TemTem since its Kickstarter date back in May 2018 has been a game I’ve had my eye on. Now with a chance to experience the alpha, I can say my expectations were not let down. TemTem is a creature capturing RPG in the same genre as Pokemon. It does quite a few things differently from the game that popularized the genre.
A big difference between the two is the combat. When you battle in TemTem there is a stamina bar. The stamina battle style makes it much more important as to which skill to use when. Running out of stamina caused me quite a few unnecessary losses in the beginning. It was new and I was not used to it. After a few battles, it was easy to get used to and understand.
Another thing I love about this alpha was experiencing what the game background was like. In Pokemon, being a trainer is celebrated. In TemTem it’s not like NPCs don’t care, but there is little to no interest. I love it. Even when walking in random houses the NPC dialogue with a few shows they don’t want you in their home. I have never seen dialogue like that in Pokemon where the NPC explicitly asks you to leave. It is almost a parody with how much it contrasts with what we’re used to. Where one game gives off the feeling that everything revolves around you, TemTem gives the opposite of how the NPCs interact with the player.
TemTem is a really beautiful game and it was fun to experience it Co-Op. I wasn’t too sure how the co-op would work in this type of game. When I partnered up with a friend I joined their campaign without losing any of my own quest progress. I was able to help them fight TemTem to capture them. The one negative I did see about the co-op is the TemTem’s experience gain. They have to be in the battle to get experience and with one of each player TemTem taking a battle spot it limits the individuals when it comes to leveling. The players’ team would end up under-leveled for the area when your partner is not around. I still love this feature a lot.
Character customization is good as well. There are many options to choose from and many different styles to unlock as you play. I’ve only been to two of the different towns with clothing and hair customization items. I liked that we as players have the option to dye our items. We should not see any two players that look exactly alike in the long run of things.
TemTem releases into Early Access on January 21, 2020. I looking forward to hopping in and seeing the changes made and to come. Did you get a chance to play the Alpha, which TemTem did you choose as your starter?
Our copy of TemTem was obtained for the purpose of Alpha Preview.
