Gotta Catch All Of Them: Moonrise
Pokemon-like
The headline is just one of several catchphrase suggestions for Undead Labs' upcoming Moonrise. They could also go with "You Simply Must Capture 'Em All" or "Cram yer pockets with pure tiny monsters, aye?"
The game, coming to Early Access on May 27th, might be the one to fill the enormous Pokemon-shaped hole in PC (and Mac) gaming. I swear there have been several attempts to Kickstart some kind of Pokemon-like but I can't remember a single one and I'm always slightly surprised that Nintendo's franchise hasn't spawned a genre of imitators, as appears to be the case on tablets and cleverphones. The trailer for Moonrise is below.
Battles involve "real-time speed" but, thankfully, appear to be similar to Final Fantasy's Active Time Battles rather than scrappy clickfests. There's a full singleplayer campaign, taking place in a world with all kinds of different scenery - forests, deserts, villages clinging to the side of enormous land-spires - and PvP battling.
Journey to the far reaches of the world, discovering ancient ruins and braving untamed wilds.
Battle fierce Lunari to cure them of the corrupting effect of the Moonrise and recruit them to your growing team.
Collect hundreds of unique and powerful creatures, customize their skills, and evolve them into new and exciting forms.
Lead your Solari into battle with a deeply strategic yet easy-to-learn combat system.
Challenge other players from around the world to PvP matches to hone your skills, build winning strategies, and win valuable rewards.
Moonrise is Undead Labs second game, following State of Decay, and was first announced last year for mobile devices. It's still coming to iOS but with the Steam Early Access release less than a week away, we'll know how closely it sticks to its inspiration soon enough.