Released on May 12, 2022, Mython Island is a monster tamer that went under many people’s radar. I feel as though this is one of those hidden gems in the monster tamer franchise. With some work, this franchise can move onto the next level.
This game added many features that people want to see in the bigger franchises. I think that’s one of the strong features of the game. I could see this franchise becoming more well known should the developers make a sequel.
Creature Designs
Some of the creature designs hit it out of the park. Key word is “some”. Like most monster tamers, each creature has a corresponding type and evolve. Unfortunately, many of the evolutions of the mython left much to be desired.
Coming from Pokemon and Digimon, I’ve gotten used to evolved creatures looking strong and powerful. I do not get that feeling from the evolutions in this game. It feels as though the creators wanted to go down a more cute and cuddly design path.
To start your adventure, you must pick one of three starters. Your options are a grass type worm, a fire type bird, or a water type shark.
For our playthrough, we started with the fire type bird, phopeep. Between the three, this one called out to me the most. It evolved into Pyrin followed by Scorchian. Between the three stages, the changes were minimal. Each design was very similar and that did disappoint me.
The grass starter appears to be based off of either a worm or a snake. Unlike in Pokemon, where most worms evolved into a cocoon and then a bug of some sort, this worm just grows a bigger head. It starts off as little Vipion, evolves into Serbulb and finally Onivern.
Next, we have the water shark starter, Sharwa. It evolves into Torrk, losing its shark motif and turning into a fish. Finally, it evolves into Seladro. It follows the Torrk design, only making its fins larger. Honestly, this starter changes the most out of the three.
When playing through this game, there were no guides or an encyclopedia to see what anything evolved into. That added to the excitement to the game as I would be seeing each evolution for the very first time. Sometimes I would be disappointed, while some evolutions would surprise me. Some people may view this as a downside, but it was a refreshing change of pace for me.
Like I mentioned earlier, most of the designs are more on the cute and cuddly side. It is not like in Digimon where your cute pal evolves into a behemoth. With that being said, the designs are all so unique. You cannot even tell what many of them are based off of. I’ve always preferred the more unique and original designs over the classic water turtle or fire chicken concepts.
Finally, I want to cover the game’s mascot, Imita. It is one of the very few void type mython you encounter, playing a huge role in the game’s story. It has an interesting design, being shaped like an electric guitar and black in color. I think it is one of the better designs in the game.
In the end though, I prefer the idea of starting out as a weak creature only to evolve into something powerful. It feels like the monsters actually got stronger. If Mython Island did a little more with its evolutions, this score would most likely be higher.
Creature Designs = 6 / 10
Story
The story of Mython island is pretty simple. After completing what can be considered the tutorial, you run into a mysterious black Mython that looks strangely like a guitar. Your guide in the tutorial exclaims he has never seen this mython before and wants to investigate it further.
Before you two can get closer, a group of mysterious figures seem to teleport in front of you, calling on the mysterious mython Imita. They claim that Imita is theirs before kidnapping the poor guitar mimicking creature. You and your mentor are left confused.
Then, another character appears out of nowhere who claims to be the ghost of the ancient king of Mython Island and that Imita used to be his partner. He explains that Imita and himself used to combat a mythical energy called void energy.
Corrupting anything that it touches, King Avia explains that his trusted knights had fallen victim to said energy. They kidnapped Imita to prevent themselves from being cured and to assist in corrupting the island.
King Avia begs you to fight back against his corrupted knights and to save Imita. Having no other option because you know, story, you venture out to stop these knights. Each one of these knights specializes in a specific type, one per type. For those who have played Pokemon, this will feel very familiar.
There’s a few plot holes and storylines that don’t make sense, but I’ll leave the explanation of the story there. I will not be the one to spoil the plot twists in the game.
For the most part, it is a solid concept, however the execution felt lackluster.
Story = 5 / 10
Battle System
The battle system is pretty simplistic. Like many monster tamers before it, it is turn based. Every turn, each mython selects a move and the one with the higher speed gets to go first.
Despite the simple system, there are a few tweaks Mython Island has made to that formula. First up is the stamina system. While it isn’t unique to just Mython Island, it does add an extra layer of strategy to its battles.
Another difference is that every Mython can learn more than four moves. Every single move that a Mython learns can be selected at any point in time. You do not need a move re-learner to remember a move. It is just there for you to select in battle.
Status effects also play a role in each battle. Some of these status effects can raise or lower a stat, while others can heal your mython every turn. While not essential to master these effects, they can help make your time on the island much easier.
Like Pokemon and their special attack and defense stats, Mython Island has ether attack and ether defense. Every move is based off of either normal attack or ether attack when determining their damage calculations. So you will want to keep in mind if your mython is a normal attacker or an ether attacker to maximize its damage.
Finally, we have the elements. In the world of Mython Island, the mython can fall under one of nine different elements. These elements include wind, earth, lightning, fire, grass, lunar, void, water and basic.
While it will take too long to list out every type interaction, I will say that the creators made each type fairly balanced. Each type is strong against two to three others, while also being weak to two to three others. The only exceptions being basic, which do not have any strengths or weaknesses, and void.
Void is basically the main antagonist type, only being weak to lunar. Despite its one weakness, it does have three resistances being fire, water and grass.
Overall, a pretty solid battle system. I personally wish they had added something to mix it up, but I can’t complain.
Battle System = 6 / 10
Graphics
I won’t lie, I was not a fan of the graphics at first. This was my first dive into this particular style and I was not feeling it at first. Being used to the style Pokemon and other monster tamers have, this was a turn off for me.
After playing through it however, the pastel graphics began to grow on me. While I think I still prefer the other art styles I’ve seen, it is no longer so off putting to me. In fact, many of the areas are freaking beautiful. It is as though you are playing a watercolor painting as a game.
Speaking of the areas, the island is pretty much a giant circle. You start in the middle and pick a direction. By the time you defeat all of the knights, you are back to where you started. This is by no means a bad thing. Each area is distinct enough to tell when you enter the next.
There are nine areas located throughout the map, each one being based off of a different type.
You start off in the middle, also the area where the basic knight is located. Not much to see here as it’s mostly just plains. It also has eight different paths you can take, leading to all the other zones. It is probably the most boring of the areas, but this quickly changes.
For the fire zone, you have a volcano, while the water zone is located on the coast. The grass zone is in a lush jungle while the air zone is a floating castle. I’ll leave the rest for you to discover on your own journey.
In the end, I can understand if the graphics are a turn off. My best recommendation is to give it some time. The graphics may grow on you like they did me.
Graphics = 6 / 10
Mechanics
Mython Island has what you could call roguelike gameplay. You can challenge any of the knights in any order. The story is not locked into a single path so you can go at your own pace.
A feature this game has that a certain other monster tamer behemoth doesn’t is that all the battles are scaled to your level. If you want to battle the void knight first, it’s the same level as your team. This is a huge plus and carries the mechanic score greatly.
If the level scaling raises the score, this next mechanic unfortunately lowers it. Many of the mython evolve in the game, however evolution is not done by levels. Instead, you must gather specific items and go to an evolution tower. There, you talk to a giant winged creature, give it those items and a single Mython evolves.
The game does not really tell you this. In fact, you could probably go the whole game without even knowing the tower exists. I went through maybe a third before I asked the Mython Island discord about it and found out how. If this franchise gets future interactions, they either need to drastically overhaul the evolution system or put the tower right at the start so it’s almost impossible to miss.
I’ll also mention there is a quirky little mini game located in the water area. There, you have to count how many mython runs by the screen. It’s nothing revolutionary, but I appreciate it when creators add in little mini-games like this.
Mechanics = 5 / 10
Conclusion
I really enjoyed my playthrough of the story. Despite how short the game is, it was a nice change of pace.
Before wrapping up this review, I need to mention that this game has multiple different modes. For my playthrough, I went through the main story without any special challenges. However, there are other modes you can choose like randomizer, or you can have the game generate a team for you to use.
In the near future, I plan on trying out these other modes. Even without these, the game is solid. Despite the very middle of the road final score, I would definitely recommend it.
OVERALL SCORE: 5.6 / 10
About the Author
Ventornado is a Rumble streamer, Twitch Affiliate, co-host of The Rising Storm Podcast, and long time fan of the monster tamer genre of video games.
This article (Mython Island Review – A Watercolor Painting of Fresh Ideas) originally appeared at Phillip Schneider and may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author credit, and this copyright statement.
