YOU ARE THE MONSTER Reviews

[b][장르에 목마른 이들을 위한 오아시스가 바닷물이라면][/b] [b][What if an oasis for genre fans who dehydrated, was an ocean water.][/b] This game is built around playing as a monster, a genre that is hard to find these days. For people starved for this kind of experience, it may have looked like a rare ray of hope. But before even getting into its many other issues, the biggest problem is that it completely fails to deliver the feeling of being a monster that devours people or personally kills them. The hit detection feels vague, the skills are neither particularly good nor particularly bad, and defensive abilities barely last more than a few seconds. The Kraken, the first monster you get to play as, clearly looks like a creature meant to swallow and devour people. Yet what the player actually experiences is simply dragging around what feels like a lightweight bus, while civilians die after crashing into invisible boundaries. When the monster makes contact with civilians, there should have been animations of it grabbing and eating them, or at least some kind of feeding animation whenever it touches them. A good comparison would be Prototype 1 and Prototype 2. Despite being much older games, they delivered a far stronger sense of monstrous power and a much better kind of primal immersion. This was a major disappointment, and even considering that the game is in Early Access, this weakness feels severe enough to be a serious flaw. A similar example is Suit for Hire, which has a rough indie-game look, cheap-feeling physics, and execution animations that can be somewhat clumsy. Even so, it still gives the player a strong power fantasy and a satisfying action-game experience. The problem is that this game fails to provide that at all. Not every building can be destroyed, and the distinction between destructible and non-destructible structures is unclear. Police and military forces appear and attack the player, but there is no proper way to track their positions. Snipers shoot at you from rooftops, yet the game neither explains nor provides a clear way to counter them. Perhaps this is partly because I simply was not good enough at the game, but even then, it remains a UI/UX problem. There is no information about where enemies are coming from, how many there are, how long it will take them to arrive, or which direction they are approaching from. Put simply, there is not even a minimap. The first playable monster leaves an important impression, and this game fails there as well. From the Kraken, I expected to devour people with tentacles and unleash destruction. Instead, its movement speed feels so slow that there is barely any meaningful difference between it and a running civilian, while its useless bundle of tentacles just flails around in the air. The result is less satisfying than buying and eating a single spoon worm at a seafood market. Once a player experiences this level of disappointment with the very first monster, most people will not want to spend any more time or mental energy on the game. I felt the same way. Can all of this be improved? I hope so, but I cannot say I expect it. My words are only my personal opinion, and I do not know what the developers themselves are thinking. But I can say one thing for certain. I do not think I will be looking forward to this genre again. 이 게임은 요즘 찾아보기 힘든 괴수물을 주역으로 삼은 게임이다. 이러한 장르에 목마른 이들을 위한 한줄기 빛과도 같았을지도 모른다 생각한다. 사실 여러 문제를 따지기도 전에, 가장 큰 문제는 괴수물로서 사람들을 잡아먹거나 직접 내가 죽인다 라는 느낌이 전무하다는 것이다. 말 그대로 판정도 애매하며, 스킬들은 좋지도 나쁘지도 않으며, 방어스킬은 몇초를 가지도 못한다. 처음 잡게 되는 괴물인 크라켄은 아무리 봐도 사람들을 집어삼키고 잡아먹는 괴물인데, 플레이어는 그저 무슨 가벼운 버스를 끌고가며 보이지 않는 경계에 들이받혀 죽는 사람들을 경험할 뿐이다. 사람들과 접촉하면 사람들을 집어 잡아먹는 모션을 재생시키든, 아니면 사람들에게 닿을 때마다 먹는 모션을 넣든 해야 했다. 나온지 한참 된 프로토타입 1 2가 더 괴수물로서의 재미와 본연적인 몰입감을 주었다는 점을 들면 이해가 쉬울 것 같다. 이러한 점은 상당한 실망감으로 다가왔으며, 이러한 점은 얼리 액세스라는 점을 고려해도 상당히 빈약하다는 점이 중요한 단점으로 작용한다. 비슷하게 인디게임스러운 쌈마이한 그래픽과 물리효과, 다소 엉성할 수 있는 처형 모션의 Suit for Hire가 그것과는 별개로 플레이어에게 상당한 파워판타지와 액션게임으로서의 충족감을 시켜주는 경험을 제공한다는 것을 생각하면, 이 게임은 그것을 전혀 하지 못하고 있다는 점이 문제다. 건물을 전부 파괴할 수는 없으며 구분도 명확하지 않다. 경찰, 군대 등이 튀어나와 나를 적대하는데도 그들의 위치를 파악하거나 할 수 있는 것은 전무하다. 스나이퍼가 건물 위에서 나를 쏘는데 이에 대항할 수 있는 수단은 알려주지도, 제공하지도 않는다. (어쩌면 내가 게임을 그만큼 못해서일수도 있으나, 이는 여전히 UI/UX적인 문제다.) 그들이 어디서 얼마나 오는지, 오기까지 얼마나 남아있는지, 어느 방향에서 오는지 등에 대한 정보가 하나도 없다. 간단히 말해, 미니맵 하나조차도 없다. 처음 잡는 괴물의 인상이 중요한데, 여기서는 그것도 실패했다. 나는 촉수로 사람들을 잡아먹으며 파괴하는 것을 크라켄에게서 기대했으나, 체감상 달리는 사람보다도 유의미한 속도 차이가 그리 나지 않을 정도로 느린 이동속도와 허공을 흐느적대기만 하는 쓸모없는 촉수다발은 횟집에서 개불 하나 사먹는 것보다 못한 만족감을 제공한다. 이미 플레이어가 첫 괴물에서 이런 실망을 접했을 때, 보통의 사람은 더 이상의 시간과 정신력을 소모하고 싶어하지 않는다. 나 역시 그랬다. 이 모든 것이 개선될 수 있을까? 개선되기를 바라지만 기대하지는 못한다. 나의 말은 어디까지나 개인의 의견일 뿐이며 개발진이 어떻게 생각을 하고 있는지는 알 수 없으니까. 하지만 하나는 확실하게 말할 수 있다. 나는 이 장르에 다시 기대를 하지 않을 것 같다.

UPDATE** 6/24/26 A week, two hotfixes, and a review of the reviews later I will keep it short. Don't buy it. I am now not convinced that initial positive reviews and replies to negative reviews were made by real people. I tried playing more and was reminded how boring the loop is before I was hit with a UE4 ACCESS_VIOLATION crash. This is quality that I would get from a 2016 phone game at x10 price with worse assets. I am getting this refunded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have zero idea what led Mr. J.H. to release the game in this state. If you check my screenshot I made for this game which I think should be under the community tab, you can see there are green entity boxes still visible. The gameplay itself feels... lackluster BUT I commend the concept being revived from a legend flashgame "Monster Evolution" by nobstudio. So, here is my proper feedback after one run: -Skills should be unlocked immediately. The actual gameplay loop should just be what it is inspired by: Vampire Survivor type level up RNG point attribution across mutations, to just have it where you gradually get your skills feels dull in already... -...a dull experience that is lacking visually. It is as the video shows. Generic 3d assets and things spawn via pop-in and as stated above, there are very obvious entity spawn boxes in the immediate street over from spawn. It sets you up for 13 minute runs for... whatever reason to be your "win" condition BUT -Progression feels like nothing. Your control over the monster feels bad, the monsters are generic and seem like asset-pull based decisions, and sadly also lack animations. The world feels so lacking in response that I did not even realize I was dying when I was dying. Hell, the enemies early on are just stationary guys with guns who spawn from cars which kinda just pop-in too. In all? This game feels like it was made as a cash-grab from a no-name indie studio. In fact, modern AI tools could probably generate a more full game experience if you applied the use right. As it stands, this asks you to pay 8.49 USD for what feels like an experience I could find a superior version of on Gmod. I love the concept, and from brief review of the Dev it seems like he very well might just be taking a first crack at 3d games but bro. This game is absolutely not ready for release and it being in early access for "Approximately 6 months"? Hah, yeah it makes me worry. I played very little to hopefully refund if need be AFTER about a week for Mr. Man to cook. I hope he surprises me but currently I got a game that for some reason opens Steam VR on launch and provides less gameplay than some mobile games. If I got what I wanted? Focus on a single monster, focus on mobility and player control, get more dynamic sound/feedback for much of what you do. This game does not make me really feel anything, just makes me feel like I have about 9 less dollars.

It's in a rough state, but the world needs another Prototype-like game, and this could be it with some more tweaks and QoL. Please don't stop. — Increase our speed. Give us stamina to run, increase walking speed, add a charge mechanic to all monsters—_something_ to make us feel faster. — When we accomplish part of an objective or unlock progress, show us our progress towards that unlock. Let us know that what we just did mattered, and how we can progress while we're playing. Give us a goal in-game. — Give us upgrades sooner. We want to know that we are progressing from the beginning. — Make the SFX and music louder. I maxed out the audio settings, and still had to crank my desktop Klipsch speakers up 100% louder than I ever set them. — Give us more screen shakes and screen dirt. We want to _feel_ like we're destroying a city. — Add the occasional time dilation effect for big hits. Another great way to show that what we're doing is having a big impact. — Add permanent upgrades via a tree of upgrades. We want to feel more and more impactful and powerful with each run, and we are willing to grind for it. — Let us control the camera zoom in the settings. It feels claustrophobic while playing, even on my 34" ultrawide at 3440x1440. Let us zoom out. — Give us a charge ability to plow forward with greater force than normal (for all monsters). I wanted to cover more ground, and that ability would have felt amazing. — Lengthen the shield duration for the first monster. Half a second is not enough time to make it worth my while. — Do whatever it takes to allow us to earn the feeling of being an unkillable kaiju with enough playtime. — Play Prototype. Do what they did, and improve where you can. They nailed it.

feels like a 15yo vibecoded a prototype on the weekend. Really wanted to like this game, but its just so unpolished, no fun at all ...

Yikes. [u]I Am The Monster[/u] for saying this, but unless you're a glutton for low quality games like I am, this is an easy skip. Most everything you've read in the other reviews is spot on. NPC logic is stuck on stupid and anything >3ft away from you renders at 15fps. Aside from the few abilities you gain in a run, there are no advanced movement, jump, sprint, etc.. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and hope Mr. Joshua Hughes released this in good faith and will update the game, but it is rough. On the bright side this might be cool to have in your library when it gets delisted in a few months.

the mindless fun of being an ever growing monster is so cool, however i cant let yall get jaded on rampage nostalgia. the concept is there and basic mechanics make it mildly fun however the idea in your head about destroying cities isn't there and the repetitive nature with limited growth hits fast. lastly it feels horrible to get to round 80 plus just to have your game freeze or crash. I've not had one game that didn't crash after so long. i respect small dev team trying to bring back a simple concept we all loved however id recommend waiting at the moment.

I want to preface by saying I really like the game. However, I can't recommend it due to the frequent crashes. Several times I'll be having an amazing run and the game will randomly crash, causing me to lose all progress. The game has a ton of potential, and when the frequent crashes are fixed, I'll change my review to a positive. Until then, just be careful if you want to try it.

Yeaaahh. I loved the idea of the game but sheer GAUL to ask even $8 for this is wild. Literally not a single thing was made by the devs. When you check the credits quite literally every single asset was made by other people and from an asset store. And you might think I'm over exaggerating but no, LITERALLY every single thing in this game was made by someone else and thrown together to make....this The "Pedestrian" AI if i had to guess was 3 lines of code. Very much an Asset Flip Slop/School Project because it looks AND feels like it was made with Claude Code in a day. Everything is low resolution, the pedestrians run at 20fps, things randomly appear out of nowhere 10ft in front of you. There's still entity boxes in the game. The progression is FAR too slow for being capped at an extremely arbitrary 13 minutes before the government decides to drop a NUKE on you and the entire city of civilians.....makes total sense. There is an "endless mode" but the game isnt enjoyable enough for me to even consider spending more time on it. Monsters are generic and clunky, lack animation, and dont feel fun to play. Very very very few things are destructible, none of which are buildings. No idea how the Dev can confidently say "yeah this is totally appropriate to put out in this state and charge money, and the full game I can get done in 6 MONTHS and will charge more." But again, the craziest thing of all is charging $8 now and $10 later and making money for OTHER PEOPLES WORK BECAUSE YOU DIDNT MAKE ANYTHING YOURSELF. Dont buy this, at least not now. Maybe when the dev updates the game and adds some uniqueness and some of their own work it could be better. But current trajectory is looking abysmal. I dont like trash talking indie devs but this is actually the most egregious asset flip I've seen

So, I'm someone who is absolutely starving for this style of game. Maneater and Donut County come to mind of good examples, though the vast majority are slop mobile clones. Snapped this one up ASAP, and was... pretty disappointed. NOW. This IS an early access game, so it will hopefully be improved to the point of those fantastic games! Here's some of the things I ran into and how I hope they get changed: - The AI is stupid. Extremely stupid. While I was figuring out the game, people were literally running into me and dying. If they had a little more self-preservation instinct, this would be much less jarring. - You get points for the NPCs being dumb and getting themselves killed. Multiple times I would level up, not understand why, then see that a bunch of folk had just run into the street and gotten killed. Slightly smarter AI would help here, too! - The gameplay just... feels bad and not satisfying at all. Movement is clunky, people just ragdoll when you kill them (I thought I had done something wrong, since I expected them to get eaten), and you can... kinda destroy things, but not to the level I'd like. Improving movement would help a LOT here, but the satisfying aspect of these games is watching everything get torn down and eaten. These should be completely destructible maps, and people should get eaten. Lean into the theme of the game more! You are a monster, why are we leaving food on the ground? - In a similar theme, I'd love if us increasing in size made more sense. It doesn't seem to matter much here. Starting super small and having to eat trash and bugs, then getting up to wrecking buildings, is EXACTLY what I'm looking for; with the imposed time-limit, I'd just take out the growth concept altogether. Picking one or the other would be good, but the former is more what this type of game does, so that's what I'm hoping for. - Admittedly I only unlocked the second monster, but they don't feel too different. The different powerups are a good start, absolutely, but you're still just... walking around a city and bumping into things. Different environments would be fun to explore, or different starting areas; why is the kraken starting on the street? I really like the different powerups, but maybe different weaknesses would be good, too. As it is, I'm just not curious enough to see what the others do. Overall, this feels like Goat Simulator meets Vampire Survivors, but without the quirky open-world aspect of the former and the satisfaction and cool goals of the latter. Hopefully it gets fleshed out more as time goes on, this is a genre I absolutely LOVE and want to see more great games in! I don't recommend it in its current state, there's just not much here, and what is here doesn't work well. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it, though!

This game is exactly what I wanted from it. Mindless carnage. Is it complete ass? Yes! Update: I unlocked a new monster! It is ass, too. Update 2: 3rd monster unlocked. This is too much fun!