Seeing the hyper-emotive character portraits next to the model rocking a blank stare would instantly take me out of any immersion I found myself in and destroyed any emotional attachment I was having in that moment. The discrepancy between model and portrait can be jarring. They may not have been amazing, but it was still nice to feel something playing this otherwise dull game. I even felt some emotion when tackling GreedвЂ™s Ideals. In the interest of avoiding spoilers for folks, the inspiration and drive behind PrideвЂ™s decision was something different than you usually see, and I felt sympathy for WrathвЂ™s situation. Even the Monarks themselves, this game's namesakes -В the very embodiments of the deadly sins and source of the Pactbearer's powers, are nothing more than a silent enemy that you have to fight a single time when dealing with their respective Pactbearers.ДЄ couple of the enemy Pactbearers I actually felt the most for and found to be the most interesting characters in the game. You have your younger sister Chiyo, who has a bad case of вЂњget away from brother-kun, you other girlsвЂќ syndrome and fulfills the вЂњwe need someone lighthearted to cheer up the dreary tone of the storyвЂќ role. The mysterious Sora/Yoru connection raised my eyebrow initially, though the payoff and outcome fell flat for me. The mid-30s kinda lazy school doctor, Kakeru, serves as your mentor of sorts. The supporting cast is slightly better, but only just. I found myself really caring about none of them and only leaned more towards Ryotaro because he has some strong attacks. You have your snarky bad-boy (that secretly has a good side) with Ryotaro, the socially awkward bookworm introvert Kokoro, the always serious self-deprecating character (that constantly clashes with the bad-boy) in Shinya, and the do-gooder Nozumi. By taking advantage of the power EGO and your soulвЂ™s manifested Imagigear (I still canвЂ™t take this term seriously) equipment, you will venture into the otherworld filled with daemons in order to destroy the evil PactbearerвЂ™s Ideals (big crystals), and stop the mist.В As the Vice President of the вЂTrue Student CouncilвЂ™, you will be helped by a team of the schoolвЂ™s faculty and a few students to complete your mission.ДЇor the characters that you are able to buddy up with, it felt like developer Lancarse reached into the вЂњstereotypical anime archetypesвЂќ bag and pulled out what they grabbed. With the help of MonarkвЂ™s mascot character, a strange rhyming rabbit daemon named Vanitas, you become the Pactbearer of Vanity and work to save the school along with other Pactbearers you meet along the way.

There have been killings and other odd occurrences happening, and you canвЂ™t leave due to a barrier that has barred the academy from the outside world. You quickly discover that the school is plagued with a mysterious Mist that is driving students and faculty insane. Instead, what I got was a repetitive & drab title that poorly explained its world, though with a pretty fun tactical combat system.ДЄs an amnesiac high-school student, you wake up finding yourself trapped on the school grounds of Shin Mikado Academy. I went into the game looking for a promising start to a new RPG franchise.

Unfortunately, Monark falls intoВ the latter category.

Sometimes you will play a game and come away surprised by how much better it was than you expected it to be, and sometimes itвЂ™s the exact opposite. These include clear depictions of individuals committing suicide on screen, severe bullying, mentions of incestuous behavior, and stalkers, among others. Writers note: Before diving into the review proper, I felt it was important to make potential players aware, Monark contains many, and I mean MANY unsettling themes and situations that may be a trigger to some.

Monark switch review