On January 21st, 2020, Crema, a Spanish game development company, launched their first Pokémon-inspired game on Steam: Temtem. For a couple years now, players from all over gathered to catch, train, and tame numerous creatures of all shapes and sizes.
And now, on August 2020, Crema finally confirmed a release date for the Nintendo Switch console. However, before we get into that, let’s discuss the story and history behind Temtem, and why it took so long for it to reach modern consoles. Let’s first kick things off where it all began.
Kickstarter?!
Official Crema company logo. Image from gematsu.com
You read it right, folks! This game all started on the crowdfunding website, Kickstarter, from May to June, 2018. Two years and €61,000 afterward, Crema finally released the game on the Steam Early Access on January 21st, 2020. This creature-collecting video game garnered a large audience of well over 500k players during its first intial launch within a single month.
Temtem initially launched on PlayStation consoles. However, this had only been the Early Access versions. The company later announced a planned full release for gaming consoles in 2021, which include:
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4/5
- Xbox One & Series X/S
However, due to obvious delays, Temtem had only been available for Steam accessibility. Therefore, it was announced later on that the Pokémon-inspired game would launch for the latter consoles this September. Now, for the main question:
What Is A Temtem?!
Starter Temtem Crystle (Left), Smazee (Center), and Houchic (Right). Image from ign.com.
Temtem are quite the odd creatures. While some are based off real-world animals, many are more diverse in design. These range from mythological creatures, to everyday objects. Being the main focus of the game, there are a well recorded 164 of these monsters living in the Airborne Archipelago, their home. What makes a Temtem different from Pokémon, is both their battle styles and typing.
This game features creatures of various types. Outside your standard fire, water, and grass, the game expands on a few new elements to explore. These include:
- Mental (Psychic)
- Wind (Flying)
- Crystal (Possibly Steel)
- Digital
- Melee (Fighting)
- Toxic (Poison)
Your goal as a tamer is to capture and collect data on each and every one of these creatures. However, an evil organization named Clan Belsoto lurk in the shadows, plotting to take the Archipelago by force. Therefore, you and your companions embark on an epic quest to save the Archipelago, and its Temtem inhabitants.
Gameplay:
Player using Saipat (Left) and Smazee (Right) for battle. Image from twinfinite.net
While players are able to choose their starter Temtem, the key thing to remember are the battle phases. The Archipelago is known to host numerous double battles across the isles, so be sure to always carry more than one Temtem during battle. Just like Pokémon, turns are decided by the speed of each creature on the battlefield. This, as a result, can either make your Temtem go first or last.
In addition, there is a limitation status, titled ‘Stamina’. Stamina determines how much time your partner can last on the battlefield, and can lead to overexertion if that time is exceeded. When your partner overexerts itself, they will gradually lose HP, until they faint.
To prevent this, you can swap your partner out, restoring some of its lost Stamina, or order it to rest. By utilizing each strategy and technique, becoming a top player of the Airborne Archipelago just might be within reach.
Is Temtem Currently Available:
To answer that simple question: yes. Temtem is currently available in the Steam store, on both PC and Mobile devices. Currently, the game is set in its Beta version. However, players will gain full accesibility for the Nintendo Switch on September 6th. Following the launch, an official update will also occur, this one titled Update 1.0. This will not only apply to the Nintendo console, but to also Steam, and corresponding Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
If you play the current version of Temtem, and would like to share your experience from the monster-collecting game, share with us in the comments down below. We’d love to hear what the game is like from seasoned players. Also, be sure to check out our Facebook page, as we like to keep our viewers up-to-date on the latest happenings. With the full release of an official Pokémon-inspired adventure game on the way, here’s to looking forward to an exciting adventure ahead of us.
As always, Stay Geeky!
