App Army Assemble: Chronomon - "Does mixing Stardew Valley with Pokémon yield good results?"

Chronomon is part monster catcher, part farming sim that also leans on nostalgic vibes with its visuals. And while all those things combined into one game sounds great, it's easier said than done. So, we handed it over to our App Army to see if they felt it hit the brief.

Here's what they said:

Chronomon is a mix of a harvesting game with Pokémon. It sees you living on a farm while simultaneously capturing creatures. The creatures have abilities to help on your farm and also help in battles. Everything works very well and is fun. If you like games like Stardew Valley, then you will love Chronomon. It's super relaxing, with music and graphics that elevate it further. The game ran super well and made me have fun with each gameplay. The touch controls work satisfactorily. If you are the type of person who enjoys these types of games, then you can get it because it is guaranteed fun!

I feel I need to start by stating what others have already said. This game feels like a near 50/50 blend of Pokémon and Stardew Valley. The graphics are 16-bit in style, and the music is kind of like SNES meets PlayStation, in my opinion. I do feel that the soundtrack and effects help the game feel like those it was influenced by. You are tasked with keeping up a farm and battling monsters while exploring the world.

I'm still only scratching the surface with this game, but I can see that there are a ton of skills to level up and lots of things to craft. I appreciate that the developer is constantly providing updates to improve this port. I preferred using a controller and playing on the larger screen of my tablet. My phone screen felt too cramped for it to be enjoyable. I can recommend Chronomon for those who really enjoy the two games mentioned in my introduction. For others, you may want to pass. Chronomon is very well made and truly feels like a full experience, which I appreciate.

Chronomon is a monster-catching farming sim that feels like a cross between Stardew Valley and Pokémon. You capture monsters that can help fight battles and also help with the farm. The farm lets you grow food to make money and feed you and your monsters.

The graphics are retro and look like 16-bit Japanese RPGs. It’s a complex game that doesn’t really work on the smaller screen of a phone. The text is hard to read for me, and the touch controls make doing the actions for farming and fighting a laborious process. I got bored with the game pretty quickly.

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Chronomon is a mixture of Stardew Valley and Pokémon. You do a bit of farming and renovating your part of town, as well as collecting and doing battles with your "Pokémon" monsters. There are 3 types of monsters: Friendly, Mean and Scared. The graphics are 16-bit, and the sound and music are fine. The default control settings were difficult to use on a touchscreen; luckily, there was a setting to change them (unfortunately, I had to change them every time I logged in).

As I was playing through the tutorial, I came across a game-breaking bug, but luckily, there was a Discord channel that was active, and the dev is on there quite regularly and was able to fix my bug quite efficiently. This game is still on early access on Steam, and the same goes for the iOS and Android versions as well.

I came across a few bugs, and yes, the text in this game is pretty small. I ended up using a controller, and that made it better. It's a small team and a new (yet ambitious) game. I would say if you're interested in it, give it a few months for them to work out the kinks. Since I downloaded the game, there have been at least 3 updates, so the dev is working hard at refining it.

The premise of Chronomon is quite cool, combining Pokémon-style collecting with Stardew Valley-esque farming antics. At least that is what the App Store page tells me. Sadly, that is what I know about the game, as I found it too hard to read the in-game texts and menus. A zooming feature in the settings did not help me. Cool premise, lacklustre execution or perhaps I'm in need of new glasses?

This is a farm game matched with creatures you can tame to help with your workload. It’s a good idea, and for the most part, it delivers, but there isn’t anything in it I haven’t seen before. The retro graphics are colourful, and the gameplay is easy enough once you get to grips with swapping your character and creatures. You can battle with your monsters between farming to keep you engaged. It isn’t that it’s a bad game; there just wasn’t enough original content to keep me returning. But if you enjoy farming with a turn-based battle to boot, then this is a game you may enjoy.

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Chronomon