Stop. Look. You know, before I say the words. Take a moment. Breathe in. Breath out. We good? Okay. We good. So Montabi is a roguelike deckbuilder. While I hope that I’ve not remained with just fans of this particular genre, I want to make it clear that I am pretty firmly burned out on the Roguelike and Roguelite categories. Call it the reviewer’s curse. While I can see from a design perspective, this genre is enticing to a lot of developers and players. As someone who has played so many run-based titles in the last few years, I am frankly over the novelty. That said, I have to give it to Montabi. Its blend of strategic gameplay, reminiscent of Mega Man: Battle Network, Pokémon and deckbuilding had me coming back to it again and again. Completing multiple successful runs and still finding interesting combinations and Montabi creatures, this is an unexpected hit for me in a packed year.

From the get go, Montabi is pretty unashamed of its inspirations. In a society where people and mysterious monsters called Montabi live together, you play as a teenager whose Montabi gets stolen by Team X. Setting out with a starter Montabi you begin fighting rogue Montabi and adding them to your team. Each creature comes with its own unique playstyle as well as a trainer who has to support them in fights. As you progress through the city, you can find equipment and charms, and increase the potential of your deck with stickers. Level up enough and your Montabi will evolve into a stronger version of itself and gain new passive abilities.

Fights take place on a 3x6 grid where you can place your trainer and Montabi, as well as keep a few in reserve to switch out. To perform actions you play cards. As I said, each Montabi also fights differently. Some use special techniques such as causing bleeding that will damage an opponent whenever they take an action. Others place traps and pickups that increase in strength the longer they are down. Yet others rely on discarding cards for increasing the damage output on their other cards. Every one of my runs I made the attempt to try new combinations, and they are wonderfully balanced. I never felt like I could rely only on a single technique and finding the synergies between different Montabi always felt satisfying, especially when I unlocked different trainers, such as the fighter who basically became my glass cannon alongside their creatures.

What makes it all fall into place is the fact that your opponent’s upcoming attacks are clearly communicated and telegraphed–both on the field and in their attack descriptions–so you can plan ahead without any uncertainty. Positioning is key and occasionally just swapping out a Montabi that gets targeted by all enemies can turn the tide of battle. Battles become these strategic chess matches, in a similar way to Fire Emblem or X-COM. Though one major gripe I have is that your on screen cursor can be too easy to lose track of. Planning is essential, as your creatures aren’t healed between fights. While pickups and items can be used to heal for small amounts, it is sometimes best to stack up on armor or have just a single Montabi tank the damage so you strike back hard against these bosses. The bosses are true tests of your skill and I liked their use of different mechanics. Whether they simply boost themselves to deal massive damage if you leave them unattended, or they are all about supporting their own Montabi to create an attack on two fronts.

One of my problems with most Roguelikes/Roguelites is that boss encounters in particular can feel cheap: a critical hit there, an unavoidable pattern that you haven’t encountered before or even dying just before landing your final blow. It makes the genre so susceptible to ‘ragequit’ and is one of the reasons why I’ve lost my appetite for games that look cool, but turn out to adhere to the Roguelike template. Yet, Montabi is a delicate balancing act. All the information, at any time, is there on screen for you to react to. Frankly, there were times where I almost gave up during an elite or a boss encounter, because they seemed so overpowered. Yet, just keeping my strategy going, focusing on dodging the right attacks and slowly chipping away at their defenses got me through these ‘impossible’ encounters. That’s pretty impressive game design, especially from a debut studio.

That being said, as much as I adore the gameplay, the worldbuilding and design of Montabi left me unimpressed. It is so hard to play with these particular tropes and not have the final result be compared to Pokémon. I think it is a trap that indie teams looking to make their own take on Pokémon often fall into. The secret of why Pokémon works so well, is that you as a trainer get attached to your creature because you also spend time with them outside of battle. Montabi leaves very little room for this. It implies this city lives in harmony with these creatures, but all of this is communicated through text and background details. I had no moment where I considered my Taxi-cab bug to be anything other than a good armor-stack deck. It would've been more fun if the way I used my Montabi had them develop little personality traits. I do like that there’s a lot of creative designs to the human characters and a real inclusivity to the world. But the story and world end up becoming mostly background noise. That goes too for the soundtrack, which becomes fairly repetitive, making me want to put on my own soundtrack or a video in the background instead.

Still, Montabi was a delightful surprise. When I realized I had to deal with another roguelike deckbuilder, my heart sank. Thankfully its strong game design and strategic approach to the genre kept me coming back again and again. I think that this game lays out a strong foundation to improve upon, especially in giving its titular creatures a more defined personality and broadening the tactical synergies between them. The story, music and characters aren’t anything to write home about. Yet in the end I still had a pretty great time with Montabi. Its gameplay loop feels like the right fit for a Roguelike game. While I still stand by the fact that I’m over these types of games, Montabi deserves its spot among some of the best this genre has to offer.