Pokémon, that word, that Intellectual Property, that game genre defining series is going to be mentioned a lot throughout this.
If you are like me, that is not an immediate turn off but you’re already feeling cautious, feeling some trepidation that this is going to be another one of “those games” where it’s just the same shit without as cool designs, none of the heart and maybe added online co-op to be so much more modern (although Pokémon finally sort of did this).
Let me start off with a basic list of what is the same or at least similar so you know exactly where you are with this monster catching indie game.
You do catch monsters, you do fight in turn-based battles to level them up so they can gain moves and evolve, you do even fight against Captains which are like Gym leaders in a sense but you’re not primarily trying to become a champion.
You even gain special moves from your monsters which allow you, in a pseudo-metroidvania way, access to places you couldn’t originally get.
All of this is what places Cassette Beasts in the same genre, but so much is surface level, so much has evolved from what we’re used to and so much of it has simply grown up.
In Cassette Beasts actually starts from the first second a lot more like Link’s Awakening, your protagonist (created by you) washes up on a beach in a strange dreamy land.
This is New Wirral and without delving into too many spoilers or the deepest of lore, you're not the first to arrive this way - in fact it seems that’s how all the residents got here, but not just from your world, time or space, from everywhere.
The title itself refers to the monsters you are pocketing, in this universe monsters roam the land but the unexplained powers of tape recorders allow you to record these monsters and become them.
From the start this changes the dynamic of catching monsters quite a lot, it feels less like a world of cock fighting, it gives stakes where you are on the line not your unfortunate pets and what it also does is allow you to fight alongside friends.
This latter part is one of Cassette Beasts defining differences, one that really makes the universe oddly more believable even though it’s far more strange.
You aren’t a 10 year old sent out alone to travel the world, meet and fight strangers all alone bar a “rival” or friend group who turn up every so often.
You meet companions, they have things they would like help with and you get to know them, speak to them when you camp to regain your health and fix your tapes and learn about this world as a group.
In an almost “Social Links” type addition you can improve the relationship with these partners you meet during the game, also potentially getting romantic something (obviously and thankfully) Pokémon does not do with its cast of children which leads me to one of Cassette Beasts defining mechanics.
This added mechanic which also separates Cassette Beasts from Pokémon is fusions.
When you and the first person you meet in New Wirral, an Irish girl named Kayleigh are confronted by an Archangel (more on them later) the desperation allows their “hearts to act as one” and the monsters you currently are fuse together into a more powerful form.
This mechanic works with all 120 monsters in the game, to what they claim (I’m not checking the maths) works out as over 14 THOUSAND combinations.
Whilst a guest on The Back Page podcast, Jay Baylis - the artist, writer and designer for this game guested on - suggested that Fusions were one of a few things mechanically Nintendo would probably never do.
Not just down to its technical undertaking but also because it would potentially mess with the brand, Pikachu is a mascot and to mess with his form means a lot for a billion dollar franchise and I can see their point.
Bytten however, a two person studio does not have that worry.
Two people (sure it is more by the time you see credits roll including play-testers, translations, music etc.) compared to the teams Game Freak have really shown that, if it wasn’t clear from the technical mess of Scarlet and Violet, they really need to get their act together.
I do not want to turn this into a second review of Pokémon Scarlet, but my final thoughts on that was it was actually brilliant but it wasn’t much of a leap forwards and the technical hitches didn’t just keep it back from looking or running as good as other games in the “AAA space” but they actually impeded some of the game itself - made a magical final area seem like a broken mess, made a new online feature becoming a frustrating slow bore, it felt like corners were cut but they were not thought out.
Cassette Beasts “cuts corners” too. It has to, as an indie game it’s not got a budget or the manpower to create something as grand as Pokémon but everything it does that may arguably be a step back is done very smartly and with purpose.
The most noticeable is the game uses pixel art, beautiful creative pixel art which both makes you think of older Pokémon generations - hitting those nostalgia nerves, whilst also allowing Baylis to design a large roster of monsters themselves and make the fusion system work.
The pixels do not hold back this game as much as you would believe either, the game doesn’t have HM’s like Pokémon and is more akin to the latest titles in that you’re not simply unlocking doors (cutting hedges, pushing rocks) but are actually traversing. I will not spoil specifics but a lot of it is vertical, floating across gaps is where it starts and it goes into different places.
The world does occasionally have locked doors and chests but these are usually surrounded by minor puzzles that lean back into that Zelda feel washing up on the beach first gives the player.
My biggest complaint about Cassette Beasts was a feeling that it took a few sessions to shake and a little bit of pondering as to why it was there.
Cassette Beasts, with its strong aesthetic, cool ideas such as pencils to rewind tapes (heal) and great music (although Pokémon is never lacking) was that it had all this but it “felt off”.
That feeling I think I boiled down to the game not being “flashy” enough.
Perhaps this is a corner cut that I can forgive but am affected by.
When I speak about flash, I mean in terms of animations from the little things that you see in these monster catching games hundreds of times during your time with them.
Fight transitions, catching, moves, all of these are not bad but just a little weak. I want it to be more bombastic, more “anime”. Even things such as menus, which I do enjoy looking like cassette tape labels feel a little bland in comparison to what others do.
I’m not expecting a full Persona like attack on my senses but these things I wish got a little more attention and are strangely a reason I would love a sequel because I would imagine they could have the time.
As mentioned briefly the music is great, there is not as much variety as I may have liked but how lyrics will start being sung upon things such as fusions is something that did add to the flashiness I wanted and really did give me a kick.
Also whilst I may say there was a small lack of variety it does mean the game had a consistent theme and feel along with it’s art.
Well except in one place and the final thing I’d like to highlight ever so briefly.
Archangels.
I mentioned them earlier and these are, as you may imagine, the bosses of the game.
No gym leaders to get badges from here but Archangels to defeat to learn lines to a song that may help your protagonist actually leave New Wirral and head home.
These bosses are again lacking a little flash but the things they do are fun, exciting and impressive.
The archangels really show that this world has residents from all over and they do not look like the monsters you catch. Your partners even make comments that allude to the archangels as if they’re like cosmic horrors that they can’t even perceive “correctly”. In game this is represented by each of them having very jarring but amazing different art styles that do not match the game and each is a wonderful discovery.
Overall Cassette Beasts is wonderful and I will be telling every single one of my friends who I know always pick up the latest Pokémon games to give this a go.
It’s on GamePass but it is easily worth the £18 if you want it on Switch.
The game isn’t perfect, there’s a lack of polish when it comes to the flashiness I mentioned, a bit of pop in that doesn’t break the game but makes you wonder with it’s simpler graphics and the post game while impressive it has so much can be a little too grindy to get to the interesting parts.
However it’s more inventive and mature than Pokémon has been for a while and a game at a fraction of the price with a fraction of the backing doing this so well on their first try - that’s something to be commended.
If you are like me, that is not an immediate turn off but you’re already feeling cautious, feeling some trepidation that this is going to be another one of “those games” where it’s just the same shit without as cool designs, none of the heart and maybe added online co-op to be so much more modern (although Pokémon finally sort of did this).
Let me start off with a basic list of what is the same or at least similar so you know exactly where you are with this monster catching indie game.
You do catch monsters, you do fight in turn-based battles to level them up so they can gain moves and evolve, you do even fight against Captains which are like Gym leaders in a sense but you’re not primarily trying to become a champion.
You even gain special moves from your monsters which allow you, in a pseudo-metroidvania way, access to places you couldn’t originally get.
All of this is what places Cassette Beasts in the same genre, but so much is surface level, so much has evolved from what we’re used to and so much of it has simply grown up.
In Cassette Beasts actually starts from the first second a lot more like Link’s Awakening, your protagonist (created by you) washes up on a beach in a strange dreamy land.
This is New Wirral and without delving into too many spoilers or the deepest of lore, you're not the first to arrive this way - in fact it seems that’s how all the residents got here, but not just from your world, time or space, from everywhere.
The title itself refers to the monsters you are pocketing, in this universe monsters roam the land but the unexplained powers of tape recorders allow you to record these monsters and become them.
From the start this changes the dynamic of catching monsters quite a lot, it feels less like a world of cock fighting, it gives stakes where you are on the line not your unfortunate pets and what it also does is allow you to fight alongside friends.
This latter part is one of Cassette Beasts defining differences, one that really makes the universe oddly more believable even though it’s far more strange.
You aren’t a 10 year old sent out alone to travel the world, meet and fight strangers all alone bar a “rival” or friend group who turn up every so often.
You meet companions, they have things they would like help with and you get to know them, speak to them when you camp to regain your health and fix your tapes and learn about this world as a group.
In an almost “Social Links” type addition you can improve the relationship with these partners you meet during the game, also potentially getting romantic something (obviously and thankfully) Pokémon does not do with its cast of children which leads me to one of Cassette Beasts defining mechanics.
This added mechanic which also separates Cassette Beasts from Pokémon is fusions.
When you and the first person you meet in New Wirral, an Irish girl named Kayleigh are confronted by an Archangel (more on them later) the desperation allows their “hearts to act as one” and the monsters you currently are fuse together into a more powerful form.
This mechanic works with all 120 monsters in the game, to what they claim (I’m not checking the maths) works out as over 14 THOUSAND combinations.
Whilst a guest on The Back Page podcast, Jay Baylis - the artist, writer and designer for this game guested on - suggested that Fusions were one of a few things mechanically Nintendo would probably never do.
Not just down to its technical undertaking but also because it would potentially mess with the brand, Pikachu is a mascot and to mess with his form means a lot for a billion dollar franchise and I can see their point.
Bytten however, a two person studio does not have that worry.
Two people (sure it is more by the time you see credits roll including play-testers, translations, music etc.) compared to the teams Game Freak have really shown that, if it wasn’t clear from the technical mess of Scarlet and Violet, they really need to get their act together.
I do not want to turn this into a second review of Pokémon Scarlet, but my final thoughts on that was it was actually brilliant but it wasn’t much of a leap forwards and the technical hitches didn’t just keep it back from looking or running as good as other games in the “AAA space” but they actually impeded some of the game itself - made a magical final area seem like a broken mess, made a new online feature becoming a frustrating slow bore, it felt like corners were cut but they were not thought out.
Cassette Beasts “cuts corners” too. It has to, as an indie game it’s not got a budget or the manpower to create something as grand as Pokémon but everything it does that may arguably be a step back is done very smartly and with purpose.
The most noticeable is the game uses pixel art, beautiful creative pixel art which both makes you think of older Pokémon generations - hitting those nostalgia nerves, whilst also allowing Baylis to design a large roster of monsters themselves and make the fusion system work.
The pixels do not hold back this game as much as you would believe either, the game doesn’t have HM’s like Pokémon and is more akin to the latest titles in that you’re not simply unlocking doors (cutting hedges, pushing rocks) but are actually traversing. I will not spoil specifics but a lot of it is vertical, floating across gaps is where it starts and it goes into different places.
The world does occasionally have locked doors and chests but these are usually surrounded by minor puzzles that lean back into that Zelda feel washing up on the beach first gives the player.
My biggest complaint about Cassette Beasts was a feeling that it took a few sessions to shake and a little bit of pondering as to why it was there.
Cassette Beasts, with its strong aesthetic, cool ideas such as pencils to rewind tapes (heal) and great music (although Pokémon is never lacking) was that it had all this but it “felt off”.
That feeling I think I boiled down to the game not being “flashy” enough.
Perhaps this is a corner cut that I can forgive but am affected by.
When I speak about flash, I mean in terms of animations from the little things that you see in these monster catching games hundreds of times during your time with them.
Fight transitions, catching, moves, all of these are not bad but just a little weak. I want it to be more bombastic, more “anime”. Even things such as menus, which I do enjoy looking like cassette tape labels feel a little bland in comparison to what others do.
I’m not expecting a full Persona like attack on my senses but these things I wish got a little more attention and are strangely a reason I would love a sequel because I would imagine they could have the time.
As mentioned briefly the music is great, there is not as much variety as I may have liked but how lyrics will start being sung upon things such as fusions is something that did add to the flashiness I wanted and really did give me a kick.
Also whilst I may say there was a small lack of variety it does mean the game had a consistent theme and feel along with it’s art.
Well except in one place and the final thing I’d like to highlight ever so briefly.
Archangels.
I mentioned them earlier and these are, as you may imagine, the bosses of the game.
No gym leaders to get badges from here but Archangels to defeat to learn lines to a song that may help your protagonist actually leave New Wirral and head home.
These bosses are again lacking a little flash but the things they do are fun, exciting and impressive.
The archangels really show that this world has residents from all over and they do not look like the monsters you catch. Your partners even make comments that allude to the archangels as if they’re like cosmic horrors that they can’t even perceive “correctly”. In game this is represented by each of them having very jarring but amazing different art styles that do not match the game and each is a wonderful discovery.
Overall Cassette Beasts is wonderful and I will be telling every single one of my friends who I know always pick up the latest Pokémon games to give this a go.
It’s on GamePass but it is easily worth the £18 if you want it on Switch.
The game isn’t perfect, there’s a lack of polish when it comes to the flashiness I mentioned, a bit of pop in that doesn’t break the game but makes you wonder with it’s simpler graphics and the post game while impressive it has so much can be a little too grindy to get to the interesting parts.
However it’s more inventive and mature than Pokémon has been for a while and a game at a fraction of the price with a fraction of the backing doing this so well on their first try - that’s something to be commended.
Angry_Kurt
11 months ago