Meg’s Monster is a bit of an unusual one. Starring a young girl who stumbles across a couple of monsters whilst looking for her mother, it soon becomes apparent that her tears are to be feared. Despite Roy the Monster being practically invulnerable, her tears are pretty much the only thing that threatens his life. With her stuck in the underworld, it’s up to him to begrudgingly help her find a way home. 

It’s a cute little RPG that is far more appealing than I expected it to be, As someone who isn’t a fan of the genre, I was expecting the game to be a bit of a slog after meeting the grumpy hulking blue beast. He’s not a very likeable character, and neither is his friend, but they also grow on you as their connection with Meg becomes stronger and they start building a bond. Secondary characters are also surprisingly likeable too, with the demonic council being my particular favourite. It’s a sweet little narrative overall and really well written too, which remains quite touching all the way through to the slightly unexpected ending.

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As for the gameplay, it plays out largely like an RPG, expect also not really at all. All the pieces seem to be there, from chatting to townsfolk, to optional side missions, and even turn based combats; however, these are mainly there to help the story move along. Rather than being quite an open game with lots to do, you’re presented the next location in quite a linear fashion and it’s pretty clear what you need to do in order to progress. Side missions appear in other locations on the map screen and marked with a little green marker, but doing so only really adds to the narrative and doesn’t gain you anything of value to aid you in combat. 

Speaking of which, the set combat encounters you face is turn based and has you playing as a near unstoppable Roy. His HP is so bulky that only a few enemies in the game actually pose a threat to him directly. Instead, your goal is to manage Meg’s emotions as she’ll get upset if she sees you getting hurt. If you’re hurt too much, she’ll start crying and those tears will be enough to consume Roy completely. In essence, all this really does is replace one health bar with another, but the idea complements the overall narrative well. Roy has some basic attacks at his disposal, and can guard himself against stronger attacks too. More importantly, over the course of the game you’ll obtain a handful of toys that you can use to raise Meg’s mood a little and perhaps grant one of you a stat boost; whether it be balls or crayons, each one is pretty useful to getting through each fight. 

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The great thing about the combat system is not only that the set encounters stop the game from ever feeling like a grind, but many battles will also mix things up a little bit to help them stand out. Whether it be a fight against a more unusual enemy, or just additional combat functionality (such as being able to scavenge for special items whilst fighting in the scrapyard), it really helps to keep the game’s pace going over its short four hour length.

But that’s ok too. Meg’s Monster may not be the longest title, but the budget price coupled with the well-paced gameplay, great emotional story, and charming 16 bit visual presentation means that the game is well worth the price of entry. The developers really put all their heart into this game and it shows.

VERDICT
Meg’s Monster took me by surprise, as I wasn’t expecting much from this cheap RPG title. In the end, I found a rather unique experience with an endearing story that had me hooked from start to finish. By the end, I found myself fully invested in the characters and world that Odencat created and was sad to see it go. Well recommended for anyone even vaguely interested in the game, as you don’t even need to be a fan of the genre to appreciate how fun it is.