Developer Odencat (Bear's Restaurant, Fishing Paradiso) are back with a brand new game. Meg's Monster is a short game, but a game filled with a heartwarming story, beautiful pixel graphics, great music and sound design and enjoyable gameplay mechanics. I don't tend to gush so much for a game before getting into a review, but it's always a pleasant surprise when I get to play a fantastic indie game. The story of Meg's Monster is the most important part of the game. Luckily for us it has a great narrative with a plot that see's a Monster called Roy and his best friend Golan (also a monster) coming across a little girl called Meg who is lost in a dark cave. Now monsters love to eat humans, but when these two monsters attempt to eat this poor little girl something strange begins to happen. The moment Meg begins to cry a blood-red hue washes over the sky, and the earth itself begins to tremble and quake. As the air around them begins to heat up and cook them, they have to calm her down to return everything to normal. Turns out this little girl holds the power to bring forth the apocalypse when she cries, bummer right! So Roy decides he needs to return her to her mother safely and without having her cry too much, otherwise POOF the world will end.
Now my explanation of the story probably doesn't do it justice, but it's full of colourful monster characters, lots of twists and lots of emotion. It's the core focus of the game and you really need to experience it for yourself. Once you do beat the game, an option for a new chapter unlocks which basically gives you a brand new ending to the game as well. I won't spoil anything but the additional chapter really gives the game a much more fitting conclusion than what is found in the base story chapters.
Next we come to the combat. The game features turn-based combat that had a definite Pokemon style look to it. Players control Roy, who begins the game with 99,999 HP and is virtually untouchable but the real concern is keeping Meg safe, because if she starts crying, it’s game over for everyone. The battles very much feel like skipping straight to the boss battle and cutting out all the minion fights, with Roy being so strong he barely has to worry about the damage taken. It becomes a strategic game of defeating enemies whilst also protecting and cheering up Meg. Players will have to master the unique mechanics and mini-games baked into each battle, all while protecting Meg and using her favorite toys which you amass through to the game to keep her pacified.
Graphically Meg's Monster gives off major Game Boy Advance vibes. It has bright and colourful pixel art, with great character and environment designs. The sprites in battle are nice and detailed and the whole thing runs great. The audio also sets the scene well and the tracks really work with the events of the story and the situations you find yourself in - this soundtrack is brought to us by Reo Uratani who has previouslt worked on Hi-Fi Rush and Monster Hunter 3 & 4 to name just a few.
Meg's Monster is a bite sized experience, clocking in at only a few hours for completion. This is a nice change of pace as the game can be completed in one sitting and the devs have really focused the game down and stripped out things like non-essential fights and narrative that isn't a major part of the plot. This isn't an issue though as the narrative will have you drawn in from start to finish.
Meg's Monster is a fantastic experience with a story that really gives you some deep feels. It has great audio and visuals with a nice combat system, it's just a shame it's over so quickly as you will want to play it again. Highly recommend this one, a definite indie gem that everyone should check out. TOTAL SCORE: 8/10
Meg's Monster was released onto the Xbox store on the 2nd March 2023. It's playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S Consoles. The game is priced at £12.49 and can be purchased HERE.
A copy of the game was provided for this review.
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