Mini Review: Monster Crown: Sin Eater (PS5) - So Much More Than Your Typical Pokémon Clone

Sintillating

Version Reviewed: PS5 Pro / European

Monster Crown: Sin Eater surpassed our expectations — but then our expectations were misguided to begin with.

We went into this one expecting a somewhat cutesy, nostalgia-infused, Pokémon-style retro RPG — but what we got was a shockingly mature, story-driven adventure with more mechanical depth than most creature-taming titles will ever attempt to include.

Sin Eater's name isn't just for show. Its setting is deceptively dark and brooding, a world where humanity's under the thumb of monstrous overlords. There's blood, there's swearing, there's even some horribly suggestive themes knocking about.

Indeed, despite its Game Boy Color-inspired aesthetics, and its focus on turn-based monster battling, Sin Eater is a far cry from something like Pokémon.

While the narrative does come across as a bit too edgy at times — coming close to feeling like it's at odds with the very concept of catching cartoonish critters — the dialogue's well written, and there are some solid characters embedded throughout.

In fact, the story's what kept us pushing through Sin Eater's more tedious moments, where you'll be grinding wild monster battles and trying to farm healing items.

It's not that the gameplay itself is flawed — it's just that Sin Eater rarely holds your hand. Its map is mostly open-ended; you'll need access to specific abilities in order to progress here and there, but it's happy to let you wander around its surprisingly expansive locales.

As such, trial and error does creep into the experience at times. You'll have a vague idea of what you need to do next, but actually getting to your objective can require patience; difficulty spikes are just a touch too common, often forcing you to backtrack and hit the grind once again.

But then it's hard not to get completely hooked on the title's in-depth party-building systems. Not only are there over 200 base beasts to find out in the world, you can then breed and, most importantly, fuse creatures to create unique allies.

The monster designs are largely fantastic — as is the art direction overall — and discovering new species is a joy, pushing you to explore every nook and cranny of the map.

Monster Crown: Sin Eater's lack of direction and often demanding difficulty won't be for everyone. But if you can embrace the grind, there are some deeply addictive RPG systems at work here, backed by a shockingly mature and engaging story.