Is Tomomon Worth It? New Pokemon Inspired Futuristic RPG

Tomomon is a pixel art styled monster taming game that provides a a refreshing, more mature take on the genre. You start your journey as a teen/young adult from another planet that just so happens to venture into the world of Tetron.

Unlike many monster taming titles, your goal isn't to catch 'em all or to be the very best, like no one ever was. Rather, you have a more mature goal in mind and you're going to need your partners, the Tomomon to help you achieve it. For those interested in checking the game out, here is what makes it a worthwhile purchase.

In Tomomon, you can fuse your monsters

Tomomon allows you to fuse your partners and create some brilliantly designed powerful beasts. Though the game is in early access at the time of writing, breeding does not seem to be part of the game's mechanics. As such, fusing is highly encouraged if you want to customize your monsters.

You can make some truly awesome looking designs by combining creatures. Some resemble monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh cards, while others take heavy inspiration from Pokemon like Rayquaza. No matter what you end up with, fusing is a fun mechanic that is unique to Tomomon.

Some of the Tomomon you can create via fusion in-game. Courtesy of the official Tomomon site.

Tomomon uses a chip system instead of held items

Many similar games like Coromon, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Temtem, Nexomon, and others utilize held items to power up your partner monsters. Tomomon took a very different route and instead views monster power ups like PC building.

That's right, instead of slapping a choice band on your 'mon, you instead equip a Motherboard to it! And depending on the type of motherboard, you can add up to five different chipsets to power your monster up.

Chipsets can add points to your monster stats, allowing them to hit harder and move faster in battle. There are different builds and montherboards available, so the sky's the limit when it comes to customization.

Tomomon has Shinies, but they are handled differently than most

Tomomon's version of Shinies are known as Exotics. These extra rare Tomomon don't appear to be much stronger than your standard garden variety ones. Rather, the difference is only skin deep.

They gain a sparkle animation and can carry vastly different color palettes than the normies of their species. In addition, the game contains an item known as the Exoctic Crystal that can transform your bland, run-of-the-mill Tomomon into a beautiful Exoctic!

The devs will gift you with a code to gain one of these rare items if you purchase a copy in Early Access. Within the game, there are also a few static spawns that guarantee an exotic encounter.

You can battle with not 1, not 2, but 3 monsters at a time!

The only other monster taming game I've seen with 3 v 3 combat is Monster Sanctuary but I think Tomomon handles this slightly better. For one, passive abilities and skills synergize with the team better, allowing for easier strategy building.

And two, the monster design overall is far superior making the sometimes crowded, 3 v 3 battlefield more visually appealing. Overall, its a nice battle system but the game will need some serious balance work and patching if PvP is ever implemented.

There are literally strategies that you can use that will require your opponent to carry a specific skill or they won't be able to land a hit on you. There is an NPC named Gus, I believe, that has this very strategy and it's impossible to hit him without a certain skill scroll.

These are Tomomon's main selling points in my opinion, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows for the indie title. There are a few things that make Tomomon a bit of a headache to play, and I'll discuss those next.

Lack of in-game guidance for the player

I get that many gamers love a challenge. And I also understand that many people define what a challenge is differently. In my opinion, being lost and confused between quests is not challenging; it's just annoying.

When completing quests and trying to progress through the game's main storyline, you will get lost...often. And since this is a relatively unknown title, Google will not aid you in your journey. Instead, you'll either need to fumble through the game or scour Tomomon's Discord channel in hopes of finding help.

Many times, especially when trying to battle all the Elemental Guardians (the game's equivalent of Pokemon gym leaders), you'll have to interact with nearly every NPC you can find to try and find a clue as to how you can unlock the next battle. Hopefully, this gets patched out at some point but it's almost a deal breaker now.

Tomomon has some of the most frustrating RNG around

Tomomon is a game that is heavily reliant on RNG. The most egregious application of this occurs when you have to craft recipes needed to face the various Elemental Guardians to complete the main story. Each recipe requires food or liquid and different elements of data.

You read that correctly, data; you will need to find certain data blocks to complete recipes for quests. The issue with this is that the data blocks needed for the recipes can only be farmed in Gacha machines.

To make matters worse, these machines only spawn in Expeditions that require a hefty entrance fee. And, it's not a guaranteed spawn. You will need to keep resetting until the building containing the Gacha machine appears! Then, once you finally get the machine, you will have a very, very, very slim chance of spawning the data needed by inserting Gold Coins into the machine.

I've lost close to a dozen hours trying to grind for the Blue Data needed to complete the Fresh Water recipe required to fight one of the Elemental Guardians. I have since given up on this and am patiently waiting for the devs to release an alternate means of completing the recipe.

Overall, Tomomon is a great game with some nasty pitfuls

I've clocked around 80 hours of gameplay in Tomomon and my experience overall has been very enjoyable. The game currently retails for around $25, which is on the higher end for small titles like these. But I'm an indie developer myself, so I often jump at the chance to spend money on people's dream projects.

I do believe that most of the game problems can be patched away as there is nothing wrong with its core gameplay, monster designs, or storyline. It's a very fun, futuristic take on monster taming. Check out Tomomon now on Steam and enjoy it on the go using your Steam Deck as it runs perfectly there!

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