You love Pikachu. He loves you. As a lifelong Pokémon fan (Blue was my first ever video game at the age of 5!) who has played every single entry in the series, I can say that Pokémon does a lot of things well, which is why its persisted for so long.
With its unique monster-catching mechanics and distinct sense of personality, there aren’t a ton of games that do all the exact same things as Pokémon, especially in the indie sphere. So I’ve categorized the following games in terms of what it is about Pokémon you love, in the hopes you’ll find a game that matches what you’re looking for. Hopefully one of these games is your next great love, and your hard-earned money will be headed to some indie developers that well deserve it.
If you want to collect and play with cute creatures
Ooblets
While not my favorite game on this list, Ooblets has one very strong feature going for it – it is extremely, unapologetically weird. You’ll need to balance farming, life simulation, and creature collecting with dance battles around a small town to prove your Ooblets are the oobiest of them all. This game spent two years in Early Access before releasing and has incorporated a ton of fan feedback because of it. It’s a slow game, and you’ll move through a day-night cycle that lets the town slowly grow as you help to build it by collecting Ooblets with individual powers and abilities. Ooblets is like Pokémon meets Stardew Valley meets Just Dance – if that sounds like your cup of tea, get oobing now.
Steam Page / Epic Games Store / Xbox Store / Nintnedo eShop
Slime Rancher 2
Slime Rancher 2 has a deceptively simple gameplay loop. Explore Rainbow Island, find a new distinct slime, collect it, and bring it back to your ranch to build it out! You’ll expand your conservatory, improve your hunting and exploration gear, and make a lot of cute friends along the way. There’s lots of ancient technology to unravel and even more wiggling, jiggling slimes to nab to make your ranch the best of them all. Slime Rancher 2 is light on story and building elements, but is the best way to go if you want pure cozy-creature-collection goodness. You can also check out the first game, but no knowledge of it is needed to play the latest entry.
Steam Page / Epic Games Store / Xbox Store / PlayStation Store
If you miss the vibes of the old-school games
Disc Creatures
Disc Creatures is one of the more intriguing games on this list. Built from the ground up to very specifically look and feel like the Game Boy Pokémon games Red, Blue, and Yellow, it describes itself in a very legally safe way as “a tribute to classic monster catching RPGs from the golden days of portable gaming.” There really isn’t much to write here, because all of its going to be very familiar. Travel across the land, collect cute and cool monsters, train them up and choose their attacks and abilities, meet a cast of charming characters, and discover over 200 monsters that could be yours! Disc Creatures was made by a solo Japanese developer named Satto who wanted to relive the days of his nostalgia. If you want to simulate playing Pokémon Red and Blue for the first time again, this is as close as you’re ever going to get.
Coromon
If you’re a bit younger than me and instead entered into the world of Pokémon with Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald or Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, then Coromon will tickle your nostalgia bones with fervor. Enter the world of Velua, where you’ll take on the role of a Battle Researcher. After a dark force attacks your workplace, you’ll gather up a squad of Coromon to track down the invaders and show them what’s what. Each Coromon has their own skill trees and abilities, with a unique stamina-based battle system where your actions cost energy. There’s over 100 monsters to collect across several biomes, cities, routes, and land features to explore where you can… let’s say, acquire ’em all.
Steam Page / Google Play Store / iOS App Store
If You Wish Pokémon Was More Hardcore
Siralim Ultimate
If you’re one of the people that prefers ATLUS’s Shin Megami Tensei series to their more popular Persona games, Siralim Ultimate may be perfect for you. This hardcore dungeon crawling RPG offers great mechanical depth that you won’t find in Pokémon, with 1200 creatures and procedurally generated dungeons. The developers describe it as “Pokémon meets Diablo” boasting an enormous world to conquer with fusing creatures, 30 dungeon biomes, 6v6 battles, crafting spells and artifacts, specializations that will change gameplay dramatically, and more. There’s nothing fluffy or sweet to bring home to the ranch here; it’s time to grind. Siralim Ultimate only gets more complex in its mechanics as it goes, so you may well be able to play it for a thousand hours as the developers insist.
Steam Page / Nintendo eShop / Google Play Store / iOS App Store
TemTem
If you’re into Pokémon, there’s a chance you’re at least tangentially aware of TemTem. The first in a wave of ongoing “Pokémon-likes” in the industry, TemTem released into Early Access in 2020 after far exceeding its Kickstarter goals. TemTem is at once extremely like Pokémon and extremely different from Game Freak’s iconic franchise. Yes, you’ll travel a large region collecting cute monsters and then battle them, but the similarities kind of stop there. TemTem is an MMORPG, a genre that Pokémon has never attemped itself. The world is filled with other human players who will constantly challenge you to battles, as well as other MMORPG features like guilds, PvP zones, player housing and cosmetics, ranked matchmaking, and more. Battles also have no RNG, with no critical hits or missed attacks, and run on a stamina system with cooldowns. It’s also a lot more difficult and a lot more competitive, especially with other humans fighting to be the best tamer in town. If you are one of the many people who laments that there is no Pokémon MMO, then stop lamenting – there is now.
Steam Page / PlayStation Store / Xbox Store / Nintendo eShop
If you want a cozy simulator full of creatures
Paleo Pines
Have you, like me, wished for many years there was a way to simply create a wildlife preserve for your Pokémon and manage it? Perhaps your own little Safari Zone? Paleo Pines offers this and more, allowing the wild dinosaurs you wrangle to neatly become part of your town and help you build it out. One of my favorite features of Pokémon Legends: Arceus was that many of the Pokémon you captured and brought back to the town would take up jobs – you could see Graveler moving large boxes, or Squirtle watering crops at the farm. Here you’ll do the same, but with a little more mechanical depth. If the idea of building a community for creatures and people to coexist by working together appeals to you, Paleo Pines will do the trick.
Steam Page / Nintendo eShop / PlayStation Store / Xbox Store
Moonstone Island
Surprisingly, Pokémon has not yet ventured fully into the life sim genre – that is, until the recent announcement of Pokémon Pokopia. If the life simulation elements of a Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing seem appealing to you, but you’d like some cozy creatures to fill it out, Moonstone Island is your one-stop shop! Explore 100 islands across a variety of biomes, collect little goofy monsters for your homestead, brew potions, and play through a card-based battle system to become the best alchemist in town. You’ll go on dates, make friends, build out the town, and generally just live a lightly spooktacular life. Moonstone Island has a lot of witchy stuff going on, so if you enjoy those vibes then you’re going to want to check it out.
If you want to be the very best, like no one ever was
Beastieball
Even though it’s still in Early Access, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find something with more genuine Pokémon vibes than Beastieball. Instead of hurling fire and poison at each other, your cute collectible monsters will participate in volleyball matches with their different abilities. Beastieball has that “tournament arc” feeling of Pokémon, driving you to win the Beastie Cup and be the best in town. And there’s a lot less animal pit fighting – this time they do sports! Beastieball is an exciting, fresh take on creature-collecting RPGs that adds depth to the combat and is never lacking in charm. With it being in Early Access, Wishes Unlimited is clearly intending to improve this game even further; however, in the current state, it’s already excellent. Lena Raine is one of the best in the industry for a reason, and with Beastieball, she delivers a score that’s up there with Pokémon titles in quality.
Cassette Beasts
And saving the best for last, the crown jewel of Pokémon-likes – Cassette Beasts. Made by a small indie team with big indie dreams, this open world RPG takes the best parts of Pokémon and imagines “what if we elevated this further?” With a captivating story, amazing characters, excellent art, and a battle system that is purposefully different than its inspiration for its own sake, you’re not going to find a better indie monster catching experience than this. It somehow harnesses that undefinable thing that has made Pokémon an unstoppable hit all these years while not being a clone of it. Cassette Beasts wears its inspiration proudly on its sleeve, not hiding its roots, but manages to find a unique identity at the same time. When it’s at its best, Cassette Beasts finds footing next to best entries in Game Freak’s monolithic franchise.
Steam Page / Nintendo eShop / Xbox Store
While not an indie game, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention there’s another hot new AAA monster-catching RPG on the market right this second – Digimon Story: Time Stranger. It’s been very well received by both fans and critics, and has the added benefit of featuring monsters you may already know and love.
Did we miss any of your favorites here? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameObserver for more curated game recommendations.
