Temtem: Pioneers' Downbelow Explained

After the huge success of the original game, Temtem developer Crema started another project called Temtem: Swarm to completely change the tenets of the monster-collecting game, and now it’s amassing thousands of supporters on Kickstarter with its new Temtem: Pioneers. While Temtem is one of the best Pokemon-like games out there, support for it ended after the team shipped every big update it envisioned for the title. It is still playable and even has online functionalities, but it’s not getting active updates anymore. Enter the new Temtem: Pioneers, a project that was launched on Kickstarter with a goal of around $100,000, only for it to come close to the $500,000 milestone.

There are fewer than 48 hours left to support Temtem: Pioneers on Kickstarter right now, but fans can get the game for around $30 if they are willing to skip all the fancy Kickstarter additions and the playable alpha version when it drops. Still, this is intended for a public release in 2028, so there may be a long wait involved without the alpha version upgrade. With a survival twist on the original game, Temtem: Pioneers caters to a different playerbase, even if it retains its charming critters and monster-catching gameplay loop. For Temtem fans, though, they will be able to explore the so-called Downbelow for the first time.

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Temtem: Pioneers is Survival Meets Monster Taming in the Downbelow

In the original Temtem, players adventured through the six islands in the Airborne Archipelago, often boarding a ship called the Narwhal to hop from one place to another. In Temtem: Pioneers, the premise is that the Narwhal crashed on the Downbelow, which is basically the in-game ground part of the world that is not floating in the air like the Airborne Archipelago. This is a largely unexplored area often feared by Airborne Archipelago inhabitants, as they know very little about it, and it’s so far below their floating islands, but in the new game, it’s going to be the main setting.

Temtem: Pioneers is very successful on Kickstarter right now, and its developer is in the process of sharing more information about the game and its critters. The Downbelow will play a vital role in the survival monster-catching title for a few reasons:

Unlike Temtem, where Tems are found in tall grass like Pokemon, they will be overworld spawns in Temtem: Pioneers, making the Downbelow’s various biomes important to determine what kind of critters will be available there.
- Two of the completed stretch goals for Temtem: Pioneers were biomes — Crystal Biome and Dark Forest Biome, featuring Crystal and Mental Tems, respectively.
Normally, you need to collect and manage resources in survival games, and you can do that in the Downbelow in Temtem: Pioneers. Resources may depend on progression and biomes.
You can explore the Downbelow by walking and running, but you can also use mounts as traversal companions, as they will be Temtem themselves.
The Tems found in the Dowbelow are not the same as those in the Airborne Archipelago. Temtem‘s Digital Tems are not available in this new game, but there are several new Tems to find and collect in the Downbelow to make up for it.
There will be bosses to defeat in the Downbelow to gain access to new areas and rare materials. They will be similar to Alpha Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Z-A in terms of concept, as they are bigger than regular Tems, more aggressive, and more powerful.
Temtem: Pioneers is still a monster-taming game at its core, so you will be able to explore the Downbelow and collect resources with Tems at your side to help you fight off wild Tems and gather materials more quickly.

Temtem: Pioneers’ own name is due to the fact that you will play a Narwhal crash survivor in the Downbelow, exploring it for the first time. So, your character is a pioneer of the Downbelow.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

EasyMediumHardPermadeath

Essentially, the Downbelow is a whole new area for the series that has been mentioned multiple times in the original game, but never explored by players or NPCs alike. Usually, you can create your base in survival games, and Temtem: Pioneers is no exception, with the caveat that the base will be built somewhere in the Downbelow rather than the Airborne Archipelago, which will remain inaccessible in this game.