Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 63 | 11 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 56% | 57 | 524 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 51% | 53 | 126 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (Nov 2, 2024) · 126 reviews sampled · 73 total reviews in window · weighted 34.2 up / 32.9 down · computed 3h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (17)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 70
“Monster Crown is a decent game that falls short of greatness in a few areas. Legitimately cool ideas with breeding and an overall solid combat system are let down by lackluster monster designs and performance issues. Then there's the elephant in the room, which is that Monster Crown ultimately feels like a jankier and less addictive version of the oldest Pokémon games. We'd still give this one a recommendation, as the bones of the experience are good enough that its worth a punt for big Pokémon fans pining for the 8-bit days, but you might want to wait for a sale with this one.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Monster Crown is a game that I would say try out if you’re into the old school Pokémon games. This is obviously a primitive game, but offers some new things to the monster catching genre. It’s most certainly not the best game or even the most flashy game out there, but as a Pokémon style game grounded in a more traditional turn-based RPG, it’s not a bad ride.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“Steam users are certainly more accustomed to early access, and I'm sure they enjoy being part of the process of fixing and helping to improve a game that they have high hopes for. The console audience can be more discerning, though, and it's hard to ask Switch owners to pay money for a video game in this state. One day, it might actually be worthy of some royal headgear, but as of now, Monster Crown is much more pauper than prince.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“A dull comparison to the legendary monster-catching games of yore that we know and love, Monster Crown fails to catch ’em all.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“At the end of the day, Monster Crown has very little going for it aside from that brief rush of nostalgia. The interesting mechanics are buried behind a poorly balanced combat system, a ridiculous story, and a mountain of glitches. There are some interesting ideas, but it's difficult to recommend the title based solely on that potential. It's a game that feels like knockoff Pokémon that you can play on the same system as the real Pokémon offerings, not to mention all of the other competitors. There are patches coming that will hopefully alleviate some of these issues, but until they do, there are much better monster trainer games out there.”
read full review ↗ - 65
“Overall, Monster Crown has a good premise behind it. It has a solid base and if the developers decided to make another monster collector down the road, they have a good sense of what to include. The combat is fun and the breeding aspect can make it interesting to see what monsters you can end up creating, especially if you’re into min-maxing. In this aspect, I do believe that they have really touched on what made games like Pokemon popular: the excitement of catching them all and figuring out how to best build your team to be the strongest they can be. However, the bugs and some of the progression decisions made with Monster Crown make it a tedious experience at best and a downright frustrating one at worse. The storytelling leaves me feeling as though I was always missing some details. And the jumps in levels for boss monsters were frustrating to come across, perhaps more so because they could be cheesed by getting lucky with a pact. Overall, Monster Crown is an experience that may be better played on other systems that aren’t the Switch and for those who don’t mind the inconsistencies present.”
read full review ↗ - 75
“Monster Crown is by no means a bad game. It is an excellent Pokémon clone that brings a lot of much-needed features to the table. However, for those looking for something a little more modern, you'd be best looking elsewhere.”
read full review ↗ - 66
“Overall, if you like creature catchers such as Pokémon, Nexomon, Temtem or any other inspired game of the same vein, then Monster Crown is another one that will join that list of options that can not only offer a significant number of monsters to get lost in but also provide a fair few hours of battling, levelling and breeding in a way we have become all too accustomed too over the years. It’s not original, it’s not unique, it’s not the best option out there, but it does offer more of what many players know and love on an Xbox console and for that reason, we’ll take it.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Overall, Monster Crown is a simple and fun RPG adventure with heaps of content and a very deep breeding system to keep you playing for many hours on end. What it lacks in certain departments, such as the story, it more than makes up for in actual gameplay and the love of the craft from the developers is always evident. When all is said and done, I can heartily recommend Monster Crown as a solid entry into the world of monster taming games.”
read full review ↗ - 71
“Monster Crown has potential and some good ideas, but execution is lacking.”
read full review ↗ - 45
“Monster Crown is an old-school RPG that demands you tame an array of beasts. Can you pick your team, win every fight, and fulfil your potential? Talking of potential, sadly this never gets off the ground. ”
read full review ↗ - 55
“This is a game that could be fun if it worked properly on Nintendo Switch. If we leave this aside, we are facing a totally enjoyable title, especially for fans of this kind of games.”
read full review ↗
Nintendo Life
ZTGD
NintendoWorldReport
Checkpoint Gaming
Worth Playing
LadiesGamers.com
The Game Crater
Xbox Tavern
NookGaming
RPG Fan
Movies Games and Tech
NaviGames…and 5 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Patch 1.2.7Nov 2, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- Update 1.2.5 is here!Oct 25, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- Big Patch 1.2.4 - Now available in BetaOct 16, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- v1.1.1 - Monster Crown UpdateMar 10, 2024significant · resets scoring window
- Update v1.0.54Jul 9, 2023
- May 14 PatchMay 14, 2023
- UPDATE 1.0.5 - New Monsters!May 3, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Groundwork UpdateJun 2, 2022significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.44Jan 26, 2022
- New Year's First Patch - 1.0.43Jan 8, 2022significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.42Dec 12, 2021
- Patch 1.0.4Dec 3, 2021
- Monster Modding Upgrade! (1.0.392)Dec 1, 2021
- Update 1.0.39Nov 28, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.37Nov 16, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.35Nov 11, 2021
- Update v1.0.33Nov 5, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Update v1.0.3Oct 27, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Update 1.0.28Oct 25, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.26Oct 18, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.25 : NET EGGOct 17, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.24 - Move Re-ordering, Permadeath toggle and Mirror Challenge changes!Oct 15, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.0.23Oct 14, 2021
- Patch 1.0.22 - Various fixesOct 13, 2021
- Weekly Patch + Hard Mode + New Monster!Aug 28, 2021
- Weekly Patch 0.1.857Aug 21, 2021
- Weekly Patch 0.1.856Aug 14, 2021
- Patch v0.1.83Aug 1, 2021
- Patch 0.1.826Jul 24, 2021
- Patch v0.1.825Jul 17, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch v0.1.733May 15, 2021
- Content Pack #8 is HERE!May 7, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 0.1.72 + New Items!Apr 24, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 0.1.69Apr 9, 2021
- Content Pack 7 is here!Mar 26, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- FROSTBITE TRANSFORMATIONS ARE HERE! + Patch 0.1643 + Content AppetizerMar 19, 2021significant · resets scoring window
…and 18 earlier patch announcements.