Creature Keeper Review

Fill in the Blank

Always on the lookout for a new monster-collecting adventure (see our recent RPG Backtrack podcast on this exact topic), I recently tried out Fervir Games’ Creature Keeper, an action RPG set in a charming top-down 2D-pixelated world. I was excited to give it a go, and while some portions were slightly above average, each felt like it had an equally below-average counterpoint, leaving players to navigate a landscape riddled with technical faults, anemic combat engagement for the protagonist, and a pervasive lack of polish that could have elevated its foundational ideas. While the game occasionally flickers with the charm it intends to exude, the overall experience feels akin to tending a garden choked with slightly more weeds than wonders, ultimately yielding a harvest of frustration rather than fulfillment.

The narrative of Creature Keeper begins on the first day of protagonist Blank’s new job as a creature keeper/guard for the country of Sodland. Sadly, the protagonist’s name isn’t one that can be changed or one that makes any narrative sense. Immediately this felt like a placeholder name for an eventual name entry system, but alas, it is not. Blank’s first day is mainly spent pulling weeds until they get pulled into a world-spanning adventure filled with corrupted creatures, necromancers, evil family members, environmental disputes, and so on. It’s a decent enough premise, and while a lot of it is loaded with the usual RPG tropes, there are plenty of unique little things that elevate it above the average experience.

Don’t get me started on this choice.

One aspect that kept being impressive from beginning to end was the quality of the writing. Whether it was bread-based puns being used for humor, characters talking about the horrible tragedies suffered in their past, a nudist trying to get others to shed their clothes at opportune moments, or serious discussions about heroes and villains, the writing was always impressively conveying the tone of what was happening in the moment. A divine encounter near the end of the game was especially noteworthy as a single discussion led to so many disparate events encountered throughout the story being woven beautifully together, revealing that the game was created with a great deal of forethought and planned world-building.

Like any good monster collecting game, the central tenet of Creature Keeper lies in its creature collection and combat systems, yet it is here that some significant shortcomings are laid bare. The act of befriending creatures, while initially novel, quickly devolves into a repetitive cycle of offering them enough food. All creatures are shown walking around the maps, and when entering areas, they’re randomly populated as either docile or corrupted. If a player sees a creature they’d like to tame, but it’s corrupt, exiting and entering the map again will reroll the RNG dice, creating a new set of docile/corrupted creatures. Walking up to docile monsters, Blank can offer them one of a handful of types of berry to befriend them or get rewards from them. An easily identifiable friendship bar appears and fills with every berry a creature eats. Filling the bar leads to the creature being befriended and added to Blank’s collection. Corrupted monsters, however, immediately attack Blank and their creature companions in action combat.

Unlocking the full potential of each creature is a standout feature.

While the recruitment system is perfectly cromulent, the combat doesn’t quite reach that level. For the vast majority of the game, Blank, regardless of the weaponry equipped, feels woefully ineffectual, often relegated to dealing paltry double-digit damage figures while their creature companions unleash attacks scaling into the hundreds, if not thousands. This dynamic effectively sidelines the player, transforming them into a mere summoner rather than an active participant in battles. There is a method for Blank to activate a special attack on an allied creature, but that freezes said creature in place and usually results in a specific directional attack. Often times enemy monsters are too mobile and these attacks simply don’t land. Compounding this issue is the frequently erratic creature AI, which often results in allied creatures facing the wrong direction or remaining passive unless directly prompted by the player’s own meager attacks. This lack of proactive ally behavior further diminishes the strategic depth of combat, making encounters feel more like a passive observation of creature-on-creature action.

Bouncing back from a subpar battle system, one standout feature of Creature Keeper is how it ties the capturing into the player character progression. While it doesn’t seem like a difficult task to take the first few creatures collected and run through the entire game with them, there are very practical reasons to continue to battle, feed, befriend, and interact with as many creatures as possible. Doing so leads to earning more monster unlock points. Those points can be used to upgrade multiple aspects of the game, such as increasing Blank’s maximum HO, increasing the number of creatures that can be in the party at one time, or decreasing the damage done by corrupted monsters in battle. A nice addition to the fast-travel screen shows which monsters can be found in which location, a convenient reminder of where to find specific creatures for filling out the creature-dex or just for grinding.

Another small bit of praise is warranted for a stat-adjusting garden available to players. Early on, Blank acquires a Pocket Garden, a little pocket universe farmish base they can warp to. Here, a pumpkin-headed scarecrow lets him tend a garden that serves two purposes. Berries needed to recruit monsters can be grown in the garden. They do so on their own in perpetuity and without any further interaction. Also, various plants are obtained that can boost allied creatures’ stats. Placing them down and connecting them like a jigsaw puzzle can see creatures buffed quite a bit. It’s an interesting system that allows for a lot of fine-tuning for a dedicated player without being a burden on those less invested.

Monsters can gain significant stat increases based on their planting location in the Pocket Garden farming plot.

Creature Keeper presents a world ripe for exploration, at least on a superficial level. Individual level design showcases moments of visual splendor, with appealing background graphics that hint at a more realized world. For those willing to stray from the main path, sidequests and additional weaponry can be discovered, offering a semblance of reward for curiosity. However, the overarching navigation of this world proves to be a significant point of frustration. Despite the inclusion of mini-maps for individual areas and a larger overworld map, the visual connection and spatial relationship between these segments remain stubbornly unclear, leading to frequent instances of disorientation and lost progress. This cumbersome navigation discourages more thorough exploration, turning what should be an engaging aspect of the game into a tedious exercise in trial and error.

The technical state of Creature Keeper further erodes the already tenuous foundation of its gameplay. A litany of technical issues that range from minor visual hiccups to outright game-breaking faults were encountered during the review playthrough. Instances of the Blank inexplicably vanishing from the screen, persistent graphical elements obscuring the view long after they should have disappeared (or spilling over the edge of the screen), and, most egregiously, game freezes that resulted in the loss of hours of hard-earned progress paint a picture of a game released a bit prematurely. While some of these seemingly are being addressed by post-release patches, inconsistencies such as the oddly varied text color throughout the game serve as constant reminders of the lack of overall polish. These technical shortcomings actively undermine any sense of immersion and contribute significantly to a slight overall feeling of frustration.

Foiled again by placeholder file names.

The visual and auditory presentation of Creature Keeper offers a glimmer of the charm the developers clearly aimed for. The 16-bit-inspired pixel art style is generally pleasing to the eye, especially the many detailed backgrounds that paint a beautiful picture of the game world. The creature designs, while occasionally lacking a spark of true originality, are varied enough to maintain some interest. However, the same cannot be said with all of the NPC character sprites, some of which were completely indiscernible, appearing unrecognizable as humans even if narratively they were clearly supposed to be. The musical score, while not particularly memorable in its individual tracks, provides a generally fitting backdrop to the on-screen action.

Ultimately, Fervir Games’ Creature Keeper showcases a clear passion and some genuinely innovative ideas within the monster-collecting genre. The exceptional writing and the clever creature-based progression system stand out as notable achievements, and they are great enough to elevate the title above your average game. However, the experience is significantly hampered by the underwhelming combat engagement, the sometimes-confusing world navigation, and the undeniable presence of technical issues. While the game possesses a charming aesthetic and moments of genuine narrative brilliance, these are unfortunately overshadowed by a lack of polish in key areas. Creature Keeper demonstrates a promising foundation, but it requires considerable refinement to truly realize its potential and become a consistently enjoyable adventure.

Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.

Excellent writing

Progression nicely tied to creature collecting

Pocket farm works nicely with multiple gameplay features

Lack of player character agency in battle

Party creature AI not amazing in battle

Character sprites hard to discern

Needs polish patches to remedy glitches

"Blank" is a horrible hero name