HANDS ON - Monstrum 2 Has A Long Road Ahead
Slip n’ slide.
By Jay Tee
28/01/21
Previewed on PC.
Early Access build provided by Junkfish.
Monstrum 2’s asymmetric multiplayer premise may seem familiar at first glance, but there’s some interesting wrinkles going on beyond face value that make it worthy of investigation. However, in its present state, it is quite clearly an Early Access title, both by definition and in actuality. There is a lot of work needed to bring this up to par with similar competing efforts.
When going hands on with an Early Access release, I find it best to suspend certain critical approaches with regards to things like visual polish and glitches. Games at this stage are quite literally a work in progress, so it’s unreasonable to expect the highest level of graphical fidelity and an entirely bug free experience.
At present, a team of up to four survivors attempt to outwit a fifth player controlling a savage beast whilst accomplishing randomly placed objectives in a sprawling map. But while Monstrum 2 empowers survivors through traversal which affords multiple ways to escape, and the procedural level design helps keep each session fresh, several key aspects don’t coalesce into a satisfying whole.
For starters, the audio design is extremely basic, providing only the most rudimentary situational awareness. This impacts both sides of the gameplay, leaving survivors and monsters alike struggling to accurately discern the location of anyone around them. In a game where the stakes are so high, this can lead to frustrating “gotcha” moments that feel cheap and could have been avoided. The [current] lack of a functional party system for friends compounds this issue, as co-ordinating with randoms can be tricky at the best of times.
Player movement feels too stiff, so even though the maps offer various alternative paths, you’ll invariably end up getting stuck on the scenery. To make matters worse, the destructible elements aren’t always quick to identify in a pinch, with very similar looking textures for stuff that can break versus items that will remain in place. It makes encounters that should be tense or action packed devolve into futile slashing and rampant frustration.
There’s also significant balancing needed for the monsters themselves. Ability cooldowns are generally very short, and can be rapidly spammed to secure a sizable advantage. Games like this can only endure for the long term if players feel like they’re fighting against the skill of other combatants, and not against mechanics designed to encourage griefing.
There’s much work to be done, and while the procedural nature ensures no two rounds will play out exactly the same, there’s a litany of issues that need addressing before Monstrum 2 is ready to launch in any official capacity.
I categorically refuse to be licked by you.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
