The Japanese role-playing game or JRPG starts out with a psychological test - a personality quiz, if you will - that picks and prods at a players’ psyche. Just how much they define us is a question tackled by the latest high school-based RPG thriller to come from Japanese shores, Monark.
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These experiences are often short and could have benefited from more complexity, but it’s fun enough to walk around looking for hints on how to break through to the next scenario.We all have egos. Instead, you explore landmarks like the floors of a school or a club building. Honestly, Monark doesn’t really have much in the way of traditional dungeons.
“Dungeons” in this game are short but filled with brainwashed and crazed students, who often scream, bang on lockers or doors, and leave little notes around that give hints or reveal horrifying fates. It’s a shame that the story doesn’t hold up to the morose world the game successfully builds up. Monark uses the overblown “seven deadly sins” trope to explore philosophy and introspective concepts in the way that Megaten games do, but parts of its execution are distractingly subpar.
Monark‘s story cannot stand on its own two feet, with short, weak arcs that won’t last an impression. Cartoonish, laughable scenarios contrast the genuinely creepy environment of the academy overtaken by a strong mist, which is a bit of a shame. Veritas is a shining representation of the issues surrounding Monark. Uninteresting characters are only sidelined by even worse villains. Basic immersion like a scream or two would have helped flesh out this morose academy. I saw students literally jump off of buildings, and my companion character didn’t bat an eye. Characters can join your side as a “companion,” but they do nothing except get in the way, standing in front of doors or NPCs and making it harder to traverse the environment. One of Monark‘s sour points is an uninteresting cast, which fails to react to situations in compelling or realistic ways. The Megaten franchise as a whole has always had dynamic characters with devoted fanbases, but this is not a Megaten game. You might be expecting some strong and memorable characters from a universe so directly inspired by Persona. Unfortunately, however, past the combat is where things get a bit cold. It’s to be expected from Megaten-developers that this game have a superb battle system, as Shin Megami Tensei and Persona alike have always been a step above other JRPGs of its ilk in the fight department. Carefully angling your characters in positions to avoid counterattacks and compromising situations makes each battle fun and interesting time, and never gets old. Instead of a traditional Megaten weakness system, you can literally walk behind an enemy to strike them in the back, dealing extra damage and preventing a counterattack.
It’s an intriguing system, and the ability to freely move across the stage elevates a lot of the combat for me. But this is a humble game and, if you were ever a fan of a Megaten release at any point, one that’s worth giving a shot. Your mileage may vary on that front, as Monark has all of the annoying cartoon mascots, teenagers who save the world, and demonic figures you get to fight and control. On the other hand, maybe we should talk about those other games, as Monark clearly takes a page for inspiration. (I know how that irritates a lot of you fans out there.) This is Monark, the mysterious project that slid under the radar of the Megaten fanbase, despite similar motifs of demon slaying and saving a high school. Indeed, Monark is likely not a part of the SMT multiverse, a confusing conundrum of different timelines and franchises that fans love to fight over.īut we’re not here to talk about Shin Megami Tensei or Persona. I’ll take anything I can get that’s even remotely related to the Shin Megami Tensei universe, even if it’s by six degrees of separation. As a massive fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series, this new tactical role-playing game from veteran SMT developers naturally caught my attention. Monark is a game that takes inspiration from both, with a radically different combat system, but mostly succeeds in maintaining the spirit of the games that inspired it. It’s more like… a Persona game? Except it’s not quite that either. Welcome to the next Shin Megami Tensei game.
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