Went back and finished Coromon. I think if you're a Pokemon fan there's a lot to like. It's pretty much a more challenging Pokemon game with good spritework. Some of the mechanical changes it experiments with are great (revised EV/IV/shiny system), while others fall flat (modified type chart). The mid-to-end game lull that usually happens in Pokemon games is present here too. The most entertaining part of the game is the first few hours when you're capturing the Coromon you want to use in your party. I did appreciate the larger level gap between evolution stages. So you don't already have your complete party of fully evolved Coromon a third of the way through the game.

The quest tracking system was a bit frustrating to navigate-- especially a certain part of the story that requires you to do tasks for multiple people. The logbook wasn't descriptive enough to remind me what needed to be done after a long break from the game.

If you have the Pokemon itch this will 100% scratch that itch, but I don't think it has the level of polish required to be a full-on imitation.

Coromon é o primeiro game que zero mas não recomendo, existe no mercado jogos melhores de captura de monstros como Nexomon. Agora é aguardar o lançamento do Bágdex mesmo.

Prós:
• Sprites bonitos e muito bem feitos;
• Mecânicas reenventadas para melhorar a experiência de jogadores que já conhecem outros títulos de "Pocket Monters";
• Possui mecânica de dificuldade, o que possibilita diferentes estilos de gameplay;


Contras:
• A trilha sonora é bem fraca, apesar de lembrar as músicas estilo Pokemón de GBA, não são cativantes e algumas vezes se tornam até repetitivas.
• Design dos Coromons é bem simples, poucos me chamaram atenção;
• Em relação a outros jogos, Coromon possui uma pouquíssima variedade de bichinhos, se limitando a 114 apenas (apesar de ter dois tipos de "shiny");
• Não é possível usar itens que te tirem algum debuff durante a luta, somente dá pra equipar fora da batalha e o Coromon usa automaticamente dentro da luta, sendo um pouco frustrante nesse quesito. Itens de cura e outros podem ser usados tranquilamente.

As a person that does not enjoy too much Pokemon videogames but loves the concept of collect them all, likes a decent story and lore and doesn't mind playing some cool puzzles in the middle on the adventure, this is really good.

Artistically it's really cool, in coromon design feels really unique if you compare it to all the pokemon in general, they look more like foes or agressive monsters not like pokemon that the 90% are friendly-shaped critters, and for me that's great and something that I personally like a lot.

The story isn't something mindblowing, but if we directly compare it to the majority of pokemon games' stories it's pretty good. Not amazing, but keeps you entertained. But something that I love is the bossfights. Unlike pokemon, there's no gym trainers or something like that, there's bosses. And the 6 bosses are great to fight, the unique problem I see here it's in the final one, that it's really easy (at least it was for my coromon).

And a really important part: customization. You can make the game easier, a challenge, or a gambling simulator. And that's amazing. You can do a run with the starter you want, or capture coromon of trainers, or with an advanced AI with limited coromon... It's crazy the amount of challenge and randomness you can give a run, and adds crazy amounts of replayability to a 30h game, which is something really hard in a linear game like this imo.

Overall, it's a good game if you like pokemon concept or something related to pokemon. The OST is meh and some decisions in the game are weird, but it's a really good solid game. And Frova is the best coromon btw.

Gran "imitación" de Pokémon. Narrativamente tiene los mismos problemas que su saga madre, y es que a nadie le importa su historia que se hace pesada, algo simplona e infantil. Además, termina de forma muy abrupta y el postgame es escaso, por no decir nulo. Este punto lo solucionaron mejor otros títulos como Nexomon.

Jugablemente, lo que te esperas que sea. Si te gusta el género Pokémon, te gustará este juego. Además, su forma de dirigir el tema de los PP me ha gustado mucho. Aunque tiene una carencia importante en cuanto a objetos equipables y otros extras que a mí me parecen bastante importantes.

Artísticamente es bastante feo, las cosas como son. No solo parece un juego de móvil, si no que lo es y eso no permite mucho más margen de maniobra. Aunque hay un buen puñado de diseños entre los Coromon muy bonitos y que perfectamente podrían formar parte de un juego principal de Pokémon.

Really fun and well thought out game. Haven't been able to get into some of the newer pokemon games, but this absolutely scratched the itch I was needing. Has an "older" feel, but with a lot of thought and newer mechanics implemented to make this an enjoyable experience start to finish.

Really fun and diverse puzzles throughout the entire game, good difficulty curve and pacing, and smooths out a lot of gripes from the early pokemon games.

I did feel the game ended a bit.. suddenly. Felt like there should've been one more act to it. The "type" system has a good base, but definitely needs another layer to it.

All in all a really enjoyable experience that's worth grabbing - especially if you can get it on sale!

STEAM DECK SPECIFIC: Plays great, just hits a random spot after about an hour of playing where frames drop. Simple save and restart of the game fixes it. Apparently the devs know and are working on it.

Es un juego similar a Pokemon en donde en vez de pelear contra lideres de gimnasio nos vamos a dar de madre contra boses elementales, tiene algunas cosas distintas como un sistema de energia en vez de un sistema de PP que usa pkmn, y dos tipos de experiencias aparte de poder guiar hacia donde van a ir los stats del Coromon, los diseños y el pixel art es clave. Dura lo suficiente como para que no sea aburrido y los combates son entretenidos. La historia es mejor que la historia promedio de los juegos de pkmn, para mi esta megarecomendado

As someone who really likes Pokemon and Pokemon-like games I have always been interested in these different takes on the monster taming/catching games. However, I have never actually played a good one. Until now. Coromon doesn't really reinvent the Genre or even surprasses the best 2D Pokemon games, but it is a lot of fun.

PROS
- The OST is amazing
- great 2D visuals, a lot of love put into the environments and animations
- most Coromon have cool designs
- difficulity settings
- a good story for games like these
- fun writing
- great linear progression through different areas, some even with their own special minigame (e.g. Mushroom collecting for scents/buffs, gem collecting for money).
- ideal game length, it does not overstay its welcome


CONS
- the battle system is a little bland compared to Pokemon, but it is fine
- some Coromon are useless, it is always better to go with rare/good mons and ignore the rest. Unless you overlevel, then you can use whatever you like
- not a lot of customization for your character, but there is some at least
- characters aren't really fleshed out, the same problem Pokemon has as well
- the ending is good, but kind of rushed, although they adressed this already and are planning on some kind of Epilog fingers crossed

much like nexomon, i picked up this game to scratch the itch pokemon doesn't for me any longer, but unlike nexomon i was INSTANTLY blown away by this game. i'm confident anyone would be similarly impressed, and i'd very easily and enthusiastically recommend this game to anyone that likes creature collectors.

coromon's overall presentation is, quite honestly, better than modern pokemon games. the sprite work is legitimately gorgeous, and the animation of the coromon in battle is excellent, charming, and full of life. i think i liked some songs from the ost as well if i remember correctly. the story is honestly kind of insane but i really doubt anyone plays creature collectors for story purposes anyway. at least it's more interesting than pokemon stories i suppose?

another pretty large boon this game possesses is its accessibility to all manner of players. there are difficulty levels, and you can even customize difficulty options yourself and play the game exactly how you want. my favorite setting that i used profusely was letting regular healing items work as revives, for example.

i cannot sing coromon's praises enough. they're still adding content to the game as well. there are daily and weekly rewards now, with equippable cosmetics for your coromon that is a pretty recent thing. afaik there was a major story ending overhaul even just months ago. an extremely rare case of a game that i give a 9/10 PURELY on its objective quality; i truly CANNOT recommend this game enough.

Come pokemon dovrebbe essere mantenendo comunque una sua identità, purtroppo perde un po' sui design. I coromon non sono tutti molto ispirati, pochi se ne salvano e il livello medio rasenta il dimenticabile. A prescindere da ciò è divertente, giocabile su più fronti, l'aspetto collezionabile non è inutilmente punitivo/commerciale come pokemon per l'appunto.
Sottolineo che di sfida non ce n'è mai, quando non sai come uscire da certe situazioni basta livellare di più e i puzzles sono ok. Hanno una difficoltà giusta, bilanciata per il grande pubblico e per questo io rimango un po' basito di fronte ad un certo hating

If you are tired of the modern pokemon games and want a classic pokemon-like experience, this is the game for you!

Beautiful spritework, great monster designs, really nice soundtrack, a different combat system based on stamina that is similar but different enough from pokemon to be pretty interesting, lots of quality of life additions that makes it clear that this was made by romhack fans and lets you dial the experience to be exactly what youd want......the story is the only downside, sadly, it is lighthearted but pretty basic.

Really hope the sequel they tease at the end does get made, if all the systems stayed the same but the story was more engaging, coromon "2" could be a 10/10.

Coromon is a perfectly competent and occasionally enjoyable Pokémon clone. It is basically everything you expect in a Pokémon clone and does all of it how you'd expect as well. All of the typical fan complaints are addressed and suggestions are implemented. All of the QoL stuff in a monster tamer game.

The art is pretty good mostly, evolutions make good sense. Type balance seems good. Love the ability to select on the fly from my monster's full moveset. The potent forms are cool, and just like other games these 'shiny' or alternate color forms also have boosted stats. Another common Pokémon clone trope is back too, a mana type system for moves just like Nexomon and TemTem.

But it's not perfect. The inflexible fast travel and long routes make the game a bit arduous to trek around. Note: not difficult. Just annoying. You find HP Cakes (potions) in abundance and you can buy them for nothing so you're never actually in need of HP items. You can use them all the time to get through routes and you'll never run out. So stopping to use them is just slowing the game down with no strategic upside. And going back to town to heal and then run back out is also just way too slow.

The story itself is pretty miserable. The dialogue is bad, especially the dialogue for the player character. The ending is pretty unsatisfying. The game is a little dull overall. The combat is engaging but there's a lot of it and there's no party XP share so it's real old school Pokémon grinding and grinding for level ups. There's plenty of welcome side quests but also plenty that are also just painfully grindy too. After awhile the combat isn't compelling enough to keep the game fun. The art is pretty good but you do occasionally feel like you're looking at Pokémon knock offs. The bad story, lackluster fast travel options and high level of grindyness scuttles what could've otherwise been a really good game.

Coromon is worth a play. Especially for a cheap enough price. It is fun. It's just not a standout in the genre. It's not excellent. If you're desperate for a good Pokémon clone, Nexomon Extinction is substantially better. But if you're just a really big fan of this genre and wanna play what you can, Coromon is still worth your time too.