Monark

 PlayStation 5
Monark Image
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 15 Ratings

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  • Summary: How far will you go to save the ones you love? Could you face the threats that surround you? Could you face yourself? Your world is plunged into madness when the mysterious and deadly Mist surrounds Shin Mikado Academy. In order to save your friends, you enter the Otherworld, a Daemon-filledHow far will you go to save the ones you love? Could you face the threats that surround you? Could you face yourself? Your world is plunged into madness when the mysterious and deadly Mist surrounds Shin Mikado Academy. In order to save your friends, you enter the Otherworld, a Daemon-filled dimension beyond the real world. Within this enigmatic realm, you must learn to harness your Authority of Vanity and conjure a battalion of Fiends, whose power comes from the Ego of their master. Develop your Ego through various psychological tests to enhance the power of your Fiends, and lead your forces into battle to fight with and against the seven "Pactbearers" that are corrupting the academy. Embrace the power of your madness to gain strength, but take care not to delve too far, lest you risk losing yourself. Fellow students and instructors will lend you their aid in your quest to resolve the anomalies throughout the campus.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 27
  3. Negative: 1 out of 27
  1. Siliconera
    Feb 16, 2022
    80
    It may not be the next great JRPG, but if you’ve been looking for a tactics style game that provides a decent challenge, I’m going to recommend picking Monark up when your budget allows. It fits right into the niche, and the story’s twists and turns might just surprise you. If you look past the bland character models and focus on their individual stories, there’s something charming and alluring lurking below the drab surface.
  2. MGG
    Feb 21, 2022
    75
    MONARK borrows more from the urban dark fantasy fictions of the 90's/2000's than from a Persona 5. Its rough approach, and especially its outdated realization will put off many of you. On the other hand, the most patient will discover a real good RPG, with a lot of passion inside, and whose interest grows with the time you give it.
  3. Multiplayer.it
    Feb 16, 2022
    74
    A solid JRPG with good arts and bad graphics, Monark has some edge in terms of combat system and its great cast: a game that hardcore JRPG fans will surely enjoy a lot.
  4. CGMagazine
    Feb 16, 2022
    70
    Monark is a game filled with great ideas and themes, and it manages to deliver on some of those in spades. Unfortunately, Monark is also its own worst enemy, and many of the gameplay elements simply get in the way of making it something truly exceptional. Still, if you can manage to get through the slog of repetitiveness, there’s a fascinating and thematically engaging story underneath.
  5. Jeuxvideo.com
    Feb 17, 2022
    65
    Rich and demanding, the clashes are gripping, worthy of frenzied chess games during which each placement must be thought out and calculated. On the other hand, the title is served by its technical shortcomings, a lack of depth in its dialogues, as well as a difficult attachment to the characters. Despite everything, Monark knows how to establish itself as an experience to live for any J-RPG lover looking for strategic brawls that oppose him with some resistance.
  6. BaziCenter
    Feb 26, 2022
    60
    Monark brings to the table a lot of fresh ideas, but the bad game design prevents the game from reaching its full potential, leaving you with nothing more than a mediocre experience.
  7. Push Square
    Feb 16, 2022
    40
    There's an interesting story here and the horror-JRPG vibe is much appreciated, but whatever enjoyment they could bring you is utterly annihilated by the outrageous, egregious amount of grinding you'll need to do to see the game through. Monark is gaming reduced to a thick, treacly sludge to wade through, no cutscene or story beat or reward ever feeling like it was worth the struggle. Just play Shin Megami Tensei while listening to Nine Inch Nails and you'll have a better time.

See all 28 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. onehitok
    Jun 24, 2022
    10
    Good game, kokoro best girl.
    The ones who voted negative are unloved by their parents and never had a girlfriend.
  2. Jonathan17Nava
    Mar 13, 2022
    8
    Monark is a Great game. It has a good story, good characters, great puzzles, and a solid gameplay. The two things that are bad about the gameMonark is a Great game. It has a good story, good characters, great puzzles, and a solid gameplay. The two things that are bad about the game is that the graphics are a bit outdated, and the whole story can get a bit repetitive just like the gameplay. But if you don't mind games where you have to grind a lot, then the repetitive gameplay won't be that bad. The story also takes a lot of inspiration from "Shin Megami Tensei" and "Persona" so you will see a lot of similarities if you don't mind. But what I really, really, like is the psychologies test the game has in it. But I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't do almost anything with this psychologies tests that only make you stronger in battle instead of affecting the story, or even more. I already got the platinum trophy, and put in a hundred of hours in this game, because I genuinely liked this game. I highly recommend this game if you like JRPG's or if you are new into this genre and want to try it.… Expand
  4. Jt0429
    Mar 4, 2022
    5
    Good-
    The narrative it sets up is really interesting and got me hooked into the world. The psychological horror vibe the game gives off at    Good-
    The narrative it sets up is really interesting and got me hooked into the world. The psychological horror vibe the game gives off at moments is amazing. The combat system is complex and fun to master.

    Bad-
    The exploration is so boring and bland. The environments are just the same thing repeated over and over. The levels are so poorly designed and just not fun to play. It is way too repetitive. Enemy variety is almost non existent. Too much reliance on grinding.

    Thoughts-
    As it stands right now, this is a game that seems impressive when you read or hear about it, but falls flat when you actually get down to playing it. Monark has a lot of great ideas, but ideas are only one half of any gaming experience- the execution is just as important, and often even more so, and unfortunately, Monark’s execution is inconsistent at best, and frustratingly bad at worst.    … Expand
  5. Ledjon
    Apr 12, 2022
    2
    The game is your typical Visual Novel Tactics JRPG. If you base your judgment on what the trailer showed for this game... Just stop. The storyThe game is your typical Visual Novel Tactics JRPG. If you base your judgment on what the trailer showed for this game... Just stop. The story has really good potential but the amount of talking in the game will put you to sleep unless you enjoy a visual Novel based game, which if you base your purchase for this game off of the trailer as I did, the trailer does not depict that. The puzzles are fun and different and are really well set up and will have you talking to every NPC in the game and even using your menu options to try to solve them. The battle system is a really fun tactics RPG and uses a different type of Health to Attack strategy where your health plays a role in your attack. Unfortunately, the game has no random encounters and only has 1 battle set up per chapter after you solve the puzzles. You can however after you beat the chapter, go back and retry the battle over and over basically grind which you have to because as soon as you beat the act(4 chapters) the next act has a giant gap in the difficulty and levels. The graphics are comparable to an early first-gen PS4 game, the location and buildings are bland and for some annoying reason, they capped the camera angle when you are outside of the buildings so you can not look up and the way the camera is set you want to look up!!! Overall this was disappointing, the trailers were false advertising for what the game really is, a joke and a visual Novel waste of time and money. Really Disappointed in Furyu for the development of this game. They honestly should have just made Crystar 2.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2022
55
#55 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2022

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