Cassette Beasts (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.5.0 Update + 2 DLCs

Cassette Beasts is a role-playing video game developed by Bytten Studio and published by Raw Fury. It was released for the PC on April 26, 2023, and was released for the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on May 25, 2023. It was released simultaneously on Xbox Game Pass on the day of its PC release date.

The game is inspired by the Pokémon video game series and follows the progress of the players as they transform into monsters using a cassette player while trying to return to their homes. Cassette Beasts received generally favorable reviews from critics, who commented positively on its complexity in comparison to Pokémon.

Adventure through a remote island filled with extraordinary creatures and eerie nightmares. Harness the power of cassette tapes to transform into monsters for epic battles. Record monsters onto tapes to gain their abilities and find your way back home. Battle with cassette tape transformations.

Defend against relentless monster attacks in Harbourtown, New Wirral by adopting the monsters’ forms. Capture monsters on tape and unleash their powers in combat. Fuse forms for ultimate strength: Unite with your companion and combine monster forms to create powerful fusion forms. These unique combinations offer animated abilities and strategic advantages in battle.

GAMEPLAY

Cassette Beasts is a monster-taming game that bears several similarities to the Pokémon video game series. The game is played in a third-person view, overhead perspective and consists of three basic screens: an overworld on the island of New Wirral, where the player was transported to; a side-view battle screen; and a menu interface in the form of a cassette player, where the player can configure their monsters, items, and settings.

The player character and companion can transform into monsters to battle other monsters. The game eschews the random encounter format of early Pokémon games, and all monsters are visible in the overworld. During battles, each monster can use attacks that are assigned stickers, which can be transferred between different monsters. Monsters have hit points that determine if they can be used, and the player’s character has their health bar.

Once both characters’ health bars reach zero, the player is sent back to Harbourtown. The player receives experience points instead of the monsters, meaning that player characters provide base stats that monsters then add to, providing freedom to try out different setups. Players can gain new monsters by “recording” enemy monsters during battle. Combat uses several debuffs and requires players to think critically about how different elements would react to one another when using different moves.

The elemental strengths and weaknesses of monsters have many potential consequences, such as creating healing steam mists around water monsters by hitting them with fire attacks or coating metal monsters with poison that lets them do extra damage on contact by hitting them with poison attacks. Any of the game’s monsters can be “fused” during combat temporarily into another monster. There are 120 monsters in the game, and also over 14,000 fusions. New Wirral, the game’s overworld, is an open world. Recording certain types of monsters gives the player’s character more moves they can use outside of combat to explore the island.

The player can receive quests from people in Harbourtown and also can receive tips on where to go next. The player can also find hidden chests and puzzles by walking around the open world and stumbling on them. The game includes a permadeath mode (similar to Pokémon Nuzlocke rules), where monsters that are defeated permanently die in the playthrough, and a map randomizer, to increase replayability. The plot of the game follows the player’s character as they wake up on the beach of New Wirral, which they were transported to from Earth. The player’s character attempts to return to their home as they are helped by other stranded people who are also stuck on the island.

The player meets many companions during the game and can strengthen their relationship with them by battling alongside them, completing their quests, and talking to them at a campfire while resting. Quests in the game include defeating all of the Ranger Captains, which are similar to Pokémon gym leaders, and a personal quest for the companion Kayleigh which involves facing down a cult that she had previously been a part of. The game includes a friendship ranking system that is similar (but simpler) to the one employed in the Persona video game series, and the player can engage in a simple romance with companions.

KEY FEATURES

• Vast open world exploration: Discover every corner of the island to progress. Some monster abilities can be utilized even in human form, aiding in navigation, puzzle-solving, and uncovering hidden dungeons. Soar, swim, climb, dash, vanish, or become magnetic!
• Journey with diverse human allies: Forge connections with a varied group of companions. Team up, spend time together and help each other achieve personal goals to enhance your teamwork and effectiveness in combat.
• Master the intricate battle system: Dive into a complex combat system that involves elemental chemistry. Exploit elemental strengths and weaknesses to enhance your attacks, apply buffs or debuffs, and even alter your opponents’ elemental types.