Monsters Domain Review (PC)

If you’re growing weary of playing out the same old hand as an opportunistic ne’er-do-well whose only purpose is to bring peace and prosperity to a once-harmonic world, then perhaps it’s time to flip the script and enroll in the opposite side of the spectrum. As luck would have it, Monsters Domain offers just that: an opportunity to dabble on the reverse side of the same coin—a flex that not only allows you to shove your weight around as a fledgling tyrannical necromancer, but also tug on a few strings and, well, boss a few relentlessly loyal fiends about while you’re at it. It’s a wet dream for budding evil-doers, for sure, but is it worth sleeping in for? Eh.

Monsters Domain brings forth a similar premise that we’ve seen develop and take shape several times over; it has more or less found its way into other games of its kind, including Overlord, Evil Genius, and Black & White, to list just a few. The question is, what does it do differently? Or another question would be, what does it do to make the ideology of tyranny more palatable for die-hard heroes and heroines alike? Let’s talk about it.

Good Is Bad, Bad Is Good

If you’ve grown somewhat fond of being the lionhearted knight in shining armor, then Monsters Domain will no doubt come across as a bit of a shock for you. This isn’t quite on the same page; in fact, it reads between an entirely different paragraph, and it bases its entire concept around the other force to be reckoned with—an evil underground empire that lives, breathes, and dies by one solemn rule: to keep heroes out of the city and in the clear of its thirst for power. Sure enough, the power of the “light” will attempt to exploit the inner secrets of the underworld, but only if you allow them to trespass upon the threshold and establish their social dominance. Spoiler alert — that’s an instant game over. Go figure.

Monsters Domain has you taking over the reins of a necromancer—a fallen overlord who has since returned to reclaim the throne and banish those shackled to social justice and preservation. As this throne-hungry monopolizer, you must ascend to the highest point in the food chain and become the divine master of the realm — even if it means having to slaughter one or two holy warriors along the way. Again, not an ideal route for those with a heart for economic growth and social benevolence. But hey, who cares about those guys, right? This is your time to shine, and it’s your throne by right…apparently.

Story-wise, there isn’t a huge amount to write home about, as it’s more or less the case of seeing two warring factions battling it out for the apex of a dystopian world. The only major difference here, of course, is the perspective; it’s not exactly unchartered territory, but it’s something that hasn’t been explored as much as we would expect, given gamers’ fascination with it.

And Then There’s the Gameplay

Oh boy — the gameplay. Eh, it isn’t great. On paper, it sounds as if it’d be bursting at the seams with copious amounts of great features, but that just isn’t the case here, as a lot of the contents that it does slide forward are inexcusably poor; for example, its combat—the vanilla extract that should, if anything, be the driving force behind the entire experience—is tediously shoddy, to the point of being borderline useless. Sure, you can hit things, but attacks are so rarely effective, that it soon becomes the case of hurling yourself in any given direction in the hopes of dealing some amount of damage. However, due to a lot of the enemies either being sponges, or their hit boxes being ludicrously large, a lot of these moments are often not as enjoyable as they should be. And that’s bad, truly.

Now, I’m not saying that the graphics are poor, because they’re not. With that said, it’s often difficult to appreciate the quality of the product when certain elements are drenched in low frame rates and, on occasion, game-breaking bugs that fail to make themselves scarce during some pretty crucial stages. The UI, too, is a little worse for wear; your minions don’t often obey your commands, nor do they make much of an effort to act on behalf of your ambitions. Don’t get me wrong, they are a neat addition to the mix, though hardly a compelling reason to overindulge in their abilities, or simply lack thereof, given the circumstances.

As it stands, there’s quite a lot wrong with Monsters Domain, which ultimately numbs many of the otherwise great features, of which there are a good few to choose from, as it happens. It isn’t quite 2016 No Man’s Sky — but it isn’t far off.

Rinse and Repeat

Arguably one of the worst things about Monsters Domain is its inventory system; it’s a real—and I mean real pain in the backside, more so when you’re instructed to shuffle it and reapply slots several times over in order to make any form of progress. As an example, if one of your minions happens to fall in battle, then your only option is to whip open the inventory management screen and re-equip each item again, and again, and—you guessed it—again. Rather annoyingly, as minions tends to phase in and out of battle multiple times per encounter, this technically means that you must apply your gear to your peers each and every time one of them decides to take an arrow to the knee. In other words, minions suck, and they’re far more burdensome than the enemies, weirdly enough.

Of course, it isn’t all doom and gloom, as Monsters Domain does actually offer a good selection of components, including but not limited to a wide selection of fascinating locations to explore, as well as the ability to build and evolve an entire army from the ashen roots up. On that note, I can’t complain too much, as there’s clearly an okay-ish product beneath the surface here, though it’s difficult to gloss over a lot of its technical flaws to shed light on the finer, slightly more finessed components. But hey, who’s to say that a slew of patches won’t be able to solve a lot of that in future updates? It isn’t set in stone or anything, but we’ve reason to believe that a lot of said items are likely to be addressed at some stage over the next however many weeks, months, or years. Here’s hoping, anyway.

Verdict

I’m not going to say that Monsters Domain is a bad game, because that just wouldn’t be fair. With that said, there are clearly a lot of loose bolts with this one, and I’m honestly hoping that the devs can find a way to fasten the screws and bring out its inner potential, if not relatively soon, then at some point in the near future. Until then, it’s a little difficult to recommend that you give it a shot, as its technical performance just isn’t quite up to scratch — at least, not to a level that makes the price of admission come across as a steal, anyway. But then, as it’s still early days, I’m willing to give it a little slack and let bygones be bygones.

To answer the question of whether or not Monsters Domain is worth the time and effort — no, it isn’t. Not yet, anyway. As it stands, there are still one or two technical issues that need addressing, after which the game should, with any luck, offer a much, much more enjoyable experience. To that end, I wouldn’t shoot it down as a mere shameless cash grab; it isn’t that, and I can see that the developers have, at least, made some attempt to create a genuinely compelling concept here, and I honestly hope that they’re able to fashion something out of the assets that aren’t quite up to scratch to make lackluster aspects come out of their shells and, I don’t know, pop. Until then, though, I’d suggest looking elsewhere to remediate that necromancer itch.

Of course, if you’re hell-bent on plunging into an action-packed adventure that simply plays as is, warts and all, then you could certainly do a lot worse. If, however, you’re something of a perfectionist, then consider this a warning.