Developed by: Bytten Studio Published by: Raw Fury Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC Release Date: April 26th 2023 When I set out my targets for Blaugust this year, a key one was being more efficient with my game reviews; there are multiple games I’ve finished but not yet written about. One of these is Cassette Beasts, a monster catcher and battler very much in the vein of Pokémon! This week, I’m going to finally talk through my thoughts on the game, following my relatively recent completion of the main story – and I’m going to see if I can do so concisely, instead of deliberating for weeks or months like I usually do! In addition, this is the “Creator Appreciation” week of Blaugust, which is why I chose Cassette Beasts as my first review of the month – as it lets me talk briefly about how I discovered the game: the wonderful writing of Frostilyte on their site Frostilyte Writes! When I started writing consistently on WordPress in 2020, I went looking for others writing about games on the platform too. One of the early sites I remember discovering is Frostilyte Writes, and I’ve been following their work ever since then. I particularly enjoy their focus on lesser known independent games, and am impressed by their detailed game guides – as well as the wonderful doodles which often accompany their posts and add unique charm to their site. Somehow, Cassette Beasts had completely gone under my radar until Frostilyte wrote about it (yes, about three years ago… I take a while to finish games), in a post offering invaluable advice for new players; you can read their post by clicking here and I encourage you to do so! In fact, I encourage you to go and read their site in general, as they’re consistently writing brilliant and entertaining posts – for example, I’m currently having a very fun time following along with their new playthrough of Pokémon Silver! Right, I think that’s enough preamble. Next, it’s time to jump into my own review of Cassette Beasts below! Press Rewind Cassette Beasts starts with the player being whisked away to the world of New Wirral, a mysterious island where people from various times and places have been stranded – and with seemingly no way to get home, they’ve forged new lives there, centred around a charming location called Harbourtown. Our immediate guide is Kayleigh, a friendly resident of Harbourtown who introduces us to our new surroundings and the challenges we face here. The most pressing of these is the many wandering monsters of New Wirral, who we need to defend ourselves (and others) from! In order to do so, we must use analogue tapes to record monsters and then take their forms in turn-based battles. If you’ve played Pokémon, this is the equivalent of using Poké Balls to catch Pokémon to then battle with yourself – and it’s a similarly effective gameplay cycle. To be clear, Cassette Beasts isn’t at all shy about where it draws inspiration from. It evidently takes many cues from Pokémon; it even makes some fun meta references to it. I personally have no problem with this, for multiple reasons. Firstly, I don’t hide my preference for the classic pixel art era of Pokémon games, and whilst I still play and enjoy the newer entries, part of me seeks that nostalgic appeal – and Cassette Beasts is able to fill this role well, with vibrant sprite artwork and a more patient gameplay speed. Yet in addition, this isn’t a game that rests on these laurels; even aside from the distinct analogue and 1980s aesthetic, Cassette Beasts has plenty of new ideas, which give the game a unique identity and simultaneously put a spin on the monster catching and battling formula. A key change is that every battle in Cassette Beasts is a double battle – you’re always accompanied by a partner in the overworld, and they join you in each fight. Sure, double battles are a regular feature in Pokémon too, but in Cassette Beasts they’re ingrained into the fabric of the entire experience. The battles themselves are similar in structure to Pokémon (I’d liken them most to Generation 5, due to the animated sprites), though with some key alterations. Each of your monsters can learn various moves (called Stickers), either naturally through training or by purchasing them from vendors. In battle, not all of these can be immediately used; the game has an AP cooldown system, with each monster gaining 2 AP per turn to then spend on their moves. This adds the classic turn-based strategy of whether to use all your AP immediately, or to wait, use less powerful attacks, and build up your AP for a late onslaught. Extra wrinkles to this are introduced to this as you progress, such as rare Sticker variants with additional effects, or passive moves which require no AP to activate. All in all, it’s a system that takes the Pokémon framework and successfully builds upon it with compelling nuances. Furthermore, with teamwork being the foundation for every battle, it lets Cassette Beasts establish new ideas; perhaps the most crucial is Fusion, which allows your partner and you to join monster forms and create an astonishing range of combinations, all with their own different designs (based on the two monsters you fuse). When you do this, the fused monster gains the stickers of both, as well as unique and powerful Fusion Powers. This mechanic isn’t available in every battle, but it’s the moment you’re building to, especially in boss fights. Smartly, it’s also dependant on your human bonds with each teammate (such as the aforementioned Kayleigh) – you can only fuse if you’ve built up a connection outside of battle, through time together and completing side quests linked to each of them. I found myself eagerly anticipating the ability to Fuse, as it’s accompanied by the background music changing into one of the lyrical tracks! The entire Cassette Beasts soundtrack (written by Joel Bayliss, with vocals by Shelby Harvey and Emily Raikes) is brilliant, but the lyrical tracks are especially incredible, either adding an amazing energy to the battles, or making the overworld especially soothing. I love the soundtrack so much that I ended up purchasing both the vinyl and the tape for it! So many of the songs are exceptional, but my favourite has to be “Like Chimeras”! In My Element An iconic aspect of the Pokémon formula is the type system, which Cassette Beasts adapts into elements, from the expected water, fire, and plant, to newer additions such as glass, plastic, and astral! Depending on the elements of a monster and the moves which connect with them, a whole range of effects can occur to turn the tide of a battle. For example, if a fire attack hits an air monster, then it causes an updraft wall to appear around the latter, defending them – whilst if an air attack hits the fire monster, it extinguishes them and lowers their attack power. Detailed thought has gone into the literal effects and how to express them, and it makes for a layered combat system. Perhaps it’s because my mind is so trained on the Pokémon system, but I never fully got my head around the details of every element, even by the end of the game. I am impressed by the amount of detail built in, but I do think it is less immediately understandable than Pokémon is. With me being a fan of the Steel type in Pokémon, I immediately gravitated to the Metal type in Cassette Beasts, and quickly decided to make a team out of just this element. I initially wondered if this would even be viable, but it ended up working well; I grew very attached to the likes of Southpaw and Palangolin, and perhaps the stand out performer in my team was Triphinx, with their signature Wonderful 7 attack able to apply (and quickly stack up) status effects on the opponent. The selection of monsters to find, collect, and battle with is impressive, filled with all the personality and varied design you’d hope for in an original game like this; just as in Pokémon, you can train and remaster (essentially evolve) your monsters, in order to access exciting and more powerful forms – with some hidden behind particular requirements too. Also, the world has plenty of additional secrets to find, such as equivalents to Shiny Pokémon, and the ability to go in search of monsters with optimal statistics for competitive battles. Meanwhile, the central story in Cassette Beasts is the quest to escape New Wirral and find a way home – in order to do so, it means completing multiple difficult boss fights scattered around the world. Initially, the game appears very open, but it’s more akin to the top down The Legend of Zelda games such as A Link to the Past, as your progress is dependant on traversal abilities acquired by recording new monsters (for example, record Dominoth to gain the Mothwing Glide and traverse gaps). In this sense, whilst there’s some freedom about the specifics of your adventure, the overall flow is relatively linear (and this isn’t a bad thing at all). I really like how the story feels markedly different from any I’ve experienced in this genre before, exploring the idea of dimensions and different aesthetics in a surprising and exciting way. I won’t go into any more details here, to avoid spoilers, but count me very impressed. This is a game all about connection, feeling lost, and finding a community, and this is portrayed very well in the supporting cast of partners you meet on the journey. Ironically, I also initially found myself a bit lost – at the start of the game, the multiple side quests, errands, and new gameplay ideas are a little overwhelming, and it took me time to get my bearings; whilst the gameplay systems are very familiar for players of the Pokémon series, they present plenty of new ideas to learn. This is one of those games where I took breaks and came back a few times before it properly grabbed me – I struggled to become familiar with the world map, where to heal my team, and how the limited fast travel system works. As well as this, the Switch can struggle with loading the overworld at times. Yet I’m incredibly glad I persevered, as after I completed a few quests, built up my team a little, and explored more of the map, it started to click and I found my groove. Once I did so, I became very absorbed in Cassette Beasts, and played it regularly and often (in both handheld and docked modes), until I eventually rolled those credits! Final Thoughts In my efforts to write more concisely this month and not spend my (entire) weekend writing this, I’m going to wrap the review up here. Games such as Cassette Beasts can be hard to review, as there’s so much to them! Even now, I’m thinking of more details and features I haven’t mentioned. However, a review isn’t always about covering everything; I hope this post presents enough to make another unsuspecting Pokémon fan take a shot on Cassette Beasts – just as I did when I read the post by Frostilyte mentioned at the start of this review. Make no mistake, this is a gem of a game, and ideal for those searching for an experience closer to the earlier pixel art Pokémon games. A real knowledge for the genre comes through, and not just that, but a sense of a game that has gone to great lengths to both surprise and challenge players. The new spins on the formula can take a while to get comfortable with, but once you do, the reward is a compelling game that’s made me a fan and left me very excited for the recently announced sequel as well! 8.5/10 Rating: 8.5 out of 10.