Stardew Valley (opens in new tab) is the golden child of farming sims. It has sold more than 20 million copies since 2016 and launched a flood of farm games on PC. But there hasn’t been a Stardew Valley moment for the monster-taming genre. pokemon clones (opens in new tab) are now plentiful, but none have had a shred of Stardew Valley’s success, but only Pokémon’s. If Stardew Valley has found a magic formula to transform a classic Japanese series into a modern indie game, monster tamers haven’t found it yet.
“An RPG where [players] can create their own adventure based on the characters they know are naturally appealing,” say Jochem and Marcel, the indie developers behind this year’s Coromon. (opens in new tab). The challenge for indies is “players often prefer to stick with what they know rather than try out new games,” they say.
There are some modestly successful Pokémon clones like MMO Temtem (opens in new tab)which made headlines last year when it reached 500,000 copies sold (opens in new tab) in a month on Steam Early Access. Coromon has passed 100,000 sales (opens in new tab) on PC and Mac, a track to which the Nintendo Switch version undoubtedly added. Yet that’s only a fraction of Pokémon Sword & Shield’s 24.5 million (opens in new tab).
Eric Barone freely based Stardew Valley on Natsume’s Harvest Moon, but it far exceeded its inspiration in both popularity and sales. Temtem game director Guillermo Andrades says Pokémon, by comparison, casts a long, long shadow.
“Right now, there’s a lot of reluctance towards games of the genre that aren’t Pokémon,” he says. “I think we need to move forward a little bit and release a lot of games in this genre before players start to see it as the monster-taming genre, not the Pokémon-like genre.”
“Once the general public is more in this mindset, games will have more leeway to have their own identity and not be compared to their big, huge brother and predecessor.”
Big Brother Pikachu
Huge really is the word. Only this year, the Pokémon Company reported that sales had passed 440 million (opens in new tab) of Pokémon software. Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have sold more in one year than Stardew Valley has in its lifetime.
Harvest Moon was successful, but not a global cultural phenomenon. Pokémon is the most profitable media franchise in history. Perhaps many of us haven’t invested enough in taming monsters other than Pokémon to learn 100 new ones. Developers haven’t given up on making Pokémon a genre, though – and at least they’re getting some attention, Stardew Valley’s first step to fame.
One of Stardew Valley’s greatest assets is its community. Barone regularly posted development blogs and maintained an open relationship with followers. Temtem Community Manager Lucia Prieto says the team’s relationship with the community is one of the reasons for its current success: developers have even started highlighting community-suggested improvements with special icons in the patch notes.
“The game was going to be a much more difficult experience, with a higher barrier to entry, and our community made us realize that wasn’t as fun or enjoyable, and helped us take the challenge to a satisfying level,” Prieto says.
Even smaller monster-taming games like Siralim Ultimate (opens in new tab) credit community for their success.
“I don’t think many developers are as lucky as I am with so many players who are so effective at communicating their ideas and providing feedback,” said Siralim Ultimate developer Zach Bertok. “When I read our forums, I often recognize names that have been around for almost 10 years, and those same people continue to contribute their suggestions and help make the Siralim series the best it can be. While we may not have the largest player base there, I go every day for quality over quantity.”
Dedicated communities like Siralim Ultimate’s also help transform smaller monster-taming games into unique projects rather than pure clones.
Don’t copy that Hoppip
Stardew Valley is the Harvest Moon PC gamers never got, but it’s not just any copy. It has its own unique features: deeper character adaptation, same-sex relationships, making mayonnaise.
Some monster-taming games stick closer to the Pokémon formula than others. Coromon is similar to the GBA Pokémon games in which the newbie in town (or, in this case, the new adult) arrives as a guest of honor and receives a free Coromon as a gift from a professor. In Temtem, the child protagonist follows the same goal of becoming a “Temtem Master.” But Temtem, like Stardew, also has multiplayer.
“There’s a whole social, MMO factor in it that’s shiny and exciting,” Prieto says. “This in itself changes a lot of the core elements of the genre, but we’ve built on that. Battles are always in pairs and there’s no RNG during combat at all… battles are challenging to an extent that we don’t think users will enjoy.” to expect. “
The best “clones” take their inspiration and build something special. That’s part of why Denis Sinner, the director of Moi Rai Games, chose to create Monster Sanctuary. (opens in new tab) part monster taming and part metroidvania. Sinner also felt that Pokémon didn’t have enough bets or strategy, so his team focused on giving players more choice.
“I’ve tried to make Monster Sanctuary feel like you’re being rewarded when you come up with synergistic Monster skills or monster team compositions,” he says. “Each monster with a full individual skill tree gives players many strategy options for each monster to build and try.”
Monster taming games have a tough road. Each must somehow escape the shadow of Pokémon or at least grow into it. Developers have had moderate success with supportive communities and unique features, but that wasn’t enough to produce a big hit. Jochem and Marcel explain that content creators still scornfully refer to monster-taming indies as “Poke clones” or “Pokémon scammers,” but they’re still optimistic.
“With more and more indie monster tamer games coming out, all with their own unique twists, more and more people seem to have different opinions about non-Pokémon monster tamer games,” they say. We may never find out the exact reason why no monster-taming game has been a massive hit. But that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
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