Back in April, Temtem developer CremaGames finally added the highly anticipated Cipanku region to the popular MMO, introducing 🍰a wealt꧟h of Digital creatures to the game as well as its first official Mythical Tem. Despite having launched a whopping five months ago, I didn’t get a chance to give the expansion a proper whirl until this weekend, at which point I rinsed the entire thing in a single sitting. What else are Sundays for, eh?
To be fair, I didn’t actually mean to sit at my PC for 12 hours. I was supposed to go to the pub with some friends, although my plans were ruined by the kind of rain that makes you wonder whether your estate is about to become the Lost City of Atlantis. Disappointed in my inability to consume many, many beers, I eventually decided to go to the pub in Temtem instead - as in, yes, Temtem has its own little boozers, courtesy of it essentially being 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon for grown ups.
The thing is, I could have spent those 12 hours playing something else, right? I only booted up Temtem because I was waiting for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Deathloop and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kena: Bridge of Spirits to instal🧸l. By the time I saw the “Deathloop is ready to play” notification, however, I was already knee deep in Cipankan culture, knocking the codified shit out of Digital Tems as I chased the nefarious Clan Belsoto across ravines, over mountains, and into a tranquil Sacred Lake where their flying base is supposedly due to land any minute now, AKA whenever Crema decides to launch the upcoming Arbury expansion. Please Crema. We’re starving here. What if it rains again next weekend?
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Anyway! The reason I’m writing this today after having blitzed through Cipanku is because a) I’m a massive Pokemon fan, and b) Temtem is, in an increasingly impressive number of ways, causing Game Freak’s illustrious catch-’em-up to show its whole arse. I’m not one of those people who cries about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sword & Shield’s Dexit - imagine calling a movement “Dexit'' and being completely serious about it - nor am I someone who reckons Pokemon, a kid’s game, being made approachable to kids, is some kind of intentionally malicious slight against anyone born prior to the year 2000 (sang to the tune of Busted’s Year 3000 because: banger). I’m just someone who reckons Sword & Shield didn’t quite manage to exhibit the same kind of magic as what you might expect from Gen 2, which offered us 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:three of the best RPGs ever made. I’m not going to have a little wahwah about Sword & Shield, by the way. They’re great! Jus🧔﷽t not Pokemon at its best.
To be clear, Temtem obviously hasn’t eclipsed Gold, Silver, or Crystal either, nor has🔯 it managed to supersede the likes of Emerald and Platinum. It has, however, offered far more inventive new ideas than Gens 5 through 8, not necessarily including 7, which I actually quite like. These include but are not limited to: new types; compelling traversal options outside of “bird do Fly”; a villainous team that are funny to laugh with rather than at; a completely refined battle system that does no𓆏t take 15 years to register a move; a grand total of zero gimmicks like Gigantamax; improved breeding and control over competitive viability; and, among many others and perhaps most importantly of all, a story that is legitimately enticing. I love Sword & Shield, but President Rose’s predictable heel turn, Eternatus’ status as a 67-foot-tall DNA helix mixed with Prince’s wardrobe and tissue paper for goths, and the completely arbitrary introduction of Pokemon Jedward weren’t exactly fit to win a Pulitzer, eh?
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Temtem, on the other hand, is unafraid to throw wide-arcing curveballs. One of your mates, Max, is killed in cold blood by the general of Clan Belsoto. The captain of your airship, Adia Turay, shouts more than Daniel Day-Lewis in the last ten minutes of There Will Be Blood. Each and every region you visit is teeming with culture and intrigue, affording the Airborne Archipelago a sort of thematic and narrative consistency that allow it to become increasingly intriguing the more time you devote to it. U🍷nlike recent Pokemon games - which, for me, have been largely one-and-done endeavours outside of the occasional Nuzlocke - i🍌t is extremely difficult to burn out on Temtem because simply existing in its world is enough to justify carving out time for a play session. Its core narrative is great - better than that of any recent Pokemon story - but it’s largely because this narrative is supplemented by so much fascinating esoterica that it is able to succeed where modern Pokemon often doesn’t.
Essentially, Temtem is able to properly recognise that although main stories are obviously important, they’re rarely much to marvel at unless they’re paired with additional material designed to offer crucial context for informing them. This is one of the reasons 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Witcher 3 is still such an all-timer - unlike so many other RPGs, 168澳洲幸运5🐟开奖网:its side quests are actually worth your time. I’m not sure Temtem has achieved its 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bloody Baron moment just y🐎et, but in principle, Crema knows whaꦿt it’s up to here.
This is more clear than ever in the Cipanku expansion, which involves a Temtem heist, a fake pilgrimage, a Dojo filled with matter-teleporting laser beams, a talking Tem who sꦍpeaks in uwu tongue, and so much more. It is ambitious, funny, exciting, and relevant in a world where games struggle to achieve any one of those conditions, let alone four of them and never mind in early access. When you frame it like that, Temtem starts to sound pretty damn impressive, eh?
The only issue with Temtem is that most of you still don’t seem to be playing it. Take it from me, a decades-long Pokemon fan who eats Nuzlockes for breakfast: Temtem good. In fact, Temtem real good. Please play it so that Crema is encouraged t𝐆o keep building on the game even after the Arbury expansion. You want a good Pokemon game, yeah? Ffs, have you even read what I’ve written? Play Temtem, like. Sound.