Nexomon - PS5 Platinum Review

Nexomon  may look familiar to Pokémon, an alternative and much more famous monster capturing game, but there's no rule to say there can't be multiple games of the same genre. After all, If that was the case Call of Duty would never have existed following Medal of Honor back in the day! That said, there are an awful lot of similarities between Nexomon and Pokémon to the point where it's almost easier to say what's different between the two franchises.



If you've never played Pokémon or seen a similar monster capture game before then read below to get a basic idea of how Nexomon's gameplay works.

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Nexomon Overview

• Nexomon are monsters based on animals or other real-world and fantasy creatures (turtles, birds, fish, flowers, dogs, dragons etc).
• Each Nexomon has a type which affects what it's strong and weak against. These include:
  • Fire - Effective against Plant & Wind
  • Water - Effective against Fire & Mineral
  • Wind - Effective against Plant & Mineral
  • Plant - Effective against Water & Electric
  • Electric - Effective against Water & Wind
  • Mineral - Effective against Fire & Electric
  • Normal - Neutral
• Moves of the effective type will do more damage against Nexomon of the ineffective type, so Water moves against a Fire Nexomon will be more powerful, however Fire moves against a water Nexomon will be less powerful.
• You carry a party of up to 6 Nexomon.
• Each Nexomon can have 4 equipped skills (which are essentially moves).
• Battles are turn-based, meaning you'll take your turn to attack or use an item, then your opponent will attack until one of you has no HP (hit points) remaining.
• Some moves will cause status effects which can prevent a Nexomon from attacking for a number of turns (paralysis, sleep, etc), or will cause the Nexomon to take extra damage with each turn (burn, poison, confusion, etc).
• After defeating a wild Nexomon or another tamers' Nexomon, you'll be rewarded with some coins and any Nexomon you used in battle who are still alive will receive EXP (Experience Points).
• Once a Nexomon receives enough EXP, it will level up which will make it stronger, providing more HP, attack damage, defence and occasionally increase the stamina capacity.
• Most Nexomon can evolve when they reach a certain level which will change their form and again increase their stats.
• Nexomon will unlock new Skills as they level up. Although only 4 can be selected at one time, you can customise which ones are used from all of those you've unlocked.
• Using a Nexotrap, wild Nexomon can be captured and added to your party or transferred directly into storage at the nearest Healing Centre.
• Coins can be spent at shops to buy helpful items like potions, ethers, revives, nexotraps and status effect healing items to prevent things like paralysis, poison, confusion etc.
• Healing centres allow you to restore your Nexomon's HP and SP, as well as deposit and withdraw any captured Nexomon to your party.

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What's Different To Pokémon?

Firstly, it's on PlayStation! I've been a massive fan of Pokémon since the Game Boy days and I've always gone back and played it over and over but because I won't buy a new Nintendo device just for one game, this is the first time I really feel like I can play this kind of game on my preferred console.



Gameplay-wise, the main differences are that your Nexomon have stamina which is depleted whenever you use a move in battle. Each move requires a varying amount of stamina, so the more powerful moves will use more but this differs to Pokémon which has MP (move points) where each move can be used a set number of times. In Nexomon, if you run out of stamina and try to use a move, you'll skip a turn while your Nexomon 'rests' then you'll gain about 25 SP (stamina points) which will usually allow you to perform 2 moves before you'll need to rest again.



Another interesting feature which I prefer over Pokémon is that levelling up a Nexomon will automatically refill all of its health and stamina. This means that you rarely need to visit a healing centre as long as you get through enough battles to level up every now and then.



Rather than Pokéballs, you'll use Nexotraps of which there are regular and golden varieties. Regular ones are technically affected by factors within the battle, presumably the lower the health of your opponent, or if they have a status effect, they should be easier to catch however it seemed fairly random to me. If you throw enough Nexotraps at a full health Nexomon you'll catch it eventually, regardless of its rarity. Golden Nexotraps work like Master Balls in Pokémon where they have a 100% success rate, however they can't be purchased so you'll need to use them wisely as there are a limited number of somewhere around 20 which can be found throughout the main story, then another 50 or so which you'll find in the post-game content.



Walking in long grass can trigger a random battle in Pokémon, but in Nexomon you'll see certain pieces of grass moving. If you want to trigger the battle you can walk into the moving grass, otherwise you can safely walk through any static grass. Be aware though that the grass randomises every 15 seconds or so, which can be a good thing if you want more battles, but can also mean a battle spawns right in front of you while you're trying to avoid them.



Other than those few things, the basic gameplay is very similar, but for me that's a great thing as I love Pokémon and enjoy this game equally as much.

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Overview

• Release Date: 17th September, 2021
• Publisher: PQube Ltd
• Developer: VEWO Interactive Inc. Port made by Ratalaika Games S.L.
• Date Started: 17th September, 2021
• Date Completed: 25th September, 2021
• Version Played: Digital
• Price: £7.99 (PS4 & PS5 Bundle)

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The Good

• So much gameplay included. You'll be looking at 30+ hours to beat the whole story and potentially more if you want to capture all 310 Nexomon.
• The graphics are beautiful and colourful. Each of the Nexomon is nicely designed and the background scenery is detailed and well animated.
• The soundtrack is excellent and really matches the theme of the different areas in the world.
• 310 Nexomon to find and capture which gives a lot of variety to the gameplay.
• The story is well written and enjoyable.
• You can over-level your Nexomon to make the game pretty straight forward. The more battles you win, the easier the game will become. Some might find this a bit of a grind, but I appreciate games which reward you for your efforts.

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The Bad

• The only thing that started to annoy me was how often the characters joked about how "this isn't a video game" in the story dialogue...  Once or twice would have been ok, but they literally make similar jokes about 8 times and I thought it was a bit cringe.
• I would have liked more items to be available for purchase in the shops. Everything you can buy is available from the start.
• The "Legendary" Nexomon which become available after the story appear completely at random and you can see the same one multiple times meaning it can take a lot of grinding out random battles before you catch 'em all.

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Hardest Trophy

• Collect All 310 Nexomon - Collect all monsters. A true master!

Capturing all of the Nexomon will take the most time as you'll need to grind out battles in different areas until you get lucky and find the ones you're missing but you'll probably encounter most of them just by playing through the story. The Legendary Nexomon are a bit more annoying as they'll only appear randomly after the story so it can take a lot of battles before you see and capture the ones you need but thankfully by then you'll have more than enough Golden Nexotraps.

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Helpful Tips / Bugs / Glitches / Exploits

There's no exploits, but you can grind out battles to over-level yourself. Right at the start of the game you'll be able to fight battles in the grass outside your house and a nurse is right there to heal your Nexomon, so you can spend an hour or so here fighting battles and healing when needed and you'll probably get up to level 20 or more which will make a lot of the early parts of the game very easy.



If you do a similar thing at strategic points throughout the story (where there's a healing centre or a healer somewhere nearby), it's easily possible to hit level 100 while the enemies you're facing are under level 50. If you're going to do this, I'd suggest using a Normal type Nexomon because you won't be succeptible to very effective attacks based on your type, but once you level up enough, your normal moves will wipe out pretty much anything in one hit. Eventually (in the Phantom Citadel) you'll find an EXP SHARE item which when enabled will give EXP to all of your party Nexomon. Grab 2 or 3 Nexomon you want to power-level then simply use your high level Nexomon to defeat random enemies over and over while the rest level up without getting involved.



If you can find somewhere that your Nexomon type has an advantage, for example Fire vs Grass, then it's even quicker and easier to defeat opponents to level up.



Later in the game you'll need your Nexomon to be "reborn" to take them into a special dimension called the Netherworld. To do this, they'll need to be at least Level 50, however I strongly suggest you don't rebirth your strongest Nexomon. Instead, take your brand new baby reborn Nexomon back to the regular world and use your strongest regular Nexomon to fight random battles, ideally against Level 50+ enemies. With EXP SHARE this will help the reborn Nexomon to level up which will make them overpowered in the Netherworld and help with the end-game which is a bit tougher than anything you may have experienced before.

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Platinum Difficulty Rating - 2/10

If you spend the time levelling up your Nexomon, or at least having one particularly high level (80+) then the majority of the game should be a breeze, albeit quite time consuming. If you level up 4 Nexomon of different types to a high level (making sure you have one Normal one in there) you should be able to get through everything without any issues.

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Platinum Time - 40+ Hours

There's no quick way to rush through this game. Take it slow, level up your Nexomon to make yourself more powerful and enjoy the story. You might think the story is finished when you unlock the whole map and visit the Nexomon Tower... But then you're put into the end-game Netherworld... Which then puts you into the post-game, so you really do get your money's worth in content.

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Platinum Enjoyment Rating - 10/10

Capturing every Nexomon is a bit of a grind, but one I personally found fun. In Pokémon it's not always possible to catch them all, but they're all available in Nexomon. Each battle helps to make you stronger too so the more you play, the easier things become which makes it quite rewarding to take your time.

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Overall Game Rating - 10/10

Like I said in the intro, in my opinion this is one of the best games I've ever played on PlayStation. Part of it might be down to my nostalgic love of the Pokémon games, but everything from the soundtrack and graphics to the animations and designs of the Nexomon was perfectly executed. There's a bit of humour in the story dialogue and lots of characters to meet with a variety of different areas to visit, from deep forests to lava soaked volcanoes, deserts and ice fields. If you like turn-based combat and monster gathering games, I can't see any reason why you won't love this. Plus for the low price, you're getting tons of gameplay for your money. I can't rate it highly enough and can't wait to play the next one!

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Platinum #719

Here are my most recent Platinum Trophies up to and including this game.

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