Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers is a monster-collector with a difference | Hands-on preview

After years of Pokémon dominating the market, we’ve started to see a whole slew of indie developers show off their take on the monster collecting formula. From Cassette Beasts to Coromon, there are plenty of fantastic turn-based RPGs available right this minute for people who want to catch ’em all. If the slow-paced battles put you off the genre though, then you’re in luck, because Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers is (as you might have guessed by the title) a monster collecting auto battler.

This preview build of Kādomon began very simply, with three pictures of cute elemental creatures and a choice. The traditional Fire, Water and Grass types are all represented here, and whichever you pick will be joined by a rubbish little Gnome without a type before you have your first battle. As you’d expect, each type of Kādomon is strong against certain others, and you’ve got all the staples from Ice to Bug to try and figure out how to best utilise.

Because this is an autobattler there are no real moves to have to worry about when you get into a fight; a battle just starts and each of your four active Kādomon will let out an attack once their action bar fills. Generally these attacks hit the critter on the front line of the enemy team first, so if possible you’ll want to bring Kādomon that deal super effective damage to clear out the walls at the front and get to the more powerful ones at the back. At first it’s hard to figure out the best way to succeed, but before you know it you’ll be battling with the best of them.

There’s a wonderful feature you can take advantage of to figure out the best team for the job too, and that’s hovering over any Kādomon before a battle starts. Doing this will show all the monsters that Kādomon will deal extra damage to, and you can also hover over the enemies to see how much they’ll hurt your team. With multiple types on each creature it’s a really handy way to figure out how to setup your team, and when I discovered it I suddenly started winning a whole lot more.

Elemental types are only one aspect of combat you’ll need to keep an eye on, because each Kādomon also has a special effect in battle based on their type. Grass types give themselves regenerating health at the start of battle for example, whereas Fire types buff the attack of their allies. Combining these effects can lead to some devastating results, so it’s worth keeping an eye on them if you want to succeed in a run.

The structure of a run of Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers will be immediately familiar to fans of Slay the Spire and similar Roguelikes. That branching path to the boss that we all know and love is back, and there are all sorts of icons indicating battles, random events (that might see a monster gain a special effect in battle, for example) and rest points that’ll grant you some experience. Each battle icon even tells you the types of Kādomon you’re going to face in that fight, so if you’re really clever you’ll be able to pick a route that keeps your critters alive and makes them stronger.

It wouldn’t be a monster-collecting game without a bit of evolution, so gaining experience by winning battles is important. Evolved monsters are a hell of a lot stronger than their initial baby forms, and to beat the boss at the end of this demo build I needed to evolve one of my team fully to finally scrape a win. The best way to earn experience fast is to fight an identical Kādomon to one on your team, because then at the end of the battle instead of choosing one of the beaten enemies to join the party you can pick the one you already have to get a shed load of bonus EXP. It’s an interesting leveling up system, and one that’s really rewarding when you finally have a powerful team that’s ready to take on anything.

I really enjoyed what I played of Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers, but after beating a single boss on a twenty minute run my preview build came to an end. It’ll be really interesting to see what other tricks the developers have up their sleeves for the full game, because I’m really keen to get back out there and gather a selection of plants, worms and teddy bears that can’t be beaten.

Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers is a wonderful and fresh take on the traditional monster collecting formula, and from what I’ve played seems like a heck of a good time. The strategy involved in creating an unbeatable team of cute critters is surprisingly deep, and finally beating the boss of this build was incredibly satisfying. I’ll definitely be trying to catch and battle them all when the full game arrives, and I’m sure those battles will be both hyper and, erm, automatic.