PC players looking for their own Pokémon like game might have had their eye on Temtem for a while as a promising alternative creature collection experience. Now developer Crema has been laying out details about the TemTem microtransactions, campaign structure, competitive play, and more that you can expect when the RPG game hits full 1.0 release on September 6.
During Crema’s ‘Golden Week’ event, the team has been rolling out announcements, focusing on a different aspect of the game every day. Crema talks about campaign progression, saying they have reduced mandatory NPC battles by around 20% (although the battles will still be there for players that want them) and that a lot of NPC dialogue has been moved to take place after a fight so that players not interested in the narrative can skip past it. In addition, a new experience bonus is applied to Tems outside of your squad when playing in co-op.
Next, the team discusses Temtem’s competitive multiplayer modes, unveiling a new “TemTem showdown” format which allows players to participate in friendly or ranked battles without having to catch and train your team manually. Instead, players can freely edit their team, customising the stat balance and move sets of each Tem to their liking. These custom showdown teams are only available for these matches, allowing PvP focused players more immediate and dynamic access to the format without detracting from the traditional team training format of the rest of the game. Players can also still use hand-built teams in the ranked ladder, should they choose to.
As for the ranked format itself, Crema says the game will use a seasonal format, with exclusive cosmetic rewards on offer based on your performance at the end of a season “that won’t be obtainable any other way.” In addition, the team says it plans to hide TMR, the player rating score, because some players reported finding it stressful to watch fluctuate. The number will still be visible through the API, so players can still access it if they want to, but otherwise it will be replaced with a ranking system in the style of Legend/Gold/Silver, etc – although Crema says they may opt for “cooler names” than that.
Microtransactions are always going to be a point of contention, so Crema also addresses their premium currency Novas and their seasonal Tamer pass. Like most battle passes, the Tamer pass will feature free and premium tracks, with an estimated 20 rewards in the free track and an additional 60 for the premium one. Players can also get their hands on Novas through the free track of the pass. Crema asserts that “there is no P2W in Temtem,” and says every item from the pass and store is purely cosmetic with no gameplay benefits.
The team also discusses economy, saying it is reducing the price of cosmetic and housing items – these were initially made expensive, says Crema, because the team “wasn’t entirely sure of how the Pansun economy would develop up until 1.0 so we didn’t want to make such an important part of the game too cheap.” To close things off, Crema shows off a look at a new aquarium zone designed by one of the game’s high-tier Kickstarter backers.
There’s plenty more in-depth details to dig into in the full week of posts for fans who are already familiar with Temtem, but that’s most of the key information for now. We’ll be sure to keep you updated with any major news ahead of the game’s release, but in the meantime check out our list of the best Pokémon-like games on PC for other ways to satiate those monster-collecting cravings.