Monark

 PlayStation 5
User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 18
  3. Negative: 7 out of 18
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  1. Ledjon
    Apr 12, 2022
    2
    The game is your typical Visual Novel Tactics JRPG. If you base your judgment on what the trailer showed for this game... Just stop. The story has really good potential but the amount of talking in the game will put you to sleep unless you enjoy a visual Novel based game, which if you base your purchase for this game off of the trailer as I did, the trailer does not depict that. TheThe game is your typical Visual Novel Tactics JRPG. If you base your judgment on what the trailer showed for this game... Just stop. The story has really good potential but the amount of talking in the game will put you to sleep unless you enjoy a visual Novel based game, which if you base your purchase for this game off of the trailer as I did, the trailer does not depict that. The puzzles are fun and different and are really well set up and will have you talking to every NPC in the game and even using your menu options to try to solve them. The battle system is a really fun tactics RPG and uses a different type of Health to Attack strategy where your health plays a role in your attack. Unfortunately, the game has no random encounters and only has 1 battle set up per chapter after you solve the puzzles. You can however after you beat the chapter, go back and retry the battle over and over basically grind which you have to because as soon as you beat the act(4 chapters) the next act has a giant gap in the difficulty and levels. The graphics are comparable to an early first-gen PS4 game, the location and buildings are bland and for some annoying reason, they capped the camera angle when you are outside of the buildings so you can not look up and the way the camera is set you want to look up!!! Overall this was disappointing, the trailers were false advertising for what the game really is, a joke and a visual Novel waste of time and money. Really Disappointed in Furyu for the development of this game. They honestly should have just made Crystar 2.… Expand
  2. onehitok
    Jun 24, 2022
    10
    Good game, kokoro best girl.
    The ones who voted negative are unloved by their parents and never had a girlfriend.
  3. Jt0429
    Mar 4, 2022
    5
    Good-
    The narrative it sets up is really interesting and got me hooked into the world. The psychological horror vibe the game gives off at moments is amazing. The combat system is complex and fun to master.
    Bad- The exploration is so boring and bland. The environments are just the same thing repeated over and over. The levels are so poorly designed and just not fun to play. It is way    Good-
    The narrative it sets up is really interesting and got me hooked into the world. The psychological horror vibe the game gives off at moments is amazing. The combat system is complex and fun to master.

    Bad-
    The exploration is so boring and bland. The environments are just the same thing repeated over and over. The levels are so poorly designed and just not fun to play. It is way too repetitive. Enemy variety is almost non existent. Too much reliance on grinding.

    Thoughts-
    As it stands right now, this is a game that seems impressive when you read or hear about it, but falls flat when you actually get down to playing it. Monark has a lot of great ideas, but ideas are only one half of any gaming experience- the execution is just as important, and often even more so, and unfortunately, Monark’s execution is inconsistent at best, and frustratingly bad at worst.    … Expand
  4. Jonathan17Nava
    Mar 13, 2022
    8
    Monark is a Great game. It has a good story, good characters, great puzzles, and a solid gameplay. The two things that are bad about the game is that the graphics are a bit outdated, and the whole story can get a bit repetitive just like the gameplay. But if you don't mind games where you have to grind a lot, then the repetitive gameplay won't be that bad. The story also takes a lot ofMonark is a Great game. It has a good story, good characters, great puzzles, and a solid gameplay. The two things that are bad about the game is that the graphics are a bit outdated, and the whole story can get a bit repetitive just like the gameplay. But if you don't mind games where you have to grind a lot, then the repetitive gameplay won't be that bad. The story also takes a lot of inspiration from "Shin Megami Tensei" and "Persona" so you will see a lot of similarities if you don't mind. But what I really, really, like is the psychologies test the game has in it. But I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't do almost anything with this psychologies tests that only make you stronger in battle instead of affecting the story, or even more. I already got the platinum trophy, and put in a hundred of hours in this game, because I genuinely liked this game. I highly recommend this game if you like JRPG's or if you are new into this genre and want to try it.… Expand
  5. AdoMobA
    Mar 14, 2023
    4
    Pros
    - the OST is hype
    - the combat is an interesting take on the turn-based genre Cons - game feels like it is stuck in the Ps2 JRPG era technology wise - the characters are prone to going on long winded monologues about not much without being prompted - horrendous pacing issues mainly during the god-awful Act II - even the voice acting sound unenthusiastic about the stuff they    Pros
    - the OST is hype
    - the combat is an interesting take on the turn-based genre

    Cons
    - game feels like it is stuck in the Ps2 JRPG era technology wise
    - the characters are prone to going on long winded monologues about not much without being prompted
    - horrendous pacing issues mainly during the god-awful Act II
    - even the voice acting sound unenthusiastic about the stuff they are saying

    Monark, a game that feels like 2005 Ps2 JRPG released in 2021 for the Ps4/Ps5. Though I played the Ps5 version so I did not experience the performance issues on the Ps4, the game is still mired by a plethora of tech limitations.

    The whole game looks like a Ps3 JRPG that had its textures upscaled for a ''remaster'. There is a weird one and a half second delay after every spoken line, making it seem like the game is frantically loading in the next audiofile. Not as a natural lull in conversation, an artificial slowdown making you feel like the long winded cutscenes about nothing are even more long winded.

    Oftentimes, a banging OST starts playing mid conversation, but it is not an instrumental, so the lyrics drown out the dialogue. It is almost like the game itself is tired of the characters repeating their convictions for the seventieth time and just shuts them up.

    The OST is one of the few things one can praise about this game. Pleiades, Gunpowder and Dear being some of the standouts, the tracklist gets you hyped for the arguably fun combat.

    The combat itself is also an interesting choice. Instead of random encounters or enemies walking
    around on the map, you are given an option to enter special combat maps through your phone, which you then have to beat. For all of Monarks flaws, the combat is actually fun, offering some interesting choices through its varied mechanics. You are given a couple of main characters plus several minions to play with, all of them offering unique skills for you to throw at the enemy. Though the Lust minion is just objectively the best, offering the best damage skills in the game like damn.

    Over with the good now let's get back to the bad. The story. The beginning is interesting. But then it buries itself under heaps and heaps of exposition, delivered through the awkwardly paced dialogue. The way the story segments itself is a problem too, because not counting the final battle, you can only bring one cast member along at a time for all the battles, and fill out the rest of your party with the different minions.

    And speaking of the final battle, to even get there, you must slog through Act II, which might be one of the most boring and poorly paced endeavors I took on during the last couple of years. It consists of four parts, taking along one of the four party members for each. Oh I am sorry, it actually consists of two parts that get copy and pasted so you have to run through each of them twice.

    And you cannot even skip the cutscenes, even though they are ninety percent the same, as minor differences happen since you bring different characters there. I went from lukewarm to outright bored during Act II and almost did not finish it.

    And saying all that, I still cared enough to get the platinum for this game. There is enjoyment to be had here, marred by some of the worst storytelling imaginable. I can't in good conscience recommend this game, unless it's on a deep, deep discount.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 27
  3. Negative: 1 out of 27
  1. GameMAG
    Mar 15, 2022
    70
    Monark can be seen as a good opportunity to try something new in an ocean of stale JRPG tropes, especially for the players who enjoy tactical thinking and resource management gameplay.
    Read full review
  2. PLAY
    Mar 7, 2022
    70
    Despite uneven patches in overall presentation, combat is superb. Easily understandable yet laden with depth, gripping enemy encounters elevate Monark. [Issue#12, p.89]
  3. PlaySense
    Mar 5, 2022
    65
    The story and the philosophical themes give Monark a reason to play and that also counts for the tactical combat. However, visually the game is not that good and the level design could also be a lot better. Monark introduces a lot of original ideas and styles, but fails in the execution which is a shame. Don’t get it wrong, it’s a fine game, but it has so much more potential.
    Read full review
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