Hello Humans!
Village Monsters has been in development for 5 years and finally releases this Wednesday, March 16th.
I figure now is as good a time as any to reveal what you actually do in Village Monsters!
...
I'm only sort of joking!
in all seriousness, five years is an awful long time, and the game has changed drastically since the original Kickstarter in 2017 and Early Access release in 2019.
You'll hardly recognize it when it releases this Wednesday, so I think a reintroduction is in order!
Our Story Begins
Village Monsters starts out like most games: with the imminent destruction of a once-peaceful village.
Eidolon Village is a community of monsters that has recently lost a fight against the most ancient of evils: an apathetic real estate conglomerate. The MTX Corporation own the land the village is on and believe it'd be better served if it was Involuntarily Redeveloped into a casino & resort.
Most everyone in the village is resigned to their fate - that is, until you unexpectedly show up in town. A human. The first one this world has seen in centuries.
You're immediately arrested, of course. The many crimes of humanity are too numerous to list, and too obvious to dwell on here. The old laws say that all members of humanity must be exiled into the Glitchwood.
Except Judge Ribberts has a different plan for you. You are instead sentenced to two years community service and immediately put into the employ of Eidolon Village.
Your job: help the townsfolk restore Eidolon Village. Transform it into a respectable community that no one would dare dream of destroying. Prove that you're both worth saving!
Saving a Village
You'll have your work cut out for you.
Eidolon Village is an old frontier village that has seen better days. Buildings are old and weathered, the villagers are demoralized, and nobody outside the village has even heard of the place, let alone cares what happens to it.
Your finely honed gamer senses are probably kicking in already. That's right, each of the above problems represents a possible avenue to save the village.
Rally the Community
A unified community can stand up to anything. Unfortunately, this village is far from unified. Everyone is too distracted by their own problems to focus on anything else. If someone could just help them sort their troubles, then perhaps they'd be able to come together and fight.
Do you like games where you can complete social links and make friends? Do you like giving gifts and doing odd jobs for villagers? Then focus on Community Morale tasks!
Become a Tourist Destination!
Out of sight, out of mind: it's hard to build a grassroots campaign for a podunk village most people have never heard of. But not even the MTX Corporation wouldn't have the gall to demolish a beloved tourist destination, especially one with a vibrant economy.
Do you enjoy town building, mastering productivity loops, and tinkering with (and eventually demolishing) a game's economy? Take a look at everything under the Tourism & Economy!
Achieve Heritage Status
You're way out in the frontier which is full of undiscovered mysteries. A comprehensive survey of the flora, fauna, and artifacts of the area is sure to get the Imperial College's attention. They'll lend your their protection if you can prove that the village has historical and ecological importance.
Are you a collector? A completionist? Then you'll love tasks marked as Heritage & Culture[
These three avenues are represented in-game via Community Service Tasks. Each completed task, regardless of category, awards Village Points. Earn enough points and Eidolon Village will level up, granting additional perks and bonuses.
You don't need to reach max village level to save the village, so can pick and choose which tasks you find the most interesting - or the easiest for you to achieve.
Inspiration
This might sound somewhat unusual, but I'm actually basing this system one of my all-time favorites, Baldur's Gate 2
In that game, there's a section in which the party is tasked with accruing 50,000 gold and then set loose upon the city. How you gather that gold - via questing, thievery, monster hunting, etc. - depends entirely on your play style
I wanted to bring this system to a life sim game. It allows the game to be open-ended while still providing guidance and direction via tasks.
Wait, hold on, I thought this game was about--
Shh!!
If you've followed Village Monsters since the start you may have noticed some things that are missing. These elements are still very much present, but have been moved away from the forefront.
You'll see.
That's all for now! See you on March 16th!