Sorry if this is redundant, I didn’t see another thread focused on reactions to the game itself (just the Pokemon-ripoff news cycle).
I tried it on GamePass thinking, why not - might as well see how overhyped it is. And unexpectedly, I put in about 8 hours this weekend.
Despite some rough edges and some very clear inspiration, I am actually enjoying it. It has a very satisfying gameplay feedback loop and is an overdue (if involuntary) “modernization” of the basic monster-collector format.
The gameplay is very good up until level 40 and is definitely one of the more complete early access games.
So far I have not encountered any game breaking bugs, but the game itself does have tons of jank.
Now I am currently level 47, and can say that leveling from 40 to 50 is a hella grind and takes a lot of time and resources. Mainly time, as getting end game pokeballs takes a massive amount of resources that only pals can harvest, process, and then craft.
Also, the end game bosses are quite beefy and hit like a truck.