Developed and published by Odencat, Meg’s Monster is a story-driven narrative RPG where you take care of a human girl in a monster universe who has the power to bring the annihilation of the world with just her tears. Despite the girl being the main point of the story, you play as a monster who lives in this monster world and is untouchable if you go by bare strength however the real power lies inside the little girl who can wipe out everything by simply starting crying. Featuring simple combat mechanics and a story that does not last too long if you are used to spending tons of hours on RPGs. This is our review of the Nintendo Switch release of Meg’s Monster in which we try to prevent a little girl from crying in order to save the universe from annihilation.
The game starts with a cutscene where you are sucked into the universe and suddenly wake up as a little girl on a monster planet. You are Meg, a girl who lost her mother while she was working in a secret facility and now somehow you have managed to land yourself in the same situation by transporting unwillingly onto a monster planet. After waking up, you manage to run into the most powerful monster that lives there called Roy along with his friend Gohan who is just a lanky sticking with Roy with his own motives. After running into the girl, Gohan tries to eat the girl which makes her upset and the due finds out that Meg is not one to be eaten. As she begins to cry, the whole world gets a deep red hue and everything starts shaking as it is about to be blown. At this point, things start to settle in that this is no ordinary girl.
Roy and Gohan agree to look for the girl’s mother in order to send her back home so that she does not destroy the whole world with her crying and in doing so, the story of Meg’s Monster begins. At first, Roy is not really a fan of the whole babysitting aspect of the game and tries his best to adjust to the biggest change in his life since he is used to eating Magic Tar and kicking it around with his friend Gohan however everyone in the world now wants to eat the little girl Meg since monsters and mutants live on the whole planet and they love eating humans. Stuck in the conundrum, Roy has no other way to accept the change and become a guardian of Meg and protect her from all harm until he can find her mother and safely return Meg back to her own world.
Roy on his own is a brute with around 99,999 HP and no one in the world is able to touch him because of his sheer strength. On the other hand, Meg is a fragile girl and everywhere they go, monsters want to eat her and she is unable to fight back. Meg’s Monster features turn-based combat in different locations where Roy will try his best to protect Meg from attackers. While Roy cannot be defeated by anyone, Meg has a weak heart, and every time Roy is hit, she becomes one step closer to crying. If her mental health drops down to zero, she will start crying and everything in the universe will be gone. For making sure that Meg does not cry while in a battle, you will need to find new toys and keep Meg entertained during each fight. This is certainly a unique mechanic and an extra step that you will need to perform every time there is a fight in the game.
As you spend more time playing with Meg at your home, you will unlock new toys if you interact with them. After looking around and completing certain tasks in the game, you will spend the night back at your own place where you will play with Meg using different toys. Once you acquire a toy it remains in your inventory forever however each toy can be only used once during a single combat scenario. This is not a roguelike so even if you die during a combat scene, you can always retry from the same point however the combat is barely anything but challenging in the game so it is extremely hard to die in the game. You will only die in the game if you try really, really hard to die and in scenarios where Meg’s health goes down, you will see that the game brings something up on its own and Meg becomes happy again.
During one of the early fights, Meg’s health was fairly low in the game and I was about to lose a battle however Gohan did something funny and Meg started laughing which caused her health to go back up. Something always happens to the other fighter and the combat is not really something that you have to worry about in the game. For me, combat scenarios felt like something that was just placed in the game for the sake of it. They do not prove anything in the game and Roy is already really strong that you do not have to worry about a thing. Story progression unlocks more advanced attacks for you and later on, you have to gather stamina and then land the powerful attacks but all of this is just a fancy combat show rather than something that would be actually dangerous for Roy or Meg in the game.
There are plenty of different locations and NPCs in the world but you will only interact with most NPCs while on a main quest or a side quest. You can re-visit some of the previously visited locations to complete some side quests but they are also nothing but simple fetch item quests or just dialogue scenes which add more to the story of the game. Certain NPCs are always interactable in the game but they do not do anything to the game apart from some fun banter. To travel, you will simply choose a location and you will spawn there and there is no manual exploration in the Underworld. It would have been amazing to walk to all locations in the game because it would have increased the gameplay life of the game and with random combat encounters with different monsters as well.
The overall game design of Meg’s Monster is fairly good with a special emphasis on monsters. Different monsters look good in the game and their animations are okay as well. The combat animations reminded me of the early Pokemon games since they are just slashes and thuds on the characters when you perform different moves. The levels are pretty small and not too big and they are designed with minimal activity and interactions in mind so they are nothing special as well. The game has its moments but the level design is nothing too special to talk about. On the other hand, the soundtrack of the game is pretty good and you will be listening to some good music throughout the game and especially at key points.
Meg’s Monster is a beautiful adventure and I loved the ever-growing chemistry between the two main characters Roy and Meg. As you progress in the game, you can feel their chemistry become stronger and stronger and both Roy and Meg start looking out for each other. Nothing in Meg’s Monster is too complicated whether it’s the game world, characters, or the story. It is a breeze from the start to the finish and gives you a small challenge in terms of combat but they are more like fillers or simple obstacles rather than giving you a challenge of any sort. Meg’s Monster is a great experience if you are looking for a soothing game that you can just breeze through. The game quickly winds up in a few hours and provides a decent level of enjoyment in those hours. It feels like you are sitting through an interactive movie or a visual novel with some combat scenarios thrown in the mix just for the sake of it.
Final Verdict:
Meg’s Monster feels more like a visual novel than a turn-based combat game. More so that sometimes the combat sequences feel like a hindrance to the otherwise a brilliant storyline that begins basic but quickly becomes addictive and hooks you into it. The gameplay mechanics are pretty basic but the visual art style of the game is pretty decent and fits well into the whole theme of the game. The main characters are pretty lovable and it does not take very long to get attached to them. The only problem with Meg’s Monster is that it is a little short and after completing the game, you definitely feel like spending more time with the characters. If you love visual novels and games that focus more on story rather than combat and complex gaming mechanics, Meg’s Monster is a beautiful adventure that you must experience.
Final Score: 8.5/10
