Temtem

70%
Game Brain Score Based on 17,171 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • grinding
Temtem Game Cover
What it lacks in charm, Temtem makes up for with mechanical depth and involved multiplayer.
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Temtem is a massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure with a beautiful story and excellent gameplay, set in a stunningly visually-realized fantasy world. Catch, train, and battle Temtem, customize your character, and explore the six islands of the Airborne Archipelago while interacting with other players. Your goal: defeat the malicious Clan Belsoto, become a Temtem tamer champion, and uncover the mysteries of this charming and immersive world.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Phone
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Tablet
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

70%
Audience ScoreBased on 17,171 reviews
story685 positive mentions
grinding1,261 negative mentions
  • story2,865 mentions

    The story of *Temtem* is generally regarded as more mature and engaging than that of traditional Pokémon games, with a narrative that spans approximately 40-60 hours of gameplay, depending on player engagement with side quests. While many players appreciate the humor and character depth, some criticize the story for being predictable and formulaic, often likening it to a typical Pokémon plot. Additionally, the game is still in early access, meaning that the story is incomplete, leading to frustrations with pacing and quest tracking, particularly due to the lack of a comprehensive quest log and the tendency for quests to require extensive backtracking.

    • “The story is much more mature than Pokémon and tackles darker themes.”
    • “The story is pretty solid, built around an evil organization, and there are actual things happening that affect the world, like you're pretty much fighting for entire populations' lives and freedom.”
    • “The story is engaging and the soundtrack is great!”
    • “The story is bland, the characters are completely uninteresting.”
    • “The story drags on for a bit sometimes but it's pretty intense.”
    • “I'll avoid spoilers but the story ends weirdly and doesn't feel complete.”
  • gameplay1,832 mentions

    The gameplay of Temtem is often compared to Pokémon, featuring familiar mechanics such as creature capturing and battling, but it introduces significant innovations like a stamina system that replaces traditional power points, and a focus on 2v2 battles that adds strategic depth. Players appreciate the removal of RNG elements, making battles more skill-based, while the game's art style and world design receive praise for their charm. However, some players find the gameplay repetitive and grindy, particularly in terms of leveling and breeding mechanics, which can detract from the overall experience.

    • “The gameplay is incredibly fun and engaging, with a wide variety of cute and colorful creatures to collect and train.”
    • “The gameplay is familiar to fans of Pokémon, but with a few twists that make it feel fresh and new.”
    • “The battle mechanics are well balanced, the variety of temtems available is quite good, and there is a lot of area to grow the game.”
    • “You get introduced to a synergy mechanic and told it's important, but again, there's not a lot of attacks that use it, and you can go through the entire game without even bothering with it.”
    • “The gameplay is also tedious and very grindy, and the monster design leaves much to be desired.”
    • “The core gameplay loop is tedious and unrespectful of the players time with mechanics straight out of 90's or korean mmo and what it boils down to is that you'll be capturing identical species of temtems in the thousands only to discard them in exchange for a minor payout.”
  • grinding1,275 mentions

    The grinding aspect of "Temtem" has received mixed reviews, with many players noting it as excessively tedious and time-consuming. While some enjoy the challenge and find the grind rewarding, especially for competitive play, others feel it detracts from the overall experience, making progression feel like a chore rather than an engaging journey. The lack of quality-of-life features, such as fast travel and experience sharing, further exacerbates the grind, leading to frustration among casual players.

    • “It also wasn't as grindy as I was expecting, though that might be due to experience.”
    • “I'm a casual, so I'm not grinding for lumas, but I do appreciate them giving us something else to do in the meantime.”
    • “Not too grindy, but just enough.”
    • “After the story, there is minimal possibility of finding any enjoyment from the game if you are not a highly competitive player planning to sink hours into grinding each day.”
    • “The game has all the grindy aspects of MMOs without any of the payoff.”
    • “The game is structured in a way that requires a lot of grinding and repetition to advance, which can be tedious and unenjoyable for some players.”
  • graphics1,273 mentions

    The graphics of "Temtem" have received widespread praise for their vibrant and charming art style, which many players find superior to recent Pokémon titles. The visuals are described as colorful, well-polished, and engaging, with smooth animations that enhance the gameplay experience. However, some critiques mention that certain character designs feel less polished, and while the overall aesthetic is appealing, it may not resonate with everyone.

    • “The graphics are stunning and the world-building is top-notch.”
    • “The art style and monster design is also very charming and cute, makes me want to meet and capture them all!”
    • “The graphics are beautiful, interesting mechanics, and the gameplay is challenging.”
    • “Overall very uncanny with poor graphics and poor creative designs.”
    • “I personally find the art style bland and the monsters uninspired.”
    • “The character models look horrible, the graphics are way too bright, and we put up with all of this just to have some monster collecting fun.”
  • music502 mentions

    The music in "Temtem" has received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many players praising its catchy and memorable soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. While some tracks, particularly battle themes, are highlighted as exceptional, others feel repetitive over extended play sessions. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong aspect of the game, contributing to its vibrant atmosphere, though some players express a desire for more variety and depth in the musical offerings.

    • “The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, especially some of the battle themes.”
    • “The music is also top-notch, with catchy and memorable tracks that will stick with you long after you turn off the game.”
    • “The music is beautiful and outstanding!”
    • “The music is okay but forgettable and isn't engaging.”
    • “I often found myself muting the audio to listen to other music or watch something in the background while playing.”
    • “The only complaint I have here is that there is not enough variety to keep the music fresh and you will definitely notice the repetitive songs during a longer play session.”
  • stability276 mentions

    The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and freezes, particularly during co-op play. While some users note improvements over time and commend the developers for their responsiveness in addressing issues, the overall consensus is that the game remains quite unstable, especially for a title priced at nearly $50. Players are advised to expect a buggy experience, typical of early access games, but many still find enjoyment despite these technical challenges.

    • “One of the few early access games that is worth the asking price... plus it is the most bug-free I have seen in an early access game.”
    • “The game runs great for me at 4K ultra, always at 60 FPS, and the few bugs I have run into the devs quickly fixed, but it is an early access game so bugs are to be expected.”
    • “It's essentially bug-free so far, great performance, and an interesting world.”
    • “Unfortunately, the game is extremely buggy for a nearly $50 title (and still has a cash shop) and there's no real system in place for dealing with it.”
    • “Do not buy, the game barely works, constant crashes and freezes, battles take 10-20 minutes due to the game hanging after every input, not to mention the huge login queue times.”
    • “Game freezes a lot, requires restart, requires requeue.”
  • monetization236 mentions

    The monetization model of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many players feeling that the inclusion of microtransactions and a battle pass in a full-priced game is a cash grab. While some argue that the microtransactions are purely cosmetic and non-predatory, others express frustration over the grindy gameplay and the perception that the developers prioritized monetization over game quality. Overall, the sentiment is mixed, with many players feeling disappointed by the shift towards a monetization strategy typical of free-to-play games.

    • “However, if you are able to snag it on discount and avoid getting drawn into paying for in-game purchases, it's a fairly worthwhile experience if you are a fan of monster tamer games.”
    • “Many people criticize the presence of microtransactions at all in a $45 game, but I found it unobtrusive enough to not significantly hinder my experience.”
    • “The monetization still is 100% cosmetic even going into the 1.0 launch.”
    • “Walmart brand Pokémon but with a Nintendo price tag that expects you to make it a 9-5 grind with little payoff while adding in microtransactions and losing the soul of what made Pokémon fun.”
    • “It started alright but the dev team's ham-fisted attempt to force their views, 'features' like a battle pass for an already full-price game, annoys me because a battle pass is more predatory than a straight microtransaction feature.”
    • “Paid premium price for a game that fits a free-to-play cash grab model.”
  • humor202 mentions

    The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with many players finding the dialogue quirky, self-aware, and often laugh-out-loud funny. While some characters and jokes may fall flat or feel out of place, the overall writing is noted for its cleverness and ability to engage a more mature audience without alienating younger players. Additionally, humorous glitches and NPC interactions contribute to a lighthearted atmosphere, making the game enjoyable and entertaining.

    • “The story beats have clearly not been written for kids blatantly in mind, but for the young child in all of us looking at this style of game that had me chuckling reading the dialogue.”
    • “The dialogue is quirky and funny.”
    • “The writing can be funny and amusing at times, and total cringe at other times.”
    • “The odd facial expressions are simply not funny, and the dialogues are bad most of the time.”
    • “After weeks of playing, the humor just isn't funny anymore.”
  • optimization131 mentions

    The optimization of the game has received mixed feedback from users. While many praise its smooth performance and beautiful graphics, especially on lower-end systems, others report significant issues such as stuttering, FPS drops, and poor UI optimization, particularly on PC. Overall, the game shows promise but still requires further refinement to address performance inconsistencies and enhance user experience.

    • “The game runs smoothly, the UI is very polished, the temtem battles feel balanced and feedback from hits is great - which is more than I can say for a lot of early access games I've played!”
    • “For an early access game, this game feels really optimized and plays like a AAA game.”
    • “The performance of this game is good, no massive lags although you do sometimes see no one around you because of either desync.”
    • “Currently has some major performance issues on PC that are holding it back; poor optimization and insane FPS drops when moving your mouse are just some of the more common ones...”
    • “What does factor into my review, however, is the atrocious performance I'm getting and the million little quality of life blind spots that somehow slipped through the early access period.”
    • “The performance could have been better as the framerate never went over 15 even when I had the lowest graphic settings.”
  • character development50 mentions

    Character development in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the vibrant art style and customization options that allow players to create unique characters. However, criticism is directed at the overall character designs, which some find lacking in creativity and polish compared to the game's creature designs. While the story and character interactions are noted as engaging, the character designs themselves often feel underwhelming or derivative, leading to a divided opinion among players.

    • “A lot of customization in the character designs and colors, feels like I have a truly unique character.”
    • “The character designs are amazing and I love the animations.”
    • “Also the character design feature is amazing; I was able to recreate how I look in real life with ease, which had a big impact on me feeling like I'm in the game and care about the world.”
    • “Character design is lacking from a game design standpoint and quite lazy aesthetically.”
    • “However, I do not like the character designs; they are too vague and boring.”
    • “The character design is pretty weak as far as the humans go.”
  • emotional42 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is mixed, with players appreciating the wholesome community and cute aesthetics, which evoke nostalgia and a sense of comfort. However, many express disappointment in the lack of depth in the story and character development, feeling that the emotional connections are weak or non-existent. While some players find the game heartwarming and inclusive, others are frustrated by gameplay mechanics that detract from their overall experience.

    • “These are positive things that, as a person in those communities, felt very touching, affirming, and nice.”
    • “Beautiful, emotional, complex, tedious, PvP, MMO... everything I ever wanted out of Pokémon as a kid.”
    • “Gaming is one of the most hostile markets/communities for trans people to exist in, so this came as a welcome and emotional surprise.”
    • “1) It is a story-based game that has an incredibly boring story... a ton of useless dialogue that you will find yourself clicking through just to get an extremely anticlimactic boss fight.”
    • “Quite short, a boring story, bland characters.”
    • “I paid 45€ for Pokémon... had poorly designed zones, a boring story, the new generation looks horrible (mostly), and no post-game, because they put that in the expansion pass which will cost 30€.”
  • replayability37 mentions

    Overall, "Temtem" is praised for its high replayability, offering a wealth of content through multiplayer features, weekly resets, and a variety of creatures to discover. While some players express concerns about the lack of endgame content and the focus on casual play, many still find the game infinitely replayable, especially for those who enjoy competitive play and community engagement. However, a few reviews indicate that the game may not cater sufficiently to hardcore players seeking extensive replay value.

    • “Temtem is a 100+ hour long monster-catching RPG that towers above Game Freak in terms of polish, world design, and game mechanics, and an infinitely replayable MMORPG with a quality that hasn't before been seen in the monster-catching genre.”
    • “In multiplayer, there are ranked matches, dojo guilds, and other social experiences that make the replay value of Temtem basically endless!”
    • “Lots of replayability and a lot of secrets and creatures to discover.”
    • “No replayability, no multiple character slots.”
    • “They're catering to the casual player who just runs the story one time and leaves while taking away replayability for the hardcore who have been chasing their favorite lumas or trying to get perfect lumas.”
    • “The main problems the game has to face now are lack of content, features, and replayability.”
  • atmosphere30 mentions

    The atmosphere in Temtem is widely praised for its charm, vibrant visuals, and immersive world-building, creating a unique experience that sets it apart from traditional monster taming games. Players appreciate the game's diverse environments, engaging soundtrack, and the sense of community fostered by its MMO elements. Overall, the atmosphere is described as both inviting and challenging, enhancing the gameplay experience significantly.

    • “The music is a really nice touch, and brings a nice atmosphere to the game.”
    • “I love the visuals and how boldly the game uses bright colors and vibrant environments; every place has its own atmosphere, and the game does a good job in world building, kudos for that.”
    • “The atmosphere and characters are imaginative and varied.”
    • “The 4th wall breaks, and the smart-ass remarks/responses just really don't feel right in this atmosphere.”
    • “Final judgement: Temtem is not the Pokémon slayer the community makes it out to be; however, Temtem's charming take on the creature collecting genre prioritizes challenging the player and developing a competitive atmosphere.”
    • “Don't be fooled by the color and child-like atmosphere; it's not kid recommended. It's a chess game meets Pokémon strategic puzzle game with co-op.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

75% average critic score

Buy Temtem

Play time

25hMedian play time
73hAverage play time
9-60hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 193 analyzed playthroughs

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