Cassette Beasts

“Cassette Beasts is a fresh take on the monster collecting genre, featuring both whimsical creatures and actual floating nightmares in its surreal world. A double battle system with dozens of different buffs and debuffs creates a need to be more strategic and its story goes far beyond a desire to become champion or to just catch'em all, but you can still do that too if you want to. A few shortcomings in the quest systems and platforming hold it back, but only slightly. Cassette Beasts proves itself as far more than just a knockoff, and is instead a brilliant game in its own right.”

“Cassette Beasts is an addictive and fun videogame that pleasantly engages and excites. It offers a fascinating story and context, as well-implemented sensitive themes. A must have especially for the play structure.”

“We still have a lot of adventuring left to do in New Wirral, and we're in no way upset about it. More monsters to record and remaster, a few more mysteries to uncover, characters to grow fond of, and about 13,970 more fusions to see. Some (hopefully pre-launch-only) performance issues, wonky balance, and overly complex battle mechanics did little to affect how much we enjoyed Cassette Beasts. In fact, it's one of the better monster-battling games not starring a little electric rodent that you can enjoy on your Nintendo Switch.”

“Finally, the music in Cassette Beasts is excellent. A large portion of the soundtrack is made up of catchy synth rock, that brings to mind 80s soundtracks like the original animated Transformers movie. There are also lots of background songs that feature full vocals, which was a real treat. The issue with this was that some of the music transitions were quite jarring. Background music is sharply reset by opening menus, talking to NPCs, and entering new areas, and this is very obvious when vocals are cut off. But I still commend Cassette Beasts for trying out vocals on their soundtrack. The music itself is truly memorable.”

“Introducing interesting and original mechanics, Cassette Beasts revamps the monster collector genre with a much-needed fresh coat of paint.”

“Cassette Beasts is classic Pokémon expertly remixed for those who feel they have aged out of the series' target audience.”

“Cassette Beasts is a fantastic monster collecting game, one that is clearly inspired by old-school Pokémon but betters it in every aspect. This is the game I wish Pokémon was; for me, it's the new master of the monster-collecting genre.”

“Cassette Beasts is the best monster collecting game I've ever played, with sensational combat and a wonderful world to explore.”

“Cassette Beasts is one of the best and most entertaining monster-collecting games outside of Pokémon.”

“I had a great time with Cassette Beasts, but it was undeniably frustrating in places. It iterates on the Pokemon formula in nearly every possible way, and exploring the world via companion quests rather than just doing a big circle on your Gym challenge creates a wonderful sense of adventure. Cassette Beasts tries a lot of new things and most of them are successful. The story is compelling, the characters are engaging, and the battle system is one of the best I’ve ever used. It doesn’t pull everything off, but I’d much rather play a game that takes risks, rather than one that rehashes the same old formula time and time again.”

“A fun and charming monster collecting game with an eye-catching aesthetic and wonderful soundtrack that is dripping with style and personality.”

“Cassette Beasts blends the best of JRPGs and monster taming games to create something new, and it pays off incredibly well. While the story may be on the shorter side for JRPG lovers, there's more than enough to love about the game. (Review Policy)”

“Cassette Beasts is simply one of the best Pokémon-like games I've come across, and I'm looking forward to earning a 100% completion. With a massive end-game and modder support built in at release though, I feel like I'm going to get very sidetracked on the way there.”

“Bytten Studio puts all of its creativity on display in Cassette Beasts. Not only does its sizeable roster of Monsters include some really fun and unique designs, but the thoughtful approach to combat and clever music element really set it apart from most Pokemon-likes. Although the characters weren’t as intriguing as I’d like in an RPG, just about everything else was enough to make up for it. Cassette Beasts is sure to be one of this year’s indie darlings.”