When powerful monsters reign supreme and humanity is forced into a corner, would you fight back with everything you have or live the rest of your days peacefully, surrounded by the safety of walls? Nexomon: Extinction tells the tale of a young chap living in these desperate times.
In a world overrun by Nexomon, guilds must be formed and tamers must be established to rise up to the challenge and protect their future. With the Nexomon King out of the picture, its descendants, the Tyrants, seek out to take its place. The raging battle leads to ruin throughout the world, endangering humankind by threatening their existence to the verge of extinction.
Would the peaceful days last?
The story is engaging enough to hold your interest, with twists and turns many will find enjoyable, but the true charm comes from the consistent humor the game provides. Every corner turned has a high probability of stealing a giggle. The writer deserves praise for all of the jokes they’ve loaded into this game. The often ignored NPCs have been given more purpose, besides the occasional item some hand out and the hints they mention. It encourages those who usually don’t care for them to interact with them to discover what amusement lies beyond.
As the world’s newest Nexomon tamer, you must traverse the world to build up your reputation. Quests must be completed, Nexomon must be caught, and battles must be won. The game has its similarities to another popular monster-catching game, but not without its differences. It’s enough to make it stand out on its own and makes it the greatness it is today, clocking in around 35 hours of gameplay.
The world of Nexomon: Extinction is massive. There are many towns and routes with varying environments to explore. The game’s cute art style makes exploring all the more worthwhile to appreciate the adorable NPCs and the beautiful designs that accompany them. Unlockable warp points make traveling slightly more convenient, especially since there’s no sprinting function in this game.
Along the way, you’ll discover NPCs who give quests or seek trades. These quests are always a delight to attempt and aren’t too difficult to complete. Most are optional, but the rewards they grant are an asset to the gameplay. Since earning money can be tough, trades also come in handy to provide valuable items, but require something of almost equal value in return.
A quest to delete this ghost’s browsing history. Makes you wonder what it is.
RPGs of late show enemies in the overworld. Nexomon: Extinction sticks to the old routine but mixes it with elements from the latest approach. Outside of caves, the movement of a grass block indicates a wild Nexomon. Although it’s child’s play to avoid these encounters, the game encourages the taming of Nexomon to help progress further in the story.
Simple puzzles, although not many, make an appearance in the game. Classic fan favorites such as ice mazes, for example. They’re simple yet entertaining obstacles to conquer. Not much thought is necessary to figure out the solutions to progress. It’s a welcomed inclusion that helps to break up the sometimes monotonous flow of walking from one area to the next for progression.
A party of up to 6 Nexomon can duke it out with wild Nexomon or tamers from around the world. Victory rewards a cash prize while defeat may return you to a healing center. There’s no penalty when all of your Nexomon’s HP depletes to zero, other than the utter shame it brings to oneself. Opposing tamers don’t throw in the towel and retire from their career either. Returning to them at a later date reignites their passion for a battle to show off how much stronger they’ve become. Wild Nexomon also keep up or surpass you as you progress with the story. Failure to maintain equal ground with them will result in their training efforts showing more than your own on the battlefield.
Frost Bite attack crunching into the enemy.
Battles are straightforward, consisting of turn-based combat with a move pool of up to 4 moves per Nexomon. Each move consumes a specific number of stamina, and a Nexomon must skip a turn to recover 10 stamina points upon depleting its capacity. Moves display distinctive attack scenes that aren’t too remarkable, but are more appealing the more powerful the move is. These battles aren’t a walk in the park, though. Although manageable, they’ll often weaken your Nexomon to the point where they’ll require immediate medical treatment. Without the usage of costly items, this forces you to either go back and forth to heal or put up a last stand with absolutely zero chance of success. Capturing superior Nexomon, balancing teams, making use of the best cores to strengthen your Nexomon, and taking advantage of the best matchups help reduce this.
Combat in Nexomon: Extinction.
From farming money to coming out as the victor in multiple battles, Nexomon: Extinction is not for the faint of heart. Those who seek a challenge will especially appreciate the level of difficulty, even considering the inconvenience back and forth healing may pose. Training your Nexomon is essential to get them on par with the many challenges they’ll need to subdue. Fellow tamers can be ruthless, and at times even merciful, with their move selection, but regardless of the pity they display, it does not change the fact that the game is built for people who dislike a mild difficulty. As fighting off other Nexomon during the story will not be sufficient, some grinding will be expected to level up the team. The game has several methods to do so, such as stackable EXP Boosters and equipable EXP Cores.
Catching Nexomon isn’t as simple as throwing a trap and hoping for the best. The system is complex and it involves mashing a series of buttons within a short timeframe, but that’s what makes it thrilling. Nexomon won’t willingly let you catch them. They’ll retaliate by fighting and breaking out of the traps you throw at them. Several methods exist to increase capture rate; however, acquiring them all may prove to be challenging. Besides weakening the Nexomon, several methods such as feeding, using specialized Nexotraps, and inflicting a status condition on the Nexomon give you a better chance of bringing them home. The rate begins low, but drastically increase depending on the methods used. With the scarce amount of traps one can possess, taking advantage of these methods at your disposal becomes crucial to catching Nexomon. Capturing powerful Nexomon always leaves you with a sense of satisfaction because of its unguaranteed, nerve-racking capture rates.
Feeding Nexomon, attaining stackable sauces, and using specialized Nexotraps are just some of the methods to increase the capture rate when hunting for wild Nexomon.
After taming a Nexomon, you can grant it a nickname, send it to your party or deposit it in storage. Nicknaming Nexomon gives them a personal touch, but you may meet with a complication if you ever so desire to revert back to the Nexomon’s original name. Reordering moves is also not a part of the game, which is unfortunate for those who memorize the listed order of moves for each monster they possess. Checking through the details of Nexomon also isn’t convenient when searching through storage. You’ll have to move the Nexomon to your party to view their moves or remove their core; the initial is crucial when making team-building decisions. The game’s sorting options are helpful, but miss some vital options such as fitting Nexomon with equipped cores or directly searching names. It isn’t the best system and forces additional work, but regardless of what it’s lacking, it’s still tolerable.
Not a wild Nexomon, but a look at what move selection looks like.
The game has a large variety of monsters of various types. Some do look awfully familiar to the designs from another popular monster-catching game, but the majority do look unique. Ranging from adorable to scary, out of the 381 Nexomon in the game, it is certain to have a decent number to your liking. An indicator of previously tamed Nexomon shows during wild encounters, which is helpful as many people may not remember all of what they’ve caught, considering the large number of Nexomon in the game. Because of the large number, Nexomon encounters never become tiresome. The likelihood of always having something new to catch is high, especially when advancing in the game as new, evolved forms of the Nexomon begin to appear.
As previously mentioned, Nexomon: Extinction has a focus on grinding. Be it farming for money or leveling up Nexomon, the game will put you to work. As money isn’t easy to come by in this game, you’ll have to rechallenge fellow tamers and earn your day’s worth. Similar can be said about leveling up Nexomon. You either level them up or find worthy replacements of a higher level. The trouble with this is, the higher level Nexomon won’t always have the same moves as your current, making level training a more attractive option. A move tutor would have been an invaluable addition here.
You’ll have to battle tamers to get on their level or catch Nexomon.
While grinding is a necessary practice, it doesn’t make up a majority of the gameplay. The game still has a lot of content to offer. The severity of grinding lies with you. Less desirable compromises can be made to minimize the effort to continue moving forward. It comes into play more when you refuse to let go of some of your favorite Nexomon instead of having them replaced with higher-level counterparts. Grinding for money isn’t as laborious in comparison because of the many tamers throughout the world.
The game has a decent amount of pre-made avatars to choose from. Each avatar has a male and a female variant, representing the protagonist’s appearance in the overworld. Different skin tones and hair colors are options as well. The game has various styles to choose from. These options are interchangeable throughout the game, making everything all accessible in one playthrough to figure out which you’re most comfortable with.
Companions follow you through thick and thin.
In addition to avatars, the game also lets you have a companion that follows you. These companions aren’t Nexomon you caught during the gameplay and are solely for aesthetic. Collecting them all requires a completionist attitude to finish quests and locate treasure chests. The variety is nowhere as huge as the number of Nexomon in the game, but the select inclusion can still be adored.
From the characters to the world itself, there’s no disputing that the graphics in Nexomon: Extinction is cute and polished. The entity of the world is gorgeous, characters are adorable, and most of the Nexomon designs are pleasing to the eyes. The avatar remains the default during photo-styled cutscenes regardless of the one chosen, but this can be overlooked for all of what the game offers at its $20 price tag. Some people may also not be too thrilled with the flashing white screens, although it’s not a common thing.
The enemies are awesome.
The music played throughout most of the game greatly complements both the exploration and battle aspects of Nexomon: Extinction. However, there are parts of the game that would have benefitted greatly from the inclusion of music, but instead was met with silence, diminishing a portion of the dramatic effects it should have carried. Loud, wind shutter-like noises were played other times during some of the major areas of the game. A higher-quality sound fit for those moments would have been a drastic improvement over the questionable sounds heard.
Nexomon: Extinction does the monster-catching genre justice with its engaging story, numerous humorous jokes, complex monster-catching mechanics, and charming art style. Battles are fun, but can sometimes feel like you’re mashing the same button to use that one powerful move. While the game excels in difficulty, a minor portion of it may be deceiving to the eye with its back and forth healing, proving to be more of an inconvenience rather than a challenge.
Nexomon: Extinction gets an 8/10.
