Zelda Meets Pokémon in New RPG Gamers 'Are in Love With'

There are plenty of roguelites to pick from these days, depending on the style you enjoy, but a new one has just entered into Early Access that looks like it's really capturing the imagination of those who've played it thus far.

Aethermancer is a turn-based battler where you can tame monsters to fight alongside you, in a way that should immediately appeal to the Pokémon fans amongst you. That's your special ability as an Aethermancer, and a key part of your success in fights, with many of the creatures you capture having special synergies you'll need to discover and use.

The caveat to that is that if one of your monsters dies in battle, that's it. Forever. Don't despair entirely though, because you can bring back their souls, though they may change in the process, often returning stronger than they were before.

Each monster also has a dynamic skill system that you can direct as they level up. Those skills react to choices you have made previously, as well as other monsters you have in your team, allowing you to build powerful teams that are far more effective together, than they are separately.

There are some genuinely innovative systems at play here and it's easy to see why it's proving so popular in the reviews section on Steam, just 24 hours after entering Early Access.

"As a completely and totally and extremely unbiased alpha/beta tester, I'd gladly say the game is awesome and if you like teambuilding games, you should definitely get this one, even if monster tamers aren't really your thing," one reads.

Another is impressed all round, though they do want some more features added through Early Access, saying, "This is incredibly fun. The animations are very well done and appealing to look at, the designs are so cool, fluent and stylised, the music is great and the combat system isn't over-complicated. I can see this game becoming very addicting with more features."

"This is a fantastic little game. So many things about it are super quality, the art is absolutely gorgeous and all the animations are fantastic, the soundtrack is banging, the controls are smooth and responsive, and the whole premise of the gameplay is really solid," a third added.

Aethermancer is now set to go through an extended Early Access period, where a significant number of features and creatures will be added to the already impressive offering.