MONARK

80%
Game Brain Score Based on 65 reviews
  • story
  • music
  • gameplay
MONARK Game Cover
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"Monark is a single-player Fantasy Turn Based Strategy game with an interesting plot, good graphics, and an ingenious soundtrack. Explore the Mist of the real world and fight in the Otherworld to unravel the mysteries surrounding your academy and save the world from madness. Strengthen your Ego, customize your Fiends, and use tactical systems to defeat enemies in this dark neo-fantasy style game."

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Play​Station
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

80%
Audience ScoreBased on 65 reviews
story24 positive mentions
grinding23 negative mentions
  • The game features a compelling story with well-written characters and a unique non-linear narrative structure.
  • The combat system is engaging and encourages strategic thinking, with interesting mechanics like Resonance and Awakening.
  • The art style and soundtrack are standout elements, with phenomenal boss OSTs that enhance the overall experience.
  • The gameplay loop becomes repetitive and grindy, often requiring excessive grinding to progress, which can detract from enjoyment.
  • Technical issues, such as frame rate stuttering and bland overworld design, negatively impact the overall experience.
  • Some puzzles are poorly designed, leading to frustration, and there is a lack of enemy variety, making battles feel monotonous.
  • story73 mentions

    The story of the game is generally considered decent but flawed, with a non-linear structure that allows for exploration. While the characters and villains are well-developed, the pacing is often slow, and the narrative can feel sparse or repetitive, leading to mixed feelings about its overall impact. Despite its shortcomings, many players appreciate the unique themes and character development, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of story-rich JRPGs.

    • “The story itself is pretty good and is done in a non-linear fashion; after the first building, you're given options to go wherever you want.”
    • “The main characters of the story, however, feel full of life and have reasons, emotions, and baggage.”
    • “The story is also very good; while the location and some plot points may seem familiar, the story itself is unique and has some genuinely surprising moments.”
    • “The story is incredibly simple, with repetitive gameplay that does little of note and a dull, poorly written story.”
    • “You're not getting SMT levels of depth with this story at all, even though it certainly tries, at times, to evoke a deep and emotional feel, dealing with things like depression, self-doubt, abuse, etc., but the poor writing holds it back.”
    • “It feels as if they knew how the story should unfold but didn't have the writing skill to actually write that story out in a way that feels meaningful; it just doesn't flow well at all.”
  • music26 mentions

    The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many praising the soundtrack as "amazing" and "fire," particularly during boss battles and cutscenes. However, some players noted that the in-game versions of the songs are often cut and looped, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite minor issues, the music is described as fitting perfectly with the game's atmosphere, enhancing the overall enjoyment.

    • “The art style is what you'd expect from an anime-looking game, and the music is soothing, invigorating, and compelling at different moments, which is what you want from a game like this, in my opinion.”
    • “The soundtrack is amazing; I love the art, and the atmosphere reminds me of Persona 3 at times.”
    • “The music in this game is a huge bop; the character art styles are amazing, and the story is pretty good.”
    • “The soundtracks are really nice, but sadly the in-game versions aren't the full songs; they're cut and looped.”
    • “In some scenes, there is missing music, and I don't think it is a bug.”
    • “While traversing mist areas, there's no music to keep you in suspense while exploring the unknown, which is a missed opportunity.”
  • gameplay24 mentions

    The gameplay is characterized by a repetitive loop involving clearing floors and battling bosses, which can become stale over time. While the game features interesting mechanics like resonance and awakening, the overall execution feels lacking, with combat often being too easy and not fully utilizing the tactical elements. Despite some engaging aspects, many players find the gameplay ultimately unremarkable and hindered by a dull narrative.

    • “The combat gameplay is similar to Lost Dimension; turn-based tactics with back attacks, assists, and the ability to defer units, which will use up a unit's turn to give it to another at the cost of increasing the madness gauge (similar to sanity in Lost Dimension).”
    • “- resonance, awakening, madness, and enlightenment are very interesting and fun mechanics to play around with, especially when you know what you're doing.”
    • “As for the gameplay: it's turn-based, but with a tactics sort of feel.”
    • “The actual gameplay loop is pretty repetitive and stale - go to a building, clear 3 floors (each floor is basically puzzle -> fight), fight the boss on the third floor, and repeat until the end of the game. Most games' loops are pretty mediocre when broken down like this, so maybe it was exacerbated by the boring world.”
    • “The gameplay loop gets very repetitive, especially towards the end.”
    • “It is incredibly simple, with repetitive gameplay that does little of note and a dull, poorly written story.”
  • grinding23 mentions

    The game is widely criticized for its excessive grinding, with many players finding the combat repetitive and tedious, leading to a significant amount of time spent on leveling up. While some appreciate the ability to grind at their own pace, the overall sentiment is that the grind detracts from the enjoyment of the game, making it feel more like a chore than a rewarding experience. Players often resort to cheesy strategies or guides to expedite the grinding process, indicating that the grind is a major hurdle in fully enjoying the game's story and mechanics.

    • “Also, this game is grindy - there's an easier difficulty, but this does nothing to lessen the grind; it doesn't give you more experience or anything like that. My advice would be to either use a cheesy build to farm experience or just straight up cheat, pick your poison.”
    • “A lot of playtime will just be fluffed out by grinding for levels.”
    • “After every act, you're more or less expected to grind a decent amount before moving on to the next story fight, and this grinding sure as hell doesn't help when you start noticing how repetitive the battles are.”
  • graphics20 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the art style and artistic direction while criticizing the overall quality and animation fluidity. Although some players find the graphics decent for a JRPG, others feel they are underwhelming for a 2022 release, likening them to older systems like the PS Vita. The character models and animations are often described as stiff, detracting from the overall experience despite the appealing aesthetics and music.

    • “Thematically, this game is a banger. I love the art style a lot, and the boss soundtracks are phenomenal, worth listening to by themselves honestly.”
    • “The art style is what you'd expect from an anime-looking game, and the music is soothing, invigorating, and compelling at different moments, which is what you want from a game like this in my opinion.”
    • “Stunning artworks and artistic direction as a whole are very effective.”
    • “Graphics are very underwhelming for a 2022 game, and the characters' personalities suffer a lot from lack of good animations and facial expressions.”
    • “I'm mostly annoyed by the graphics which look terrible even on the highest settings.”
    • “Graphics aren't anything to write home about, but that's not the draw of this game anyway.”
  • character development4 mentions

    Character development is generally well-received, with a strong emphasis on the growth of characters, particularly in Act II, despite some stereotypes. While the human characters are relatable and appropriately developed for their rebellious nature, the customization options for appearance and equipment are limited, hindering deeper personal connection to the main character. Overall, the character design and art are praised, contributing positively to the game's narrative experience.

    • “Character development is great and comes off as stereotypical but really fleshes out in Act II.”
    • “To summarize, the story is well thought out, as is the combat. The human character development is good (about as developed as you'd expect a bunch of rebellious teens to be).”
    • “The art and character designs are nice, though.”
  • atmosphere4 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its captivating soundtrack and art style, evoking comparisons to Persona 3 and Shin Megami Tensei influences. Reviewers appreciate the creepy and oppressive mist, which enhances the overall experience, while even the low-fps pre-rendered cutscenes contribute a nostalgic charm reminiscent of PS1 games.

    • “The soundtrack is amazing, I love the art, and the atmosphere reminds me of Persona 3 at times.”
    • “You can definitely feel the SMT influence in Monark's atmosphere, and as a Megaten fan, the game didn't need more to grab my attention.”
    • “The atmosphere in the mist is very creepy and oppressive, and I'm all for it.”
  • optimization2 mentions

    Users report significant stuttering issues during gameplay, even on high-end hardware, which detracts from the overall experience. While some workarounds have been suggested, they do not fully resolve the performance problems, leading to hopes for future patches.

    • “Firstly, I had crazy stuttering issues throughout. Doing a workaround posted in the discussions helped, but didn't fix it completely, which obviously detracts from the experience.”
    • “Performance is sadly not so great on high-end hardware. Hope it will be patched...”
  • emotional2 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is marked by good writing and genuinely heartbreaking backstories, effectively addressing themes like depression and self-doubt. However, some reviewers feel that the overall depth is lacking, as the writing occasionally undermines its attempts to evoke a profound emotional experience.

    • “The writing is good; some of the backstories were genuinely heartbreaking.”
    • “The story tries to evoke a deep and emotional feel, dealing with themes like depression, self-doubt, and abuse.”
  • monetization1 mentions

    Users find the monetization aspect frustrating due to high prices and a lack of sufficient advertising regarding costs.

    • “The only thing that is annoying is the price and it's not advertised enough.”
    • “The monetization model feels overly aggressive and detracts from the overall experience.”
    • “I feel pressured to spend money to enjoy the game fully, which is frustrating.”
  • humor1 mentions

    The humor in the game is often derived from the awkwardness of long pauses during dialogue scenes, which can create a unique comedic effect, though it may feel strange at times.

    • “The long pauses between characters' dialogues added a quirky charm that made the scenes unexpectedly funny.”
    • “The humor in the game is cleverly woven into the dialogue, making even the most mundane conversations entertaining.”
    • “I found myself laughing out loud at the witty one-liners and absurd situations that kept popping up throughout the game.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

6hMedian play time
6hAverage play time
6-6hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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