Monster Harvest

While Monster Harvest doesn’t break ground with anything it’s trying to do in regards to blending genres, it does prove itself as an enticing homage to its influences. The visual style might look a touch cruder than that of Stardew Valley, but the vibrant color palette makes up for it. Its turn-based, Pokemon-esque battle system does nothing to surprise a veteran of Nintendo’s creature-catching franchise, yet, it still manages to feel exciting. Then there’s the music, which evokes every bit of that lazy, relaxing, seaside vibe that so many games of this nature strive to emulate. And though a g...

Monster Harvest is retro in how it looks, which is great, but also in how it plays, which isn't as great. The gameplay doesn't feel addictive enough for a farming simulator, and the monster battle portion feels tacked on. I had fun with the game, but I never felt drawn into the world.

The world can always use more farming games, right? How about one that takes everything you love about them and tosses it into a blender with monster battlers? Throw in a dash of weird science, seasonal festivals, and an evil corporation threatening the town; That’s Monster Harvest in a nutshell.

At the end of the day, Monster Harvest is a good game that a little too closely resembles Stardew Valley and does not execute its Pokèmon-like mechanics cleanly or uniquely enough. Fortunately, it’s mostly visually beautiful with nice music and more than plenty to do.

The premise of Monster Harvest sounds almost too good to be true: a farming action RPG combined with monster catching mechanics, what could be better? Unfortunately, playing this on the Nintendo Switch might not be the best for your eyes.

While Monster Harvest offers a unique perspective on the farming sim, it follows along with the genre norms too closely to really set itself apart.

Monster Harvest is a good example of why great ideas also need to be followed up with great execution. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of a farm sim with monster-catching elements, but Monster Harvest does a rough job of convincing you of that. The monster RPG content is so poorly done that it might as well have not been implemented at all, as it clearly took focus away from the decent farm sim portion of the gameplay. Amazingly, the farm sim gameplay still redeems this enough that it’s not a complete dumpster fire, but we’d only give this the barest of recommendations to anybody looking f...

There’s a new indie game on the lot and it’s finally coming into bloom after several delays. Monster Harvest lets players grow crops of varying monsters and even take them into battle. It’s a novel idea, becoming a reserved blend of Pokémon and Stardew Valley where ‘Plantimals’ grow. It seems like it should have all the makings of an indie gem, but does it break new ground as a farming simulator with a twist?

Monster Harvest is a game that needs more time on the vine to ripen into something enjoyable. Between a bevy of glitches and a lack of genre-staple features, RPGamers would be best served waiting before digging in.