Roco Kingdom preview - "The monster taming RPG I've long been waiting for"

When you think about magic academies, you almost always assume it has something to do with a skinny boy in round glasses getting whisked away by a friendly bearded giant to a land of witchcraft and wizardry. And when you think about creature collecting, it's always about a boy in a red cap stuffing capture balls in his backpack and setting off from his small town to discover the world.

It's incredibly refreshing, then, to have both of these elements combined in Roco Kingdom, where you enrol in a magic academy not to learn spells with a magic wand but to catch the aforementioned creatures in the wild - red cap and round glasses optional.

Catching 'em all, finally

I'm not going to beat around the bush - I honestly think that Roco Kingdom is the creature-collecting game I've been waiting for. Too many entries in the genre have tried to emulate that Pokémon feel but somehow still manage to either "modernise" it in the wrong way or end up copying the popular Nintendo property. But what MoreFun Studios has done here is take the monster-taming experience and improve it in more ways than one, and I absolutely love the result.

For one thing, the creatures themselves - called Jinies - don't look like distant cousins of Pikachu and the gang. And for another, despite the "Pokeballs" still being, well, balls, they're magical in nature, which is perfectly in sync with the magical theme of the world of Carosia.

And because it's an open world, you get to venture out from your magic school and really explore every nook and cranny of the fantasy land laid out beautifully before you. Carosia's colourful setting has effectively reignited that sense of excitement inside me that disappointing games in the genre have long since snuffed out. It's been a long time since I really felt the desire to explore the world around me, and the equally colourful Jinies in the wild only add to that exhilaration.

Because yes, it really is all about the creature-collecting here - not the crafting, not the farming, and certainly not the tedious resource gathering. While there's the option to build your own home and decorate and farm and all that, that's exactly it - optional. Building your home is a side-quest, and farming crops equally so. Roco Kingdom, from the get-go, wants to tell you that it's not a survival crafting or cosy life sim - it's a monster-taming RPG first and foremost, and at its purest and most beautiful form.

And that - to someone like me who's never been a fan of life sims and all the tedious grinding and crafting that come with them - is a humongous sigh of relief.

Jini (not) in a bottle

As for the Jinies themselves, they're really just living their best lives out in the wild, each one doing their own thing. You spot some of them goofing around with each other or travelling in packs, and whenever you approach, they can either run away, attack you, or just think you're totally "meh". I love how natural this living, breathing world feels - almost like the Jinies' lives don't revolve around you. Shocking!

You can try to aim your adorable star-themed wand at them to stun them before you approach, as bumping into them triggers turn-based combat. If they're stunned, they'll be Dizzy and will miss the first turn, giving you the upper hand in battle. You might want to sneak up behind them too to further boost your advantage, which is handy if you ever want to weaken them before catching. 

If you defeat them instead, you'll gain experience points for your Jinies, which you'll need to level them up and eventually evolve them. I didn't feel like levelling up was a chore either, because, like the devs during the media brief I attended said, they wanted to make sure that players can focus on the fun of collecting and levelling up their Jinies. Because if they added all the grindiness that usually comes with evolving Jinies, then what would be the point, right?

And I appreciate that decision so very much, because it seems like the team really wants us to enjoy the creature-collecting aspect of the RPG the most. And right now, I think it's working - I spent a good chunk of my entire weekend just exploring Carosia and catching all sorts of Jinies I spotted in the wild. And they're incredibly adorable too, because you can pet them and feed them to give them the TLC they deserve.

It's a not-so-small world, after all

Outside of the very, very strategic combat (thanks to all the distinct skills they have), Jinies also help you out when you're adventuring, as you'll often stumble upon unknown points of interaction in the wild. This usually involves a chest or a shiny spot that can only be "activated" when you chuck a specific Jini element at it, or you can mount your Jini to swim, ride through open fields or glide through the skies from one cliff to the next.

Sometimes, mounting a Jini means they actually mount you by either propping themselves up on your shoulder or having you carry them instead, which is just the most wholesome thing ever, and something other monster-taming adventures out there should definitely have more of.

You'll also encounter a bunch of secret spots and intriguing side-quests while you're roaming around the world, like this Adventurous Duckiji I happened to chance upon. It was teetering on the edge of a cliff while staring intently at something, and right next to it was a bunch of wooden planks nailed together with a drawing of a Duckiji haphazardly put together. It also had a "Satisfied Treasure Hider" description on it - oh, the horrors this Duckiji must have seen!

If you ever get tired of exploring the land, you can rest in the Manaboughs you've activated, which act as save points that let you recover your HP and Vitality. You can also pass the time here, as various Jinies will only pop up during the day/night. There are Nightmare versions of Jinies and Alpha Jinies to take on, Jini Blossom challenges to defeat, and Outdoor Duels to accept - really, there's no limit to what you can do out there, so it's hard to believe it's all free to play.

The best things in life are free

Of course, this is where concerns about monetisation creep in, but the devs have assured us that microtransactions will only be for cosmetics, and everything can be traded and obtained through gameplay - which is incredibly generous, to be honest. And for the quality of what I've played and the huge amount of content on offer, I'd even say it might be worth making this a premium game instead. Again, the devs have said that there's really no point in paywalling the Jinies because it would defeat the whole purpose of the RPG.

I suppose it's pretty obvious by now that Roco Kingdom has indeed won my heart from this early access build alone. The whole experience feels wonderfully polished, the voice acting is stellar, and the soundtrack is just superb. I wouldn't mind having the music tracks (that you can collect too!) playing in the background on loop while I get some work done during the day.

There's a bit of a multiplayer element here too, by the way, since you can be invited into another player's world by holding hands with them and adventuring together. I admit I wasn't able to experience this much because I was far too engrossed in doing my own thing for hours on end, but it's a nice option for social butterflies looking to play with their besties online. 

No grinding, no RNG progression, and mobile-optimised with full cross-platform play - suffice it to say that Roco Kingdom is one to watch when it launches in early to mid-2027. We were told that the global version will have its first two seasons before it syncs up with the Chinese version, but if you're keen on getting first dibs, the Closed Beta Test - adorably dubbed the "Quack Quack Test" - starts today!