A young person sets out in a dangerous world accompanied by a small monster. They venture into the wilds to capture more monsters and, as they go, they uncover a conspiracy set in motion by a group of villains. Eventually, they create the perfect team of monsters and take down the bad guys.
Did that sound familiar? If it did, it’s probably because you’ve played literally any Pokémon game. There are eight titles in the series, and they all follow basically the same structure. Most of them are pretty good, but there’s never been a truly great Pokémon game. Until now.
On March 31, independent studio TRAGSoft released its first game, a creature collecting RPG called Coromon. The title follows the same conventions as Pokémon, starring a young adult setting out on their own to catch monsters in the woods, but it builds on that base in some surprising and delightful ways.
First, and most importantly, Coromon introduces a system called potential. Every coromon you capture has a different level of potential, on a scale from “standard” to “perfect,” which determines how quickly their potential bar fills. When the potential bar fills completely, the player receives a handful of points that they can use to customize the coromon’s stats.
Potential adds a level of mechanical intricacy to the Pokémon formula that instantly sets it apart. The player has more agency in how to approach their team. They can choose to load their party up with glass cannons who can one-shot every enemy but can’t take a punch or defense-heavy monsters who launch wars of attrition against their enemies or just well-rounded fighters.
Coromon has other distinctions, too. One example is the way the game handles tutorials, handing players a stack of books early in the game that they can choose to read or ignore. This allows players to choose what they need to know: a brand new player can absorb the mechanical quirks by reading every summary, but a more experienced fan can choose to only read about certain mechanics. By leaving its tutorial in the hands of the player, Coromon becomes enjoyable to everyone, abandoning conventional walkthroughs for those who’d rather cut to the chase while still providing an entry point for those who may need the help.
In terms of customizability, Coromon is on another level, offering an extensive array of options. If a player is having trouble, they can enable options that mechanically simplify fights instead of simply changing enemy stats and, likewise, if a player finds it too boring, they can ratchet up the tension with even harder mechanics. Coromon is accommodating of whatever you want your experience to look like.
At once more intricate and more approachable than any Pokémon title, the only thing keeping Coromon from being the best entry in the series is that it’s not in the series. Coromon is its own beast, free to tweak and improve on its inspirations, and it does so to stunning results.
Sorrel Kerr-Jung is a freshman studying games and animation at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Sorrel by tweeting her at @gendertoad.
Opinion Writer
