Cassette Beasts Review: Where Pokémon, Persona and Breath of the Wild Collide
I have played a LOT of monster-collecting games over the years. I got the itch the first time I played a Pokémon game, but that’s far from the only series that caught my interest. I’ve enjoyed more obscure titles like the Spectrobes games and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, classics like Jade Cocoon, quirky takes such as Yokai Watch, and even much more recent entries like Coromon. While each game has brought something different to the table, Pokémon is still a hard act to follow. Even though it has neglected momentous growth over the years in lieu of smaller changes, it’s a very solid and addictive series. So when something comes along that looks unlike any other example of the genre I’ve played, I pay attention. That game is called Cassette Beasts. Not only is this one of the best examples of the genre I’ve played in quite some time, but it takes truly risky and ambitious gambits that mostly succeed.
Unlike many other examples of its kind, Cassette Beasts avoids the generic “young adventurer going out to become the very best” trope. Instead, you first wake up after being teleported to a strange world. Once you get there, monsters attack suddenly. But instead of falling to their fangs and claws, you get a helping hand from a nice young woman named Kayleigh. She then uses cassette tapes and headphones to transform into a monster herself and fends them off. And she’s far from the only one with this stunning talent. You’re also one of many others that can utilize this fantastic power now that you’re lost in this strange world.
Battle, Talk, and Explore
Though the mysterious island of New Wirral you find yourself on is populated mainly by monsters, there’s also a community of time-tossed refugees that have made a haven called Harbourtown. There they build, trade, and share juicy rumors. There are also massively powerful entities called Archangels hiding in dark places, and they not only seem to defy reality itself, but might hold the secret to finding a way back home.
Right out of the gate, I was captivated by the intriguing plot. But instead of the game forcing you on a linear path from point A to point B, you’re pretty much left to explore how you wish once you’ve learned the basics. You can (and should) return to your home base often, not only to heal at the Gramaphone Cafe, but also to scour the streets for rumors that may help put you on the right path. You’ll take on tons of optional side quests, as well as overarching main quests that are more story-oriented and generally more challenging. An example of a side quest is delivering enough materials to a villager, whereas a main quest might be finding and defeating each of the Rangers in battle, or returning Kayleigh to the cultist community she left behind. While I’d hardly call the plot super mature or dark, there’s definitely plenty of stuff here you wouldn’t ever see in Pokémon. Such as pasty creatures of the night that actually turn out to be – real estate agents?!
Yes, there’s great humor and mystery in Cassette Beasts. But any fan of the genre knows that these games live and die by the combat. I’m happy to admit I really enjoy the battles herein. It’s quite thrilling to actually transform into monsters yourself for a change. As you capture monsters (called Recording), you’ll be able to keep a grab bag of alternate transformations. Not only can your main character change into any of these on a whim, but so can your partners. There are some really wild creatures you’ll encounter, and your very first will be delivered after you answer some basic questions. I decided to go the goth route and wound up with a ghostly sheep. Some of my favorite critters are a pyromaniac puppy, a snake wearing a carnival mask, a sneaky little goblin that giggles even in defeat, and many more. These creatures aren’t worried about realism, and I appreciate that. That allows developer Bytten Studio to really flex their creative muscles and come up with some wild monsters.
Fight to the Rhythm
Instead of PP dictating how many times you can use an attack until you have to heal, your characters gain a few AP (action points) every turn. Some attacks don’t require AP, but many do. So your job is to bank enough by playing conservatively until you can unload with a powerful attack. There are also ways to gain more AP than usual through weakness manipulation, but I’d be lying if I said that I fully comprehended the type of relationships in the game. They do their best to explain them bit by bit, but I would have given my left foot for some sort of compendium to fully illustrate the ways they interacted. I know, for example, that Astral types feed off the elements but are hindered by Poison or Metal types. Not to mention how Earth can ground Lightning types, making them weaker, or how Fire can make Poison explode. There are a ton of clever ideas on display, but it’s a lot to internalize. I really wish here that Cassette Beasts took a page from Coromon and let players access those details from the pause menu.
Merge Your Monsters
Though there are some aspects of the combat I didn’t fully grasp, there’s one I loved – fusion. I’ve been dying for a fusion mechanic in most games of this genre for ages. Outside of Persona and SMT, I’ve never seen it before. But in Cassette Beasts, you can fuse with your partner, unleashing a glorious mashup of your two monsters. These beastly entities are not only strong, but gain AP at a faster rate and can use any of the skills learned by both original monsters. It takes time to fill out your fusion gauge, and you can only do it with a partner you have a close enough relationship with. Yes, they took this from the Persona games, and I love it. You can increase your relationships by going on missions important to different characters, and get rewarded with better stats and closer bonds.
Overall I enjoyed the combat, but most especially in boss fights. These can be against the aforementioned Rangers, who each have a different combat style you’ll need to learn to thwart. The far more intriguing type of bosses are the Archangels. They’re massive, and dangerous and slowly build up a meter before unleashing their most powerful attacks. It’s no exaggeration they can decimate you, even if you’re fully leveled up. So it’s usually best to go into battle ready to fuse, and pray that’s enough to beat them.
I should probably mention, because each of your monsters is recorded onto a cassette tape, it stands to reason you can adjust the outside of said tape via stickers. These represent your moves, and you have a ton of freedom in mixing and matching. You can buy stickers at Harbourtown and pretty much stick them on any creature you want. You can also remove their learned stickers and plop a new one in their place. As for upgrading them, when you’ve leveled them up enough, they’ll have a ton of stars next to their names. Go and rest, either at the cafe or a campfire, and you’ll be given the option to Remaster them in a new, more powerful form. I’m not sure if there are other ways to evolve your creatures, as I played for several hours and only encountered that method.
Now, since Cassette Beasts is very open world, we need to talk about how that actually works. You’ll run about exploring, finding, and battling other humans and tons of wild monsters. They’ll actively hunt you once you catch their notice, so you’ll have to be quick to escape them. The tricky part is that exploring the map requires stamina, not unlike Breath of the Wild. Anything other than walking and jumping takes stamina, and at first, all you can do is run. Gradually you’ll learn new, better abilities by recording specific monsters. You’ll quickly get a glide ability, and, later on, will need a heavy-hitting dash to break rocks in your path. Though this is decidedly neat, it’s hard finding the right monster to acquire an ability you need, and the game doesn’t do much to point you in the right direction. I much preferred the gauntlet in Coromon, which made it easier to acquire and keep track of various abilities. That said, it’s definitely cooler growing wings to glide on gusts of air than using technology to push logs.
Another interesting facet of the game is that it’s resource dependent. Unlike in Pokémon, here you don’t get currency from defeated foes. Which makes sense since every human there was stranded. Instead, you’ll find tons of resources like wood, metal, pulp, and more from battling. You’ll need to use some wood every time you make a campfire, which not only lets you rest but also serves as a return point after you save. You can also demolish items to get their base ingredients back. Early in the game, this system can be a little annoying, but the farther out you get, the more I appreciated it.
Beautiful Dystopia
Visually, there’s a lot I like about Cassette Beasts. As far as the monster design, it’s incredible. Each one is totally unique, and the ways they evolve is really fascinating, featuring great punny names in several cases. Likewise, the design for the partners and important characters is great. Where the game falls a little short is how they try and mesh 2D and 3D. You’ll walk around in a top-down map, and find hidden corners that twists the camera to a new angle. My issue is that many of the environments felt pretty lacking in detail. As for the music, it’s very enjoyable, low-key, jazzy, mellow, and just pitch-perfect.
There are very few areas that Cassette Beasts fell short. While I do think that the game should have explained and offered a reference for the type interactions, the combat is still fun and fast-paced. And even though I don’t love open-world games, I didn’t get lost all that often as I explored. Though I’d be lying if I said that the rumors were always clear enough. I must have spent a good 2 hours wandering about in a park to find the first Ranger, Wallace, before I randomly stumbled onto him in an area I’d visited dozens of times. And I wish the game had explained that I didn’t need an ability to lift and hurl stones to trigger switches. Other than these minor quibbles, I can’t really complain about much of anything.
Play That Funky Music!
They say that if you come for the king, you best not miss. Which is why I’m so amazed to say that Cassette Beasts not only stood tall in its own right, but managed to knock Pokémon down a notch or two in the process. While it’s true it doesn’t do everything right, and I’m still a little annoyed by how open world it is and how vague the type interactions can be, there’s so much to enjoy here. Throw in a lengthy playthrough and postgame content, and you have a game that’s well worth your money. If you’re at all a fan of the monster collector genre, you need to play this. It’s just that simple.
Final Verdict: 4.5/5
Available on: PC (reviewed), coming to Switch, Xbox One, and Series X|S in late Spring; Publisher: Raw Fury; Developer: Bytten Studio; Players: 1-2 (local co-op); Released: April 26, 2023; MSRP: $19.99
Editor’s note: The publisher provided a review copy to Hey Poor Player.
