Monsters and Monocles

I was quite hyped about this game when NorthernLion reviewed it on youtube. I went on steam, bought it, and kicked back with a friend and started playing. In the beginning, it was OK. The graphics and gamplay was an obvious inspiration fro Nuclear Thrones. The gameplay was smooth, the guns are decent, and the 3 maps that were given are decent. That's it. Two months later, I found this game somewhere in my folder and decided to see if it had any changes. It had not. The gameplay is horribly short. The story... wait, what story again? The guns and pickups are repetitive. You lose EVERYTHING after you die, and there is no way for you to save your progress. Take the binding issac for example, the game forces the player to play over and over again to unlock more stuff. As you progress through more levels, you get more powerups, you get better tears, and you actually feel powerful. Yes, this game allows for you to use your coins to purchase powerups after you finish a level, but the powerup system is HORRIBLY linear and forces the character to choose, instead of having the unknown variable of obtaining a good or bad powerup. This game fails on all points of that. Although it may be true that this game has only been out for less than half a year, the first binding of isaac has WAY more content, and it costs less than half of this game. There is no objective whatsoever, and don't you dare tell me that the "quests" that pop up after every stage is an incentive for me to continue playing this game, because it is not. This game even fails to even incorporate a minimap, a key aspect in ANY rogue-like games. I am deeply sorry for whoever bought this game for more than $15 just to finish it in less than 2 hours. Unless changes occur, I stand by the fact that this game was one of the worst purchases I have made on steam.

Ok. In 2 hours, I loop the game so I basically beat it, right? That's it?

DISCLAIMER: This game is still in Early Access. All thoughts and opinions therein are related to the game during its development state. Features/content are subject to change and not a final representation of the game. Monster and Monocles(hence forth M&M) is a very ambitious game. Look at the laundry list of features; we have procedurally generated environments, a variety of weapons, enemies, abilities, unique random events, traps, and unlockable characters. Also included is something I personally haven't seen in this genre, full Steam workshop support. Allowing you to create unique assets for the game itself. When you look at the genre of this type of game, its going up against giants such as Binding of Isaac, Nuclear Throne, and Enter the Gungeon. No small feat to be sure. If we were solely looking at this game right now from an art standpoint, M&M is on par with its brethren and surpasses them. The sprite design is extremely eye catching and the overall design is unique. The animations, explosions, and level designs are all well done. In this case it blends cheeky steampunk Victorian style with almost a Halloween aesthetic. It's weird, but I dig it. Now in other aspects, there is still some catching up to do. From a gameplay standpoint, it leans more towards that arcade style of a thumbstick shooter. Especially when you start adding people into the mix, up to four players can play locally and online. The game worked better in my opinion with a controller but it doesn't have too many buttons, you can dash, shoot and switch weapons.(I am sure it works fine with a key/mouse) It definitely feels geared to a fast paced chaotic type of game. You can certainly take your sweet time with it and if you are playing alone, you are more then likely going to have to. The starting gun for characters is the revolver and it kinda blows. Enemies attack in very large groups with all sorts of different attack methods, exploding, dashing, splitting into tiny enemies. Combat can become very hectic, especially if you don't know what you are expecting, leading to a quick death. There are shops, secrets, and there are currently three areas/bosses in the game. The flow as of right now, is you progress through two levels with random objectives, collecting guns, power ups along the way and then fight the boss. Rinse and repeat. One gripe I did have is that because the levels are procedural, that sometimes their design can be rather silly. Sometimes it is littered with junk everywhere and has confusing pathing. It's a minor gripe and something I imagine that can be fine tuned as development continues. The level of work that has been put into the game is very promising and well done. A good example of this, is the weapons, where you might find the crumpet launcher and teapot machine gun. There are buffs that you can find and bring back to your base to upgrade and use in future playthroughs for your guns and other passive abilities. This gives the game somewhat of a progression, and I would like to see the same idea that maybe allows for some modifications. You have a huge base area that could be used for all sorts of stuff. Speaking from a personal perspective, I have been keeping my eyes on M&M for quite a while. For the aforementioned reasons, I am excited to see what the game has to offer once it is done. One thing to keep in mind about this title though is that it is far from finished. If you buy into the Early Access of the game, it is currently to support the developer and give feedback. Some of the features are in the game but need polish, with more features to come. The game itself is rather short on replay and variety, and just replaying combat can become repetitive. Keep in mind this is in no way derisive, comparing a game in Early Access to completed titles is silly. The only reason I mention it is to keep you aware of what is currently in the game. Once this bun is done in the oven, I am sure it will be a classic game and people will be loving this title. Keep Monster and Monocles on your radar. The game looks spectacular and the developer seems to be consistent with the updates. Let those developers do their amazing work and in the mean time you go prep the table for tea and crumpets.

For a game so early in the Early Access process, Monsters and Monocles is off to a good start. While the game is not perfect it is already quite fun and has the potential to be a really good game. Monsters and Monocles is similar to most twin-stick shooters. One control stick controls movement while the other controls the aim of your weapon. In Monsters and Monocles you basically choose a world to play. The levels are then procedurally generated and you are given two stages with randomized objectives. After you have completed both stages you have to fight the boss of that world. Monsters and Monocles is a roguelike game where all money and weapons acquired are lost when you die but you do acquire relics that upgrade skills which remain after death. Overall I had fun with Monsters and Monocles. The controls works pretty well even though the dodge move could use a little work. I like that the stages are randomly generated and I like the variety in some of the guns. I also really like the pixel art and the music. Basically Monsters and Monocles is where you would expect it to be at this point in the Early Access process. The thing I believe the game needs most is just more variety. The game could use some more worlds, weapons, enemies and objectives. The game is fun but gets a little repetitive after a while. If you like twin-stick shooters I think you will enjoy Monsters and Monocles. If you would like to read my full review check out [url=http://www.geekyhobbies.com/monsters-and-monocles-indie-game-preview/] Geeky Hobbies[/url].

Pros: -nice art style -ok gameplay Cons: -boring -tedious. You must finish the entire game on 8 TOTAL lives(in coop the entire party shares 8 lives)

Why the Fu!k cant you set up a gamepad control botton setting system ??? see only useless things in control setting , when I enter the game and type botton A on my gamepad , another charater jump out and move follow my gamepad control . Cant you just let us chose our charater and other players join in select page , and no more join after we enter the game ? Me and my friend play coop and third character always come out when my friend type on botton A , and want to set gamepad to avoid this condition happen , HELL you dont have gamepad botton setting system ....... rubbish

really not finished yet....not fun at this state.

If you want to play a different Enter the Gungeon, go play Synthetik instead of this.

This game was really fun when I started, but it got boring rather quick :(