Monark Reviews
Monark has all of the dot points needed to be a great game, but it just doesn’t go far enough to stand out in any one area. It has a few great nuggets of ideas that would have been great to see expanded upon, but it barely scratches the surface. There are too many areas that were lacking either visual flare or gameplay substance for it to be memorable among titans like Persona and Megami Tensei. Despite that, it still might be worth playing for fans of the genre. It’s like popcorn — it’s not a masterpiece, but it’s easily consumable and will scratch that JRPG itch.
Monark brings me both surprise and disappointment, the depth of the story and gameplay are unique, but the combat is boring, making it not as good as expected.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Monark weaves an engaging story even though it may rely on tropes and archetypes to do so.
Monark is a game filled with great ideas and themes, and it manages to deliver on some of those in spades. Unfortunately, Monark is also its own worst enemy, and many of the gameplay elements simply get in the way of making it something truly exceptional. Still, if you can manage to get through the slog of repetitiveness, there’s a fascinating and thematically engaging story underneath.
We had high expectations for Monark, as some of the people who worked on it have given birth to some of the old Persona games, but we've come highly disappointed, due to absurd design choices and PS2 era graphics.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Monark has a refreshing battle system that will appeal to turn-based strategy gamers, but the dated graphics and overall redundancy make it a hard game to recommend at its full asking price. As with the game's dangerous Mist, enter with caution.
Monark has a lot of good ideas, but almost all of them are let down by a repetitive structure, grindy combat, and baffling design decisions.
Fans of JRPGs with time to kill can probably find a game somewhere here with Monark, but I doubt it’d be fruitful. Give this one a pass or buy it on a steep discount so you won’t be in for a rude awakening.
undefined.If I'm not having fun with an RPG I've noticed lately that I have to force myself to play it. Monark started strong but my opinion of it dropped rapidly every time I spent an hour checking everything I had unlocked in the school; I had to be missing SOMETHING that would get me to proceed, right? If you're feeling sharp and are okay with little to no environmental variety then Monark might be worth a look - there's a demo for it - but it's nowhere near the best RPG from this developer in the last six months.
Monark is a fun JRPG with interesting characters and a unique story full of personality tests and high school drama. Though at times navigating the character can get a bit frustrating.
Monark is a smart game. It knows it, and it wants you to know it too. Some may well find that it's even pretentious. But it’s also in so many ways a boundary-pushing and innovative experience, and one that I imagine will be unique for a very long time to come. Putting aside the disappointment that comes from realising that it could have attacked with its themes more, I don’t think there is any other way that the creative team could have delivered on a more coherent and compelling vision and, really, it is experiences like Monark that keep me interested in this medium. Don’t let this one pass you by, folks.
Monark brings to the table a lot of fresh ideas, but the bad game design prevents the game from reaching its full potential, leaving you with nothing more than a mediocre experience.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Monark is a tangled web of good ideas that could have become a good game, but end up being hidden under an awful execution. The combat system is the best part, but it fails by its excessive repetition and the story stuns the player by taking one of the worst possible directions and throwing away all it could have been.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
MONARK is one of those games that had everything in place for it to be something special and unfortunately either a lack of experience or budget absolutely crucifies it. Uninspired gameplay and poor graphics spend their time battling an amazing narrative and well-crafted atmosphere. You can see where the influences came from and the presentation of the game has some great aspects. But when it comes to the actual video game section of MONARK, you find it’s just middle of the road.
The amazing thing about these moment to moment battles is that they always end in euphoria and rarely cause fatigue. The sense of victory that comes from figuring out the next location to explore or that final blow on a boss always provides a boost of energy before the next challenge. In every way possible, Monark succeeds in providing an amazing experience that always keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Monark is an excellent JRPG with a dark and appealing story and an incredible soundtrack, that it's perfect for every fan of the turn-based strategy games.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
MONARK isn't a bad game, but unfortunately, for every lime it offers, it offers another sand. An unfluid rhythm, some repetition and a lot, a lot of farming tarnish a game that, on the other hand, has an interesting story, good characters and a lot of psychology.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Monark treads the fine line between a good RPG and a truly great one. I enjoyed that it was a stripped back affair and that I only had the story to focus on instead of thousands of pointless side quests. The story, while dark, was enjoyable, particularly in the second half of the game. Some of the investigative portions really tested my mettle and while there is a grind to keep up with the difficulty curve, this was well balanced and always fair. If the early stages of hunting Pactbearers wasn’t the same process in a different environment, Monark would be a truly great game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty good RPG, but the flaws are noticeable, and it runs the risk of putting people off.
If you’re looking for an entertaining turn-based strategy game and a linear, school-based story similar to the first two Persona titles, then go forth. For everyone else, it’s going to depend on whether you can stomach a bunch of frustrating puzzles, terrible graphics, annoying exploration mechanics and a story that takes its sweet sweet time to get going.