New creature-collecting games are announced all the time, but few wear their inspirations on their sleeves as openly as MonCraft 199X. At first glance, the newly revealed indie game on Steam looks like a love letter to classic Pokemon, complete with a retro aesthetic that feels pulled straight from the late 1990s. At the same time, the description and gameplay put it closer to a game like Palworld, giving fans a unique new entry in the genre on Steam.
Its Steam page suggests it’s all of that and a little more. It has Pokemon vibes and Palworld‘s survival crafting gameplay, but it also has 8-player support, its own unique progression systems, its own unique “Mons,” and more. No doubt, Moncraft 199X would feel familiar to play, but not like the various Pokemon clone games out there.
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Moncraft 199X Features at a Glance
- Retro-inspired visuals with modern gameplay systems
- Massive open world
- Capture, train, evolve, and battle unique cMons
- Up to 8-player online multiplayer
- Equippable badges that give your trainer new abilities
- Day/night cycle affects Mon spawns
- Build, customize, and decorate your own base
- Deep crafting, scavenging, and resource management
- Available on Steam
Another solid game similar to MonCraft 199X, if more akin to Pokemon, is Cassette Beasts.
What is Moncraft 199X?
According to developer Lowe Bros. Studios, MonCraft 199X takes place in an alternate timeline where the Y2K bug wasn’t just a technology scare. Instead, civilization collapsed, corruption spread, and Mon arose. If it’s not obvious, Mon is to Moncraft what Pals are to Palworld and Pokemon are to Pokemon. Generally speaking, creature collectors end up being general fantasy settings, but Moncraft 199X raises the stakes with a post-apocalyptic premise.
The Pokemon inspiration is impossible to ignore. Players can capture, train, evolve, and battle Mon throughout their journey, with creature collection serving as one of the game’s core pillars. Even visually, MonCraft 199X feels designed to evoke memories of Pokemon‘s earliest generations. The pixel-art presentation and overworld all point toward the Game Boy and Game Boy Color era of Pokemon games, with some of the visuals also taking cues from the design ethos of towns in Pokemon. However, that’s pretty much the extent there and also where the Palworld comparisons become obvious.
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Build your perfect top ten one reveal at a time.
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In Pokemon, especially earlier games, they helped pass progression gates and served as battle companions, and that was it. Palworld introduced the idea of “forcing” these creatures to perform manual labor. Mons are capable of similar feats: gathering resources, bypassing obstacles, performing tasks. They are integrated into every gameplay system in Moncraft 199X, with its survival-crafting gameplay obviously being the biggest connection.
Moncraft 199X’s Open World and Survival Crafting Gameplay
Unsurprisingly, Moncraft 199X features resource gathering, scavenging, crafting, equipment upgrades, and character progression among its major features. Instead of simply moving from battle to battle, players will need to collect materials, improve their gear, and build up their abilities over time. Moncraft 199X has yet to detail these features in full, beyond the Mon involvement, but it’ll be interesting to see its take on these gameplay features in a creature-collecting game.
That said, building and crafting is another major component of the experience. Players can create and customize homes, ranches, and secret bases throughout the world, allowing them to establish their own corner of the wasteland. Base-building has become one of the defining features of many successful survival games in recent years, and MonCraft 199X seems eager to embrace that trend (even if that makes it harder not to think of Palworld).
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All of this is, of course, wrapped up in its open-world game features. Players have a plethora of PoIs that have been shown and detailed, ranging from towns to abandoned locations, left-behind landmarks, dungeons, crime zones, and more. In all of this will be Mon spawns and a dynamic day-and-night cycle that influences them. It is not yet known if MonCraft 199X features a special level of rarity like in Palworld or Pokemon‘s Shinies, but as a staple of the genre, it has to be assumed.
Mon AND Character Progression
MonCraft 199X does one thing that happens in neither Pokemon or Palworld: bonafide character progression (as well as Mon progression). Sure, Palworld has progression that impacts the character, but MonCraft has progression FOR the character. Throughout the game, they can unlock trainer upgrades that earn them new badges (not to be confused with Pokemon gyms), which unlock new abilities. Exact details remain limited for now, but it’ll be interesting to see how players grow alongside their Mons.
Moncraft features online co-op for up to 8 players.
At the time of writing, MonCraft 199X does not have a release date but can be wishlisted on Steam. For fans of classic Pokemon and Palworld, MonCraft 199X is worth a wishlist.