Aethermancer Early Access PC Review
Summary: Collect and empower your monsters in this beautifully rendered pixel art monster tamer and battler with roguelite loops.
4
Aether Tamer!
Aethermancer’s Early Access reminded me a little of how I felt when Hades first released into early access years ago. I remember how much I loved quickly trying the different limited builds that were available, how much I looked forward to new content – and yet I was still content to face Megaera again and again because the characters and story hooked me. Aethermancer in Early Access gave me a little of the same feeling to a lesser intensity that probably matches the slower pace and more Pokemon-like vibe. The story has not captured my attention in the same way but given the usual story standard in monster tamers I’m content with what I’ve experienced so far. Don’t worry, no story spoilers and I’ll do my best to keep screenshots of monsters to early zones unless I’m highlighting the biome. And keep in mind that Aethermancer is still in early access and I’ll be reviewing its current progress within that context.
I think it’s impossible to not reference Pokemon games when trying to talk about monster battlers and taming – which is not fair to Aethermancer given how much more depth and tactics the battle system has; the superior pixel art and story – yet alone the roguelike ‘runs’ mechanic. So lets cover the basics – Aethermancer is a monster tamer roguelite. The basic gameplay loop is turn-based battling (usually 3 v 3) as you explore small zones that present increasing challenges in the usual roguelite fashion. You are offered a choice of 3 exits at the end of each zone presenting you with the usual opportunity to start making meaningful choices for your run – do you prioritise equipment or experience? Resources to spend between runs for meta progression or health for your monsters? Each choice is meaningful in relatively minor ways based on my runs, but it is still nice to customise your team each time.
You collect your monsters after you break their ‘poise’ in battle by exploiting their vulnerabilities to certain action types like wind or water. Doing so will ‘stagger’ them, making them more vulnerable in general – and allowing you to craft a ‘memento’ of the monster. You can later use a monster soul at a monster shrine to resurrect monsters you have claimed this way. You can ‘soul bond’ monsters via an NPC too, allowing you to start a run with a new monster you have claimed instead of your regular starter. When a monster falls in your battle you can restore them using a ‘soul’ at the monster shrine –when your whole team is defeated you are returned to your sanctuary at Pilgrim’s rest giving you a chance to spend resources to increase your odds of success the next time. Each time your monsters battle they are provided with experience that leads to increased levels – each level offers choices of ‘actions’ (moves) and traits that allow you to customise your runes further to optimise your battle loadout. They also gain ‘worthiness’ points each battle depending on your performance and strategy, which can lead to perks that persist across runs for your favourite worthy monsters.
As you would expect, your progression across zones leads to more difficult battles with higher levelled creatures that use a broader range of debuffs or traits, through different biomes, with each shift marked by a ‘champion’ monster (that you can ‘catch’ too by the way) before the big boss that marks the end of your run. Unlike Pokemon, the type system is much simpler. There is wind, fire, water and earth – you generate ‘aether’ each turn, and the amount you generate is dependent on what actions you take (along with traits, perks, boons, equipment, etc). You need sufficient of the correct aether type(s) to complete your moves (rather than PP or anything like that) – which adds a layer of strategy when you consider moves that damage your opponent’s aether supply. This is further developed as you consider equipment for your monsters that can be upgraded and ‘cursed’; boons you can earn along each run for a cost; perks for your monsters when you complete ‘challenges’, etc. It probably takes a good 3-4 hours to sink in that you need to use a different cerebral muscle than Pokemon – once I deliberately gave up on my preconceptions I found Aethermancer a lot less complicated to parse.
I claimed the art in Aethermancer is superior to Pokemon. I’m sure plenty of Pokemon fans will disagree, just based on cuteness alone. And I get it – my nostalgia goggles are glued on when it comes to Pokemon Silver and Gold, and I’m afraid to admit how much my decision to buy a Switch was influenced by the Pokemon series. But I don’t think it’s controversial to point out the lack of evolution in art across the Pokemon games, let alone the relative lack of inspired creativity. The monster art in Aethermancer easily fills this creative void. Some of the character designs don’t lend themselves as well to the animations and could benefit from another pass to make the movement styles more distinct and easier to understand – but they are overwhelmingly more interesting and intricate than the usual monster tamer. The battle animations and effects are very simple by comparison, and offer another opportunity for improvement as Aethermancer develops through early access. But one look at the environment vistas, the NPCs or the monster designs should be enough to appreciate the work that has gone into giving each monster, character or place an identity and soul.
I had two main points of friction – the ‘final’ boss, and the onboarding tutorial. The boss is rough as hell. I rarely lost a battle in Aethermancer, I generally chose to forfeit runs in order to spend resources because I thought it was a good choice, not because I got wiped – and when I did lose a battle, it was because I had not understood a gameplay mechanic properly and therefore had not strategized appropriately. I could see where I had gone wrong and didn’t find it hard to consider multiple solutions for the next run, in fact I looked forward to it… but the big boss absolutely stomped me. I’m not sure if this speaks to an imbalance in difficulty across the game and that I was not sufficiently challenged in advance… or if this boss is simply too overpowered. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the boss is so absurdly strong because the story needs it to be… I’m not sure yet, but it is worthwhile mentioning so you are ready for the ‘final’ boss. That being said, Aethermancer already has difficulty options that greatly impact on certain gameplay mechanics linked to the challenge of each run. I really welcomed this change from the norm, rather than there being an expectation that I just grind my way to power through loops of the main dungeons.
The other point of friction I had relates to the layers of status effects. Most of them are introduced in battle without fanfare – for example, suddenly my monsters were always affected by Terror, and I had to go look for the details of what that meant for myself. “Terror” did not immediately make me think my monsters were probably gonna miss, or that it would stack with ‘wild’ damage. Don’t get me wrong, the amount of detail the developers have provided for each component of the game is exhaustive – and absolutely necessary, and I was very grateful for it. The downside is I found most of my battles were interrupted by minutes and minutes of reading – each trait, each move, what each new debuff I hadn’t seen before was doing, etc. I found it interrupted the flow in the early game, and contributed to why I ended some runs early, so that I could experiment for myself with monsters I had captured (cloned?) via ‘mementos’. I still don’t feel entirely confident because the actions and traits associated with each debuff only broadly share attributes, and battles can unravel really fast if you get hit with a series of moves that exploit action interactions you had not prepared for or been exposed to yet.
Overall I enjoyed my time in Aethermancer’s small world bordering the void. The layers of strategy across and within runs required far more of me than I expected, particularly given my pedigree with much simpler monster tamers that only require type matching and move spamming. I enjoyed each run (until getting demolished by a boss I wasn’t ready for), with my biggest concern being a lack of focussed story telling. I strongly recommend Aethermancer to anyone looking for a monster tamer in general – and the roguelite elements help keep the flow and maintain your attention in the absence of a more focussed narrative. It is an impressive start to an Early Access period and I hope they keep up the momentum and deliver on the potential and depth.
4/5 Early Access Stars!
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