We’re not even going to waste time, Temteam looks like a Pokémon, plays like a Pokémon and is basically a literal clone of Pokémon. Despite this, Temtem isn’t the first game to mimic the style of Pokémon and we won’t deny, there are some cool themes to this semi-clone title. Is TemTeam a game you want to play when a new Pokémon game—Pokémon Scarlett and Pokemon Violet—is just around the corner? Let’s find it out for yourself in our review of Temtem for PC.

Literally, Temtem can be explained as if we were talking about an old school Pokémon title. You are a young man/woman—who can be customized—a novice Temtem instructor. Like in the Pokémon series, you choose your starter Temtem, creatures that have various forms and elements, and then go out to become a master Temtem trainer. yes friends! Temtem copies the story of Pokémon with various enemies and an evil organization. The story isn’t what will tell you about Temtem, what will hook you is an element that Pokemon hasn’t really done yet and Temtem did it before… online multiplayer.

That’s right, Temtem is an MMORPG which means you may be trying to be the best Temtem trainer you can be but you are not alone in that adventure. You’ll be really fresh to a title like this Pokémon while trying to be the best you can be and occasionally do battle with others online. Equally, it makes TemTeam’s world feel more real – despite the monsters and such – which we really wish Pokémon would have already done! It’s great to just run into a random person when they’re trying to train or have an adventure.

One element that TemTeam does slightly better than Pokémon is the actual gameplay. Again, like Pokémon, Temtem is a monster turn-based battler where you control your Temtem friends and battle others or attempt to capture them via cards. The catch is that Temtem battles aren’t always easy and aren’t always one-on-one. Often, even in the wild, you’ll find a random fight and two Temtem attacking you at once. You can also use multiple monsters, but if you’re not prepared you’ll find that your team is wiped out. Temtem may be rated E to E for everyone but it is not an easy game. We lost the early fights and battles, learning which elements work against others – as Temteam has different elements like crystal monsters – but really enjoyed this change of difficulty. Every defeat inspired us to try harder, and for the first time since our original Pokémon days, we’re never tired of grinding ourselves up levels or finding TemTeam’s best team.

Temtem is a beautiful game and it’s clear from the first few minutes. The monsters look very diverse and they have a lot of detail and the environment has a lot of colors! Our only issue is that Temtem has an odd frame rate that causes weird lag spikes—especially before the fight begins—which makes the experience a little less sluggish then we’d like. Even when running in areas with few people, Temtem doesn’t run the best, but luckily is still quite playable.