‘Choose your own adventure’ games have come a long way from the paperback versions we 90’s children became accustomed to. That being said, one can’t exactly throw a stone and hit five. As such, it was with great nostalgic excitement that I purchased Monster Loves You by Radial/Dejobaan Games on steam for $9.99 on my PC, with no reservations.
In Monster Loves You, the Monsterling race is trying to live, explore, and generally do all things monster related–all within reach of the humans nearby. Your role right from birth as a morsel is to decide which kind of path to take, gain the respect of your peers and elders, and determine what kind of relationship the Monsterlings have with humans.
Throughout the game you have options to protect or fight with your fellow Monsterlings, as well as neighboring animals. You also have the rare interaction with humans–you can even eat them if you so choose! Sticking with a specific path throughout the entire game will earn you an award for having pursued that type of reputation.
Not the Nestle morsels–much more slimy, and with teeth.
You are born into the morsel vat; the slimy bubbling stewpot of Monsterling creation gives you your first opportunities to fight, protect, negotiatiate, and generally make your mark. The great thing about Monster Loves You is even if the questions and the circumstances are similar, or even the same, your choices will yield various results throughout your playthrough.
Each choice you make will determine how much value you have in categories like kindness, ferociousness, bravery, cleverness, and honesty. Choosing to defend a group of defenseless morsels, for example, would gain your points in kindness, bravery and possibly ferociousness, depending on how you choose to dispatch of the menace. As you grow into adolescence and adulthood, the types of situations you get into will change, but don’t expect the underlying themes to adjust too much.
The biggest change as you go through the stages of evolution has to do with earning the respect of your peers, and of the Monsterling Elders in your home village of Omen. At any point in time, you can anticipate your next evolution with a counter in the upper left, indicating how many days you have left in the current stage, where each activity takes one day.
Once you reach adult-hood in Omen, you are judged pretty harshly by your Elders and tested. You choose the kind of test you want, and take a chance as to whether or not the Elders will find you wanting, specifically as it applies to how much respect you’ve garnered. That being said, I’m pretty terrible at being a monster. I’ve played through the game three times, and have earned myself awards in Kindness and Honesty, but very little respect from my elders. If you haven’t amassed enough respect by the time you would normally ascend to Elder status, you dissolve back into the morsel pool to be reborn and choose a new adventure!
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Monster Loves You does a great job of engaging the player in each decision, with clever wording, options and just the right amount of help given when needed. The only issue I took while playing through the game- I couldn’t figure out what my Elders wanted from me in order to earn their respect! (Excuse me while I go cry in the corner)
Is that monster wearing potholder gloves?
The graphics and artwork in Monster Loves You is, in short, scarily adorable. Notably on my second and third play-through of the game, I realized that my monster looks different each time–a decidedly charming touch.
Looking at the concept art on Dejobaan’s website, it’s easy to see how the village of Omen, where you and your fellow Monsterlings live, came to reality. The only thing I found myself disappointed with in the environments was the lack of interactive animation in the corners and crevices of my hovel (No really, that’s what your house is called). I found myself wishing that if I clicked on the cauldron of sludge in my fireplace, I might be a treat to some bizarre specimen thrashing around as it’s cooked for my dinner. Or that mousing over the monster plants in my window might induce them to try and eat my cursor in a frenzied attack. The environments and artwork are beautifully and creatively done, but touches like that would have made my experience a tad more immersive. The soundtrack, while unique and very appropriate for the game, can get a bit repetitive. Having the addition of special sound effects or music appropriate to the type of scenario would have also helped me completely involve myself in the game, instead of occasionally speed read through adventures I had encountered already.
Aren’t monsters violent?
As a parent, if my son were able to read I would have absolutely no qualms about encouraging him to play this game. In fact, I would be thrilled to be able to encourage him to make choices in order to achieve certain types of awards. The game poses some very interesting and complex situations which can lead the player to feel vicariously proud, curious, humiliated, scared or appropriately ferocious. As an adult playing, I don’t see myself playing every day, or for more than one playthrough at a time. That being said, at the time of this review I’ve logged 96 minutes on 3 playthroughs, and I’m aiming for an award for advanced neurosurgery (yeah, now you want to play doctor too don’t you?)!
If you’ve got an extra few dollars, have kids aged 8 or above (think second grade reading level), I would recommend investing in this fun and engaging ‘choose your own adventure’ game. The passion the developer had at Pax East was pretty infectious, and I brought that home with me and bought it the very next day. As the only person in my household playing it, I somewhat wish I had waited for a steam sale, but I’ll still have it on hand in a few years when my son can read- and the content of this review will still apply!
Well, now what?
Go download it, silly! Go eat some children, save some morsels, dissolve into sludge or ascend to Elder status. Help the world be a place where Monsterlings and humans can coexist peacefully under your well-respected and adorably scary example. Or, eat everyone and rule with an iron fist of fear Reptar style–you get to choose!
Pros: Unique storylines and immersive adventures. Kid friendly for anyone reading age and up, violence is very kid friendly and non graphic. Addicting as all hell. Tons of alternate endings and options depending on adventures chosen and sequences of decisions made.
Cons: May feel a little pricey for single user. Environments could be a little more well rounded with some additional changes of music based on circumstances, and some interactive animations. No option to ask the Elders what a young Monsterling needs to do to get some respect and make sure one advances to Elder status, which may get frustrating for younger players.
