If you follow a lot of the new games that come out you’re probably no stranger to genres like “roguelike”, “deck builder” and “creature collecting”. Montabi, from developer Mankibo and publisher Akupara Games, is the latest game that ties all three genres together into something that works extremely well. Mankibo is a small development company based in Indonesia that strives for diversity and inclusion in the game development workspace. Montabi actually represents their first “product” and the result is one they can be proud of.
I Choose You!
There is not a lot of story baked into Montabi which takes place in a rural setting. You play as a young trainer whose beloved creature companion (i.e. Montabi) is stolen by an evil team known as the the X Gang. You must journey, roguelike, through sections of a city across three distinct maps to rescue your companion. When it comes down to it, a simple story is all we really needed here.
The artwork draws inspiration from Saturday morning cartoons and features vibrant, colorful characters along with loveable creature designs. Since creature collecting is a big part of the game there is no getting around that Montabi’s creature designs will ultimately be compared to characters from games like Pokémon and PalWorld, and that’s okay. Montabi has enough originality that those comparisons should be few and far between.
You start your initial “run” with the only trainer of three you have unlocked. You’ll also pick a starter Montabi where each of them have different combat focused qualities. When future runs happen you could eventually capture and unlock twenty-two starter Montabi.
Adventure Town
Runs through the city happen on spider-web like maps where you can pick your own path. Each route has several different nodes or “pit stops” until the end where all paths funnel into a boss battle. Nodes to be visited include non-boss battles, convenience stores, vending machine, events, etc. The pit stops are where you can find equipment and charms, increase the potential of your deck with stickers, and even restore Montabi’s (or yourself) health or instantly increase a party member’s level by two levels. Level up far enough and your Montabi will evolve into a stronger version of itself and gain new passive abilities.
Battling Town
Battles take place on two 3×3 grids in a turn-based, use a card, gameplay style. Through your initial run the game walks you through with a non-overbearing tutorial.
Before a battle starts you place your trainer and your Montabi on their starting squares. Montabi placement is a learning affair as the game is a bit row and column action centric and with no typical allotted “movement points” your movement is at the mercy of the cards you draw. Lack of movement points ended a run for me on several occasions. The starting trainer draws “move an ally” cards which left me unprotected with no way to dodge incoming fire. Thankfully, the game is good at telegraphing your opponents’ attacks so you have a sense of where you shouldn’t be “standing” before the end of your turn.
It’s In The Cards
Each member in your party has a typical amount of action points (AP) which you can lose or rollover. The cards in your hand (each party member has their own hand) use up AP of course. When your AP is used up your turn is over. If your trainer dies then its “hasta la vista baby” as your run is over, done, start from the beginning. The cards themselves are very unique in the power they hold. Powers like move an ally, give cards to an ally, move an enemy, damage over time effects, melee effects, etc. With so many choices but too few in your hands it makes for some strategizing.
Luckily, like a typical roguelike, the end of run usually ends up with you getting stronger in some shape or fashion. Even so, initially it took several failed runs for me to get to the point where I could be beat the first boss. It got a bit intimidating where I thought I was messing up big time. In my defense, the initial boss has 147 hit points and your trainer has 17. Call me a noob if you have to. The game also has several difficulty modes to overcome this if you choose, but I was adamant on playing on “normal” challenge mode.
To The Winner Go The Spoils
When you win a battle, if you have a “Montabi Biscuit” card in your inventory you have the option of capturing a Montabi you defeated. Also, at the end of a battle, a pool of experience points is granted to your team. With the experience you’re granted you have a choice in which members you want to level. As each member levels they are granted a card pick from a choice of three. This is the deck building component. It all really adds to the overall strategy of leveling, choosing equipment, choosing passives, etc.
The game itself suffered no issues that I noticed. I played a lot of runs on my Steam Deck as well and it played very well there. The only complaint is that sometimes I would lose the “selected” highlight. This seemed to get lost on the busy screen sometimes but nothing that caused me to ruin my gameplay. Every once in awhile I wished I had an undo button, but I just smiled and realize that’s all part of the “roguelike” experience.
Conclusion
Bottom line, Montabi has a great strategy based gameplay loop that will challenge a player to rethink a battle or teach them to consider all their options. It has a formula that pushes you to want to try again. And even if a run fails it’s exciting to find out what compensation you’re awarded to make you stronger. It’s a challenge that’s worth taking!
