TemTem: the Pokémon clone that walked so Palworld could run
PalWord’s release continues to spark controversy around the ethics of “clone games” among popular franchises. Because of that, I decided to give TemTem another try. First released in early 2020, it is perhaps the less controversial (and less successful) Pokemon-adjacent game. Due to Pokemon fans’ gripes about new games with a similar concept, TemTem was funded mainly through Kickstarter. But does it hold up as its own game? Or did it fall into mediocrity in an attempt to mimic a well-worn formula? And how exactly has PalWorld differentiated itself from the rest of the monster-catching genre?
Pokemon is in no way a stranger to "clone" games. Digimon, although not nearly as popular as Pokemon, comes to mind as a long-time rival. Yo-Kai Watch also received criticism from fans for being a "copy" of Pokemon, although the two have very different gameplay, and it instead draws inspiration from similar Japanese mythology. The games more directly inspired by Pokemon, however, draw questions of originality and competition within a genre. Nintendo and Game Freak do not own the monster-catching genre. Yet, the Pokemon franchise has been so influential that it's hard to create a monster-catching, creature-collecting, or beast-battling game without immediately associating it with Pokemon. Perhaps this is why many gamers feel as though the series isn't evolving and improving over time like other franchises: it doesn't need to. As frustrating as it can be, Pokemon has discovered a formula and ran with it.
But games like PalWorld take that formula and twist it. It promises an edgier take on the genre, complete with guns, animal poaching, and Pals forced to work in factories. It takes the ethical questions that Pokemon raises, and instead of explaining them away, amps it up to 100. It's set in a realistic open world with roaming Pals, something that Pokemon fans have been begging for (and only somewhat received with Pokemon Legends: Arceus).
TemTem, instead of taking the Pokemon fandom's cries for innovation, takes inspiration from the cries for a return-to-form. On its surface, TemTem looks like every hardcore Pokemon fan's dream game. It takes all the bitterly missed features from previous generations that were lost along the way in the mainline Pokemon games. Your lead TemTem follows you around! Your rival is mean! Smooth, stylized graphics that look so much better than what Game Freak has put out in recent years! Plus, the designs of the TemTem are very original and fun (in contrast to the possible plagiarism claims that PalWorld is facing). As a huge Pokemon fan, especially the 2D games, I should have loved TemTem. It was, after all, made for people who wanted the “perfect" return-to-form Pokemon game.
And yet, for reasons that will be soon discussed, I didn't. Despite everything TemTem had going for it, it felt soulless. Is this just the consequence of creating a "clone" game that draws heavy inspiration from another game series?
My experience with TemTem had its ups and downs. After an okay character creator, “Chalk Groovy” (the horrors of a username-based name for your main character) was ready to begin their adventure! Yes, you get to choose your own pronouns, which was a nice aspect of the character creator. I was very excited to start the game in the classic bedroom that all mainline Pokemon games use. And look at the graphics! Everything is so vibrant and smooth it looks edible! The tutorial section and first town is set up just like Pokemon: go to lab, talk to Professor, pick starter, fight rival.
One aspect that was particularly strange with this section was the fact that this is an MMO. So, every new player wakes in the same house and talks to the same people. Which isn't super strange for an MMO, but the fact that TemTem tries to use the MMO format is bizarre, since it's not really utilized. You're forced to ignore the people walking around you all the time. I have no way of knowing if they saw me on their screens. You don't interact with other players in meaningful ways, except maybe using the chat.
Even then, all I saw was someone trying to get another player to be the officiant to their wedding with a TemTem. The implementation of multiplayer is distracting and confusing, in contrast to PalWorld, where you can play singleplayer or multiplayer, and the multiplayer aspect is a co-op experience.
This game puts heavy emphasis on battling, and this is the aspect that departs most from the Pokemon formula. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina, and certain moves have a turn counter that requires you to be in battle for a certain amount of turns before you can use your more powerful moves. Nearly all battles are double battles, and the impact of RNG luck is almost nonexistent, as moves always hit and critical hits aren't a thing. I, personally, enjoy this change as it allows you to play with strategies a little more, but I understand how players could be put off by this change. The types are slightly different, as are the type matchups. The water-fire-grass (or nature, in TemTem) trio still exists in this game, but it's interestingly not the starter trio. The starter trio is crystal (roughly equivalent to ground), melee (fighting), and mental (psychic).
Chalk Groovy chose the mental type floating purple guy and went off on their journey. The routes between each town are long, especially for the early game, since the emphasis is on battling the trainers along the way. However, despite the great designs and animations of the TemTem, I never felt myself getting attached to them like I do with Pokemon.
At first, I thought it was just me being nostalgia-blinded by the fact that I grew up with Pokemon. And when I say that I love the designs of TemTem, I'm not kidding. Just look at them! There's so much charm in these little guys. So, why wasn't I particularly attached? What was missing? Was the lack of bonding the thing that was making TemTem feel so soulless?
In my experience, yes. In Pokemon, there are several ways that you can bond with your little guys. You can go camping and cook them a meal, or decorate the inside of their pokeball in newer games. Even in older games where these options don't exist, you still get a sense that people and Pokemon have a deep bond. Pokemon are integral to the way of life. NPCs are always talking about their Pokemon and the importance of the bond between humans and their creature companions. It's what makes the world feel charming and believable. It's why I wanted (and still want) to live in the Pokemon universe (it's also why battling them sometimes feels bizarre, but hey, apparently they like it). This is where TemTem falls short. Nothing in the way the world is built revolves around TemTem. Most people don't even own TemTem. People travel around on airships and boats without TemTem helping or hindering their travels. No one is seen interacting with their TemTem. NPCs don't talk about hanging out with their little creatures; if they talk about TemTem at all, they usually talk about the ways in which you can beat other people's TemTems in battle. They have no personality outside of battle.
This takes out one of the major factors of why Pokemon resonates with people. Parody games like PalWorld don't really encounter this issue, as they're meant to be satirizing the themes of "friendship" that Pokemon and, to an extent, TemTem rely on.
But the developers just wanted to focus around the fighting elements. In an interview with Game Rant, the creative director says that the emphasis is on the combat system and the humans living in the world, and that "[t]he creatures are more like an accessory to the story." That's hugely disappointing for me, but it's fine if that's why you enjoy Pokemon, especially the more strategic aspects of it.
They focus on the battling aspect heavily, so much so that THERE'S A BATTLE PASS NOW?! That you have to pay actual money for? In a game that already costs 45 dollars? And they've locked half of the dye colors behind the paywall! I just wanted Chalk Groovy to have purple hair, but no, you have to pay actual money to be able to do that. I'm so sorry that you can't live up to your grooviest potential, Chalk Groovy. How did TemTem go from being backed on Kickstarter as a Pokemon-like game by fans, for fans, to one of the most egregious uses of microtransactions in a paid game I've ever seen? This also contributes to the feeling of soullessness that I feel from TemTem.
Was TemTem doomed to feel soulless from the second it tried to recreate another video game's formula? I don't think that's the case. I mean, Stardew Valley, which has cemented itself as an undying indie classic, could itself be considered a "clone" game of the Harvest Moon series. But where TemTem only really deviates from the Pokemon formula in a few aspects, Stardew Valley experiments with the boundaries of what a Harvest Moon farming game can be. Perhaps this is why PalWorld is already seeing more traction than TemTem, as it also draws from Arc-style gameplay in addition to its Pokemon elements. It deviates from Pokemon as much as it derives.
I desperately want to love TemTem, but without the nostalgic charm and immersive world, it falls short of what it wanted to be. Will the same be said about PalWorld in four years? Possibly, but I think PalWorld will have a much longer impact on the monster-catching genre. In a space where Pokemon dominates the genre so thoroughly, you can't break into the scene as a massive success by simply copying the formula. You need to challenge it, and despite its controversy, this is exactly what PalWorld does–and what TemTem failed to do.
