More than 400 species, a worked adventure and many details of quality of life that any lover of the Game Freak series will like.
There are more and more attempts to respond to Pokémon in the independent scene, projects that were born with the will to serve as an alternative to the main series of the saga led by Game Freak. At the end of the day, the “get them all” formula does not go out of style and, given what we have seen, it seems that the fever to capture, fight and exchange monsters in turn-based role-playing adventures is far from saying goodbye. Of all those attempts, surely Nexomon Extinction is the best alternative in recent years.
It took us more than 30 hours to complete the adventure of the Canadian team VEWO Interactive, which has had the support of PQube for its international distribution and adaptation to consoles. Because this project was born as a mobile video game – of which we already identified potential, we have to recognize, although very limited at that time – and that is surely its biggest problem: dragging an aesthetic that does not do justice to the more than remarkable video game out there. behind.
The translation is not very good, but the effort to have located the title in Spanish is appreciated.
We invite you to discover this proposal, which works better over time when trying to disassociate itself from the name that we are not going to quote again, Pokémon, since Nexomon: Extinction does everything well enough to save us comparisons. Let’s talk about tamers and why we couldn’t stop playing until the end.
Quality of life details as strict standard
We said that it took us longer than expected to finish the main adventure for two reasons: the first, that the original lasted only twelve hours; This triples the content and adds small mechanical changes fundamental to the overall experience. The second, because it is a constant challenge where we have been defeated more than expected. Previous experience in role-playing games does not matter at all, here there is not (yet) an object like Share Experience or concessions by the AI, which behaves intelligently by adapting its level to yours so that always, without exception, we have a challenge ahead.
And so much that it is so; it is… too much. In conversations with VEWO through their official Discord channel – where they are taking note of absolutely everything that users are communicating – they recognize that the difficulty needs a balance. We are commenting on this now, at the beginning of September, because future patches will correct some of the negative points that we are going to highlight in this text, or so we hope.
This return to the classic RPG titles of monster collection, constant combat, evolution and exchanges while we memorize a table of elemental types is, in essence, coffee for coffee growers. If you like the formula, it is difficult that Nexomon: Extinction does not interest you; although, as always, there are nuances. There are lights and shadows. In this case, we are presented with a story where the protagonist —who has several dozen different avatars to choose from— is an orphan and lives in an orphanage. Shortly after starting we will choose our first Nexomon and our adventure in this world as trainers will begin. The world is on the brink of extinction due to the resurgence of a very powerful type of Nexomon called Tyrant, who are at the same time the great final bosses of each adventure. Its purpose is none other than to dominate the world over humans and the monsters themselves.
Under this simple premise there is a perfectly written story, with characters like our companion Coco who will be in charge of assuming the comic load of the script as well as part of the didactics of the game. We were surprised, because it is a real adventure typical of traditional JRPGs. VEWO knows this genre perfectly and, despite its small size, it must be said that there is a lot of potential and, above all, a lot of talent.
Personality and independence: Nexomon is not a clone variant
Because the combat system is intelligently designed. It could go wrong or not, therein lies the success or failure of many titles of this style, but in this case it turns out really well. The structure is familiar: one-on-one battles with four available moves – both to inflict damage and to alter the state -, a health bar, teams of six, levels, experience, elemental types with resistances and weaknesses … The difference, the key , resides in the resistance bar. This time we do not have PP or power points for each movement, but a general resistance that decreases little by little as we use the attacks.
In this way, the best movements will consume more resistance than the most moderate ones, which inevitably forces us to use our heads, be strategists and economize our attacks. The result? We have seen ourselves constantly changing monster, always looking for the opponent’s weak point and using objects almost every moment.
As a result of this declared attempt at the challenge is a double-edged sword: balancing the experience and money earned with each fight. Here, Nexomon: Extinction finds its Achilles heel; although it has a solution. We will be brief: we gain very little experience and very little money with each fight, which forces us to constantly grind, turn around to fight again and again against wild Nexomon or challenge enemies again, with whom we can fight confrontations whenever we want thanks to the wise decision to include rematches without negotiation through.
In addition, there is very little variety of objects, although it has interesting aspects that influence not only the eventual abilities of each creature but also its growth. For example, we can equip cores that make it easier for the Nexomons to gain experience. Not surprisingly, for the feeling to be even better, we miss more types of objects, in general, that expand the variety of situations in combat and, above all, a breeding system will soon be integrated so that the universe of this title explodes in the community. We don’t expect anything like this to be added until there is a multiplayer mode, which is coming, but for now we have to settle for this more than satisfactory single player expertise.
The bad side aside, as we can’t put much more down to the title, Nexomon: Extinction is constantly striving to keep us going. Of its structure, we must highlight the design of the scenarios, complex and varied both in its drawing and on an artistic level (if you forgive its mobile aesthetics, its finish is more than competent both on PlayStation 4 and on Nintendo Switch, where it is a delight play it in handheld mode). No microtransactions or injustices at the design level – it’s rewarding, challenging, and makes up for every hour invested.
Combat doesn’t feature many revolutions, but it doesn’t need them either. The object used to capture the Nexomon deserves a separate mention. There are QoL details that favor the experience, especially when we have a minigame when it comes to capturing the postulate. We can use objects that increase the capture options, the success rate, so it is not just random. Working during combat to increase that ratio is essential in our task as trainers. We have more than 380 species at our disposal, many of them with their own evolutionary branch and with really interesting designs, simple as well as effective. Again, we insist: it works.
The title does not have EVs or IVs, there is no genetics, but we always have on screen the statistics of each movement, of our monster and of the rival. If we had to sum up Nexomon’s combat experience in one word, that would undoubtedly be comfort. Otherwise, a carefree adventure, with its fast trips perfectly located so that we travel from one side of the region to the other without wasting time, although we did not like at all that we do not have a map at hand in the inventory. The first hours can be confusing in this regard, since we question more than once what to do, where to go and why we do not have a clear drawing of the scene with which to photograph our location. Luckily, this questionable decision is justified by the gameplay itself, which wants to play with the user in the task of constant discovery. It’s the least of the problems, really.
The Nintendo Switch version hardly changes and is up to date on updates. In portable mode it more than meets.
However, we must strive to raise the reputation of our character within the Guild through different missions and errands; There are literally hundreds of side missions that range from picking up trash in a city to getting minerals that we will turn into items in the store, a small approach to crafting that we hope will be exploited more vigorously in future installments or updates, has a lot of potential.
As it is, the reward system for every hour invested is attractive enough to forgive being so unkind when it comes to experience points. Each new area (deserts, snowy areas, tropical areas, forests …) has new species and types of Nexomon, including the initial nine, which can be captured wild. Everything works, and that is important; we are not going to accumulate useless objects. VEWO does not want you to run and rush, but to go calmly, train your entire team, not only at the start, and gather items for a truly exciting final stretch: the adventure goes from less to more. That’s when we turn to higher-level items, when we activate the most advanced experience cores, when we begin to retrace our steps to explore territories that previously were too great a barrier.
In short: Nexomon Extinction is a remarkable video game that is very worthwhile and that, given the treatment of these first weeks, is going to grow exponentially in both content and users. Your sales accompany you deservedly; communication is constant with the development team and the promises are interesting: Nuzlocke mode (if a creature is weakened it is considered dead, it disappears), accessibility options or a run button.
We have analyzed this game through a download code on PS4 Pro provided by Meridiem Games. The analyzed version started as 1.03, but we have been able to play the second half of the adventure in the improved version 1.04.
CONCLUSION
Nexomon is a pleasant surprise for those who love to collect creatures. A classic-flavored turn-based RPG with over 380 available creatures, a gripping story, and a combat and advancement system that makes up for every hour spent. We weren’t expecting that much from him, as despite its excessive combat requirement to gain experience or balancing details that need to be tweaked, everything else works like a charm. Artistically he is hampered by an unconvincing mobile aesthetic, but we recommend not judging him for it, because appearances can be deceiving. Highly recommended.
THE BEST
- Combat system, scenario design … Your world
- Amount of content, replayability
- His story, a constant hook to keep moving forward
- Constant challenge and personality: not a clone of anyone
WORST
- Balancing problems – you need to balance your progress
- Too many fighting. Fixing the first will lighten this
- Aesthetics, an appearance that deceives
Okay
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not present serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
