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Monster Prom is one of those series where I feel certain entries are catering to different types of possible players. I always felt the first two games were best for newcomers to the concept. With Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip, I felt like it was more for those familiar due to character decisions and gameplay concepts. Now that Monster Prom 4: Monster Con is here I still think the series is as entertaining as ever, but it might not be best for newcomers.

You’re a monster. You’re trying to find someone to love. Fortunately, you and your six friends April, Doug, Liam, Nico, Omen, and Zoe are headed to a con. As you work on your own comic and attend activities and events, there will be opportunities to work on yourself and connect with them. Maybe you’ll even find love! However, you’re not the only person attending, as potentially other people could be playing with you and even pursuing the same love interest as you. 

So the Monster Prom series are basically visual novel dating sims with stat management and calling dibs on events determining if you’re lucky enough to win a love interest. As such, the writing is a really important part. While I really loved the scripts in the first three games, I’m disappointed in this one. Yes, Beautiful Glitch absolutely embraces the con experience. However, I feel like that overwhelms the charm typically found in the series. Because all of the interactions with the love interests focuses on activities at a con or fandom, I felt there were times when they sometimes came across more as caricatures of certain types of fans than more nuanced personalities. 

This isn’t as much of an issue for established characters like Liam and Zoe, who are still great, but I think the reason I did connect with them more despite loving the designs of newcomers is because we got to know them in the original game and follow-ups. Like I really wanted to see more of April’s depths, due to her background. And while Omen and Nico have fantastic designs, there were runs where I came away with the feeling that Omen is there to be the “chaotic” and “dark” choice and Nico was an excuse for a bunch of costumes. I really felt like past games offered a bit more range and insight into who characters were, leaving me feeling like I “knew” who they were after a few runs. I didn’t get that here. It’s enjoyable in its way, and I think Monster Prom fans will like it, but the decision make me wonder if it’d turn off those more unfamiliar with the series.

But in general, the Monster Prom 4: Monster Con gameplay is as tight as usual. Gameplay is divided into a sequence where you visit a few spots at the con to build stats, seeing a scene with some of the love interests where you can make decisions after each one. After that, you’ll get opportunities to work on your comic by choosing from certain prompts to Mad Lib your way to a finished work at the end. There will also be times when you can sit with one of the love options at a table to try and make an impression and connect. When you reach the end, your stats and actions influence the relationship with a possible person in your group and you see what your finished work looks like. Depending on the option you select at the outset and how many players appear, you could end up spending two hours or more searching for love.

So while the writing is clever and often funny in Monster Prom 4: Monster Con, I also feel like the execution of the story and direction may not be as good of an introduction to the series. Like the original Monster Prom and Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp strike me as being better examples of the narrative work and characterizations Beautiful Glitch is capable of, while offering solid gameplay. The general gameplay loop and experience in Monster Prom 4: Monster Con is great, the characterization decisions and some narrative choices for events make me feel like it’s better as a follow up once someone’s familiar with what the team and series is capable of, rather than a first introduction.

Monster Prom 4: Monster Con is available for PCs. 

The post Monster Prom 4: Monster Con Feels Made for Existing Fans appeared first on Siliconera.

Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp is, all at once, a visual novel, a monster dating sim, and a party game, but I’ve never played the original title and only possess a cursory knowledge of the visual novel genre so I was drawing from a shallow pool of knowledge when unconsciously forming my initial expectations for the game. I figured Monster Camp would be a game with some reading, a handful of cute monsters, and a ton of choices that players could make with or against their friends. Mostly, it was a pretty good guess and what I had wrong was a mere matter of proportions; the recipe for Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp is actually something like three parts text, one part player choice, and two parts unabashed sexiness. In keeping with the recipe metaphor, Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp can be a decadent and delicious snack for players to share with their buddies, assuming their buddies have a taste for this sort of thing. If not, the game is still enjoyable alone.

For what it’s worth, I’d wager that most people will be able to glean enough about Monster Camp from screenshots to determine whether or not it’s up their alley, so the chances of awkward interactions with multiplayer pals is probably mitigated by a process of self-selection. I, apparently, have the sort of friend group that is all about dating monsters, which is something I hadn’t known prior but certainly appreciated when it came time to playtest this game. For people on the fence, Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp s remote play via Steam, so players can sample the game, assuming they have a friend who owns it and wants to play with them.

The first important choice for players to make, after discussing player limits and safety, is to toggle any relevant content filters. The second important choice is more a matter of style. Because the game plays out through text, and voiceover is limited, it is helpful to decide if players will be reading text to themselves, reading it aloud, or utilizing some hybrid of the two. Reading in silence was accompanied by chuckles and occasional commentary in my game, but was also plagued with players needing to ask if everybody was ready to proceed. There was also an anxiety about reading too slowly. I enjoyed the games where we all embraced corny, over-the-top, voices and narration, because it provided a unified rhythm and pace to the game that we could all experience together. However, we’re all tabletop role-playing enthusiasts, so silly voices are well within our comfort zone. Every group’s mileage will vary between these two approaches, and a brief discussion at the beginning of the game will likely grant a degree of insight into what method will work best for each particular group.

The first mechanical choices, though, might be made without any insight at all. The game opens with a cast of monsters on a bus. Players choose their character and a handful of items that will help them pursue their ultimate goal – convincing a specific sexy monster to watch a meteor shower with them at the end of summer camp. The items offer bonuses to a character’s stats, and the monsters players are meant to date are derived from a seemingly unrelated question that is asked before the characters even arrive at camp. There is no immediately clear indication what the items will do in of stats, and, technically, the question answers don’t directly state which monster character the players will be pursuing, but it doesn’t take too long to become familiar with the items and which answers correspond with which dating options can be intuited after a playthrough or two. What is more difficult is figuring out what will unfold from most of the subsequent choices the game has in store for its players.

This makes it hard to be strategic at first, but it might be for the best. When presented with choices between solutions, seating arrangements, pick-up lines, mixed drinks, or whatever the case may be, the first instinct might be to pick the option that will help you win. It’s a game, after all, and that’s a valid playstyle. I’m guessing Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp isn’t designed to let players take advantage of tactics and numbers to convince the monsters to date their characters. The result is a cast of characters who feel a bit more believable and endearing. Additionally, the consequences of choices are consistently surprising and what seemed like the best answer (but probably wasn’t) can often resolve itself in a hilarious and satisfying fashion. Who wants predictability anyway? I’m not yet sure how long it will take for players to know the system well enough to manipulate it. I’m also not sure how many playthroughs are required to meet all of Monster Camp’s characters or exhaust its deep well of clever quotes and outcomes. I can tell you that I’ve played eight matches so far and haven’t found any of them lacking in freshness, which is impressive, considering that matches average anywhere between ninety minutes and two hours in length. Different groups of players pursuing different potential dates is a powerful variable in its own right, and there might be matches that grant the rare opportunity to experience a harem story from the perspective of the actual harem, assuming multiple people court the same crush.

I am not sure how much dialogue was present in the original Monster Prom, but it’s clear that Beautiful Glitch hasn’t run out of things to say. The various characters, in addition to the narrator, explore a substantial body of topics that range from politics, social norms, and philosophy to popular culture, multiverses, and kinks. Between the euphemisms, which are far from infrequent, there are opportunities to breach new subjects with friends and even, dare I say, learn a thing or two. And even if you don’t end up discussing Immanuel Kant or the tragically nonfictional human monsters who refuse to acknowledge other people’s preferred pronouns, there are plenty of other things to discover. You could even learn which of your friends possess predilections for werewolves and which ones have a thing for demons, and that sort of knowledge should be valued in and of itself. I’m not going to outwardly state that sharing such knowledge with one another will bring us all closer together as people and probably even unite the world, but I will say that playing Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp remotely has been an effective way to release tension, share some laughs, and bond with people from across the country in the crucial, fleeting moments between grocery deliveries and Zoom meetings.

Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp is available for PC and MacOS via Steam and GOG.

The post Monster Prom 2’s Characters and Writing are Smart, Funny, and Lewd as Hell appeared first on Siliconera.

The season of spookiness is upon us, and a funny, lighthearted, multiplayer dating sim featuring overly thirsty monsters could be a perfect way to get in the spirit for Halloween 2020. Until recently, there was maybe, like, one game that could fill that niche. That changed on October 1 when the release window for Monster Prom was announced via the game’s official twitter .

The sequel is called Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp and, although it doesn’t have an official release date, it does have a page on Steam where people can a demo or add the game to their wishlist.

The first Monster Prom is a very rare example of a game that is both a dating sim and a party game. In it, players use their stats, items, and personality to hopefully land a date for the prom. A game of Monster Prom can be very brief, but a lot can happen in it.

The sequel is set in a summer camp and will allow characters to meet characters like “Dahlia Aquino, the buff, blue goddess,” and “Calculester Hewlett-Packard, a machine who learned to love.” In addition to the new setting, the game will also contain new mechanics.

The first Monster Prom was initially available for PC but was later ported to the Nintendo Switch alongside its expansion, Second Term, for a title called Monster Prom XXL. Regarding the release of Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp, the developer has tweeted, “just to be clear: it’s coming out on PC first. Consoles may happen later.” The PC version is set to release on Steam at some point in October 2020.

The post Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp Release Window Announced on Twitter appeared first on Siliconera.

There’s a new dating sim on the Nintendo Switch, and it can help keep things short, sassy, and sweet. The Monster Prom Switch port has arrived with Monster Prom XXL, an adaptation that gives people the base party game and its Second Term expansion with new love interests and extra events. For something that could take under a half hour to play, there’s a lot there.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, Monster Prom XXL is a combination dating sim and party game. Whether you play alone or with up to three friends, your goal is to get one of the monsters at your school to go to prom with you. An initial personality quiz, items you purchase, and activities you participate in influence your stats, how much money you have, and if one monster will be initially into you. You then have, depending on which length game you choose, a few weeks to try and spend mornings, lunch, and evenings participating in events that could lead to you building up enough of a relationship with at least one of the love interests to convince them you’d be a good prom date.

First, the Monster Prom Switch port is right at home. This is a system that has been picking up from the PlayStation Vita as a visual novel and dating sim machine. A lighthearted visual novel with dating sim elements that offers multiple romance options that can be pursued by players regardless of gender, with lots of events, endings, and outcomes, is a perfect fit. Especially since it’s essentially a “lite” model. You can choose between short or long games, which can range from around 20 minutes to over an hour, depending on how many people are playing. You can go it alone, or you could use it to introduce friends to the genre in a funny, social way. It works.

Also, for something so brief, it’s pretty good at being character-focused. Between the base game and included Second Term DLC, you have Damien, Calculester, Liam, Miranda, Polly, Scott, Vera, and Zoe as love interests. If you buy certain items or do certain things, you can unlock different events or love interests. While you don’t have time to really get to know everything about someone, multiple playthroughs and just… having fun with it helps a lot. There are 559 events and 1976 outcomes, after all.

There are some downsides, unfortunately. One is a relatively minor one. While Monster Prom XXL is theoretically the perfect sort of party game/visual novel for the Nintendo Switch, it’s coming out at the worst time to play it. There is online multiplayer, which worked well when I was able to take part in a session.

But the heart and soul of it would be the local multiplayer, due to the prompts to help determine who would be the one to go “first” between rounds. It feels like a game where maybe you try to barter with one another in person or trash talk, and you can’t get that same experience online. Given how easy it is to grab and go with a Nintendo Switch and the options that would let you even go with -and-play or multiple controllers, it’d be easy to take it anywhere and get everyone dating monsters.

More worrisome is a save data issue. Despite updating to a patch that brought me to version 1.2.1 of the Monster Prom Switch port, my save data repeatedly ended up corrupted. Considering part of the fun is unlocking endings, getting events and images for the gallery, and watching as you gradually earn everything over runs, it was terribly frustrating to see my progress disappear each time. (Especially since it doesn’t Save Data Cloud backups, it wasn’t like I could pull from a past save.) I found completely deleting the save data ended up resolving the issue in my case so far, but it is something people should be aware.

Editor's Note: The developers have gotten in touch. Update 1.2.1 does fix the save data corruption issue, but those who began playing before the patch must go to System Settings, then Data Management, then Delete Save Data, and select Monster Prom XXL to delete their old save and create a new one.

Really, the only things holding the Monster Prom XXL Switch version are issues that could be fixed with time. We’re in a pandemic situation, which isn’t exactly ideal for local multiplayer, but there is online for now and eventually we’ll be back playing with friends again. There’s that corrupted save data bug, but so far completely deleting the save seems to have fixed that and I’m fairly certain updates will eliminate it completely. The concept is strong. The writing is often clever and frequently comedic. It capitalizes on things people love about visual novels and dating sims and adapts them to a setting where they can be enjoyed quickly alone or with others. When it works, it works well.

Monster Prom XXL is available for the Nintendo Switch. It can also be found on PCs.

The post The Monster Prom XXL Switch Port Lets You Date With Friends (Update) appeared first on Siliconera.

Ready to find some love, all before your friends perhaps also find love with that same person? Well, you’ll have the chance rather soon. A Monster Prom Nintendo Switch port has been announced. Monster Prom XXL, a bundle that gives people the base game and Second Term DLC, will show up at your door on May 21, 2020. People will be able to pick it up digitally for $15.99. (As a reminder, the PC version’s First Crush bundle, which contains the same content, typically goes for $17.98.)

In Monster Prom, players have three in-game weeks to find a date to the prom. You’ll need to go through activities to build up your stats and make yourself desirable. Then, you try and woo one of the eligible monsters and convince them to be your date in the hopes of getting a good, or maybe even secret, ending. The base game had Damien, Liam, Miranda, Polly, Scott, and Vera as love interests. The Second Term DLC added more events and both Calculester and Zoe to date. If you have up to four people playing, then you end up competing to make sure you get the love interest you want against them.

Here’s a trailer for the Monster Prom Switch port showing how it looks on the system.

In addition, the Monster Prom PC version has also received some updates. Back on April 24, 2020, it received a demo in honor of LudoNarraCon 2020. This is only a single-player sample of the dating sim. The PC version’s price also dropped to $4.79 until May 2, 2020, in honor of the event. There is also a new update available in honor of its second birthday, as the dating sim first launched back on April 27, 2018.

Monster Prom XXL will find its way into the hearts of Nintendo Switch owners on May 21, 2020. The game is immediately available on PCs.

The post Make a Date With the Monster Prom Switch Port on May 21, 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.