only see and interact with friends or a small group. I’ve always enjoyed co-op but MMOs almost always annoy me. Thankfully, Temtem does currently have an interesting approach to co-op. Teaming up with a friend allows them to battle alongside the main player and help them through their story. Currently, this means that players will constantly be teleporting each other around by entering buildings or running into fights but the novelty of being able to hang out in this world and battle monsters with a friend is fun enough that I would play the core game in this mode at least once but I’m more likely to do that when the game fully releases.
For those that enjoy chasing really rare creatures, Temtem does currently feature Luma Temtem which are different color variations that are harder to comeby and they come with a higher rating for certain stat benefits, similar to the IV and EV systems in the Pokemon series. Luma hunting as of now is pretty much restricted to breeding which can grant a much higher chance of getting a Luma when breeding two Luma temtem but temtem can only breed so many times. One’s first Luma will likely come from a random encounter but of course one could be traded one. Raising powerful, maxed out creatures can be a big appeal for this genre but I hope that there are competitive options in Temtem that allow for anyone to jump in regardless if they have the perfect version of that creature or not. Again, I would like to point to Pokemon Showdown, which allowed one to customize a creature’s stats as if they were raised in an optimal fashion. This made battles way more tactical and interesting as the meta developed, scratching the same spot that a good card game can. I hope to see this at the highest level of play in Temtem if it is not there already.
As of now, I’ve put in almost 30 hours into Temtem with a huge chunk of that coming from me streaming the game to my Nvidia Shield. I guarantee that I would’ve put twice as many hours had I been playing on the Switch or even a mobile device. This genre is perfect for handheld gaming.
Sometimes the environments look really good.
In its current form, Temtem is an early look into what could be an exceptional creature capture RPG. Right now the sound isn’t great in a lot of areas, the character models lack style, the writing lacks identity and can rely on memes and references, and certain quests can feel really simple. Unfortunately, the game also takes a major hit for the small number of monsters to fight and collect. That said, there’s a huge number of players eager for something similar to Pokemon but addressing what the community has been asking for many years. That game could be Temtem, especially given the perceived open communication between the developers and the players.
I’ve got my eye on Crema and Humble Bundle because Temtem has a huge opportunity to be great. For now, it’s a fine game to jump into for fans of the creature capture genre but most players can probably stick to Pokemon. Since there’s not many in the genre on PC, Temtem is hitting a crowd that hasn’t had much to play aside from ROMs and a few decent releases.
Find more information about Temtem on the official website and the Steam Store listing. A digital early access copy was provided for the purpose of preview. Screenshots were captured through Steam.
