On 30 June 2023, when the Steam Summer Sale 2023 just started, I received Cassette Beasts as a Steam gift from a generous friend, who knew that I had been looking for independant monster collecting games, since I mostly play indie games instead of AAA games nowadays.
-I started my first playthrough of Cassette Beasts on 18 July 2023, and I was immediately hooked. I could already feel that this game has like everything I could ask for in an indie alternative to Pokémon.
- +I started my first playthrough of Cassette Beasts on 18 July 2023, and I was immediately hooked. I could already feel this game has everything I could ask for in an indie alternative to Pokémon.
+I ended up spending around 34 hours to beat the main campaign, and that was because I made the deliberate decision to max out the companion characters' relationship level before advancing to the final level of the main story, because this game has more focus on human characters and relationships than what you may expect in a monster-collecting game.
I love Cassette Beasts so much that I also purchased its Deluxe Edition, which includes the soundtrack, the art book and the Cosplay Pack as a birthday present for myself on 28 July 2023. In addition, I also bought the official plushie of Pombomb, my favourite monster from the game.
+ +Cassette Beasts not only is my Game of the Year of 2023, but also it has become one of my all-time favourite video games, and my absolute favourite monster collecting game.
Cassette Beasts is a masterpiece of a monster collecting game, rivalling if not even surpassing Pokémon at its best, because while it is obvious that Cassette Beasts is inspired by Pokémon, it executes various aspects of Pokémon games with its own unique takes that are sometimes even better than Pokémon, from monster collecting mechanic, battle system, elemental type match ups, story, characters, lore, world building, map design, etc, with an amazing soundtrack that goes along with the game. As a result, Cassette Beasts is perfectly capable of standing on its own.
-I cannot recommend Cassette Beasts enough if you like monster collecting games, including, if not especially, if you like Pokémon but want an indie alternative, or something different after finding Pokémon games getting stale or becoming jaded by the direction of the Pokémon games.
+I cannot recommend Cassette Beasts enough if you like monster collecting games, including, if not especially, if you like Pokémon but want an indie alternative, or something different after finding Pokémon games getting stale, or becoming jaded by the direction of the Pokémon games.
Indie monster collecting games in particular need all the support they can get to let more people know that Pokémon is not the only monster collecting game worth your attention, and Cassette Beasts is one of those indie games that prove indie games can be more creative than AAA games.