Recently, publisher PQube announced a collaboration with developer VEWO Interactive on the release of Nexomon: Extinction, which will be coming to PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. As the name might give away, the cheerful anime-style game draws some blatant inspirations from the Pokémon franchise. Nexomon is currently already a game on mobile, as well as being available on Steam for €8,19. While that Steam release is still in Early Access, Nexomon: Extinction will be its own project.
Nexomon: Extinction isn't the first to pretty openly mimic the Pokémon style in recent months. At the start of the year, TemTem saw a short craze explode onto the gaming and streaming community. Pretty much the entire online conversation was about TemTem for a few days, before dying down. This sudden rise of Pokémon borrowers becoming relevant isn't exactly a coincidence. Despite huge sales, the latest official iteration, Pokémon Sword and Shield, was subjected to sizable criticism. From people upset at a lack of Pokémon, to certain level creatures being inaccessible to capture, plenty of fans had grievances with where the franchise was going. That turmoil opened the gates for other developers to hop on the model, to give those people a more familiar game. The same effect happened during the launch of Diablo 3, which saw Path of Exile successfully bank from that game's nostalgic feeling.
For Pokémon, however, the attachment to different games is a new development. Being as popular as it is, trying to recreate the Nintendo exclusive elsewhere has undergone several previous attempts that were less successful. Most notably, developer Undead Labs, now known for State of Decay and owned by Microsoft, was one of the first to try a high-quality facsimile with Moonrise. Originally launched on Steam in Early Access in 2015, Moonrise saw some immediate success, but even with the name recognition from Undead Labs behind it, the game was taken off store shelves just as quickly. Not being able to recoup server costs was listed as the reason for shutting down Moonrise, soon after inception.
Another inspired title, Minimon, is a project that's been trudging along on Steam in Early Access since 2015. The game is still available for sale now, at a price of €9,99. Given the current hubbub, Minimon has also seen it fit to stick out their head, announcing a remake of the game, or at least progress, as recent as last month.
Alternatively, the Siralim franchise has taken a different route. The three games from Thylacine Studios incorporate the monster taming elements from Pokémon into a more traditional role-playing game (RPG), sort of like the Dragon Quest series. While none of the aforementioned previous projects have attained an overwhelming response from Pokémon fans, Nexomon and subsequent releases may now be benefiting from the loss in appeal from the Nintendo games.
The question now is: Which game will be the first to get it right enough to match the gargantuan nature of the actual Pokémon fandom? Maybe this phenomenon will be like the recent race for the battle royale crown. The latter example was decisively won by Fortnite being the first to market on consoles, while also being free to play. Given all active games mentioned here have a price tag, no such free tactic is yet revealed, so if anyone feels like taking the risk there, it might become lucrative. Particularly since skins and other vanity items resonate easily with the monster taming element, the free model could make a killing right now. Maybe that fact alone would be enough for Undead Labs to revive Moonrise, now with the backing of Microsoft. Moonrise could have a Minecraft crossover and vice versa; let's just throw that out there. State of Decay is already showing up in Sea of Thieves, another Microsoft game, so a collaboration is definitely possible.
Let us know what your favorite Pokémon game or facsimile is in the comments.
Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed
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| Platform(s): | Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC |
| Publisher(s): | PQube |
| Developer(s): | VEWO Interactive Inc. |
| Genres: | Action, Adventure |
| Themes: | Monster Catching |
| Release Date: | 2020 |
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