Monark starts off with very little preamble. Within about ten or so minutes, you’re already battling, already meeting major characters, and already seeing some dark story developments. It starts out with a lot of great ideas.
Players take on the role of an amnesiac student at Shin Mikado Academy. This academy has been shrouded by mist that induces madness in those who are exposed to it for a long time, with a barrier preventing anyone from going out. Joining with a group of students and faculty in a newly-formed True Student Council, players begin their mission to shatter the ideals of the Pactbearers, humans who have gained superhuman powers through daemonic pacts and are believed to be responsible for generating the mist and the barrier. Like the Pactbearers, the protagonist is also able to access an alternate world called the Otherworld. The player is elected vice president of the True Student Council and tasked with recruiting potential allies while defeating enemies. Four fighting companions whose interests align soon join up, with others like the school doctor offering support.
This setup is engaging to start, but it never develops much tension. Most of the characters are interesting thanks to distinct personalities and solid voice performances to sell them: Ryotaro, for instance, is a fellow Pactbearer who has a confident sense of self and purpose yet has a tragic and grounded backstory. The cast has some fun little banter between expeditions in the True Student Council meeting room, too. Unfortunately, by the time there’s any real effort put toward fleshing out the characters you’ve already hit the climax of the story, making it far too little too late.
Battles are tactical, with each of your characters moving and then acting, waiting, or deferring their action to another unit. Deferrals are crucial, as they provide you with extra turns, letting you heap on damage and rack up multiple hits if units are nearby to toss in follow-up attacks.
Unlike the school, players are not able to explore the Otherworld, which ultimately serves as a battlefield. Battles are initiated by calling a particular phone contact when in range of the stuffed-animal daemon Vanitas, with each one having an objective such as killing all enemies or destroying a core. Most have randomly selected elements, including the number and placement of enemies as well as objects that can heal or cause certain ailments, helping to alleviate repetition as players can phone contacts as many times as they want to level up their party.
Another idea that doesn’t really work out is the Madness mechanic, at least as it relates to the real world. Wherever an Ideal is located in the Otherworld, a mist appears in the corresponding real-world place. Anyone who walks through it – including you and your party – suffers mental damage and will eventually go Mad. This is represented by a Madness bar, and if it hits 100% you will collapse and reawaken in the school’s infirmary. While I got what Monark was trying to do here with trying to simulate the feeling of death looming over me, the fact is that there were never any real consequences to going Mad outside of battle so those moments feel like a waste of time. Especially since you can easily just fast-travel back to the beginning of the floor you were on when you pass out, it’s just a mild inconvenience.
Even when many RPGs might also demand grind, they offer a little more variety, and the ratio of story-to-grind tends to feel a bit better. That ratio is skewed towards the latter in Monark. There are some interesting threads it builds up, as Monark tries to tackle issues like bullying, guilt, grief, and heartbreak. It also veers wildly off-course on some of those, in fairly odd ways.
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