The genre of monster collecting in video games has certainly grown in leaps and bounds since the heyday of the original Pokémon. You can have gun-toting companions in Palworld, or enjoy a massively multiplayer adventure with Temtem, but what RAYKA STUDIO has done with Yaoling: Mythical Journey has certainly gotten our attention.
First, the Eastern influences hit close to home, with the Lands of the Ancients feeling more like home for some of us on the team. Even in our short preview of the game, it was exciting to see what the developers had cooked up in terms of the visuals and worldbuilding, even though the core of the gameplay lies in collecting over 300 unique Yaolings and doing battle.
Speaking of combat, Yaoling: Mythical Journey swaps out the usual turn-based formula that has worked so well for other games and adopts the use of auto-battling. As you journey across the lands with your chosen team of critters, they will jump into battle and utilise all of their skills without any prompting from you.
Positioning is absolutely key here, as Yaoling keepers will have to keep in mind just what they are up against. Sending in your support Yaolings directly towards the opposition’s big hitter is an easy way to lose, and balancing between well-rounded combatants, slow but powerful fighters, or lightweight support Yaolings will likely keep players invested for a long, long time.
The normal attacks are one thing, but amassing enough magical resources and your Yaolings can unleash much more powerful attacks that can turn the tide in an instant. Going with my water starter, Meep, its ability to draw in multiple enemies and then hit them with a giant wave of water means it will always have a place in my team. And with so many Yaolings to consider, the strategic possibilities are quite endless.
Moreover, you are not exactly a bystander, as there are a variety of charms that can be used during combat to either aid your team, or deal damage to the opponents. Get a Yaoling’s health low enough, and you will be able to use a seal, much like a Pokéball, to capture said creature. And as you encounter more and more stranger Yaolings, your knowledge of this world will grow as well.
Even from the short journey we had in Yaoling: Mythical Journey, the game seems to have all the ingredients to bring players on a long and fulfilling adventure. Beyond just the monster collecting and the combat, there’s still a village to grow and build, schools of Yaoling keepers to overcome, people to meet, and, crucially, a mysterious evil to confront and vanquish. Not to mention plenty of resources to collect that will go into a hopefully rewarding crafting system.
Adopting the auto-battling system is a risky move, but it certainly helps Yaoling: Mythical Journey to stand out from the rest of its contemporaries. If the rest of the game continues in the vein of what we have experienced, then there is every hope that this is another excellent addition to the growing field of competitors for Pokémon, and that is no mean feat.
The Yaoling: Mythical Journey demo is now available on Steam,
