The History of Monster Taming Games
In the past two decades, Pokemon has defined the Monster Taming Genre. The original Pokemon Red and Blue games were the perfect launch into a global franchise, and a game formula that has been repeated ever few years.
Games like Coromon and Temtem were dubbed as Pokemon Clones, with pokefans being somewhat defensive of the genre. We've also seen hundreds of fan-made pokemon games, most following the classic RPG style with turn-based combat.
In the past few years, releases have gotten somewhat stale, with Pokemon main games like Scarlet and Violet gathering a larger amount of critiques than previous releases.
The Comeback Year for the Genre
2025 is a strong comeback opportunity for the genre to revive itself. Recent years saw significant releases, like Cassette Beasts in 2023, who has pushed the niche forward in terms of quality.
This year, several upcoming years are providing innovation that will take us to a new era.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A
Ironically, after an introduction about how Pokemon-style has gotten style, Legends: Z-A is the game that promises a new era.
The highlight, for me, is the introduction of real-time combat. Being on the Switch, I am expecting this to be limited in depth; however with the inclusion of Mega Evolutions, it'll bring an interesting twist.
Legends Z-A also brings back a Day and Night cycle in which Lumiose City transforms; between Wild Zones and the Z-A Royale
Digimon Story: Time Stranger
Digimon Story is a strong comeback game because, it is the first Story game in a decade. Unlike several Digimon releases, Time Stranger will be released in English and on PC (amongst other consoles) on launch.
Although most of the game is yet to be teased, the game will feature 450+ digimon and a 3v3 combat, so I have high hopes for the return of Digimon!
MonsterPatch
MonsterPatch has met all its Kickstarter stretch goals, with good reason.
The retro-pixel style reminds us of GBA games, like the original pokemon red. Despite its nostalgia, it provides a lot of fresh mechanics and clarity.
Types are represented by one of 9 houses, and each mon's colour will match their House. That means, if you see the colour of a mon, you know exactly what types it will be. In addition, Shiny Mons therefore have different typing!
The combat of MonsterPatch is designed as a 4v4 team combat, diverting from the classic 1v1. Another change is that the player will be an Archwizard, with spells for chopping, mining, and other world interactions.
Thus, the game clearly create its own path while using retro graphics and sound.
Ova Magica
Ova Magica is by far my favourite to-date, with Early Access being available and 1.0 releasing later this year.
The highlight for me is the cross-breeding ability, which I have features extensively on my youtube channel. There are MILLIONS of combinations. From three blobs (Pig, Kiwi, and Bee), I made a Pink Ballerina. You wouldn't think it, but it's possible!
Blobs may have abilities that can help out in the farm. This adds more personalisation and bond between the player and the blobs, making blobs more than just combat or breeding machines.
Lumentale
Lumentale is another Kickstarter campaign that is releasing this year.
In Lumentale, players can use the Holoken to interact with the world, both for platforming reasons as well as to capture wild Animons.
Battles take place in up to 4 vs 4 teams, and instead of statuses, Animons are instead impacted by emotions.
Lumentale seems to be aiming for a full-experience, with an in-game card system and mini-game in every city.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey
Yaoling: Mythical Journey is an Eastern-Asian style of monster taming. Each Yoaling has three evolution forms, as well as Demon form -- a key aspect of the game's lore.
Its combat is the most different. Players place 5-7 Yaolings (at rank 1) on the field, and these will autobattle the enemies. Yup, autobattler! The focus here is much more on a cohesive team-building, with attackers, tanks, healers, supports, and assassins.
Beastieball
Beastieball is an interesting spin on the classic pokemon-style RPG, with a focus on a volleyball theme.
Beasties are not caught, they are recruited to the team, and they play in a 2v2 combat that focuses on serve, volleys, defence, and scoring points.
On paper, the game has everything to make it a monster taming classic. Even in Early Access, the game already holds semi-regular PvP events, although personally, it did not resonate as much as I hoped for.
The Future of Monster Taming
2025 is a core year that is shaping the future of Monster Taming.
The majority of games provide team-based combat, with 2 or more monsters per team. This not only shifts from the pitfall of having 'useless' creatures in 1v1s in disadvantaged situation, but it also enables a new strategic type of game of teambuilding.
In addition, we're also seeing a move towards advanced technical systems, such as real-time combat and cross-breeding. Monster taming games are also starting to blend into other genres, like farm sims.
With these changes, monster taming games released in 5 years will likely be completely different than the classic Pokemon games.r a full-experience, with features like in-game card system, and mini-games in every city.