Review: Cassette Beasts [PC]

Developed by Bytten Studio Limited and published by Raw Fury, listen in to the charming wonder of Cassette Beasts. In a wondrous mix of Pokemon, Link’s Awakening, and double dipped in style, this is going to be a wild ride to remember. Let’s vibe to the remix, shall we?

Welcome to New Wirral

Cassette Beasts begins with our character waking up on a beach, no memories of how they got there or what happened. A bit of exploring leads us to seeing interesting and strange creatures not of our world. We soon find new people, make new friends, and discover old and terrible secrets. The Island of New Wirral is chock full of mysteries to be solved, and memories to be made.

I’m going to gush a little bit. Cassette Beasts is beyond charming in its design and presentation. The art-style is the new 2.5D style with pixel characters and 3D backgrounds. Each sprite has so much personality packed into it that I found myself obsessing over each new character or scene I came across. The music is beautiful, the world building is fantastic, and the writing is extremely well done.

I also love the attention to detail and background humor the game has going for it. Like having a pencil heal your monster. If you’re as old as I am, you remember cassette tapes and using pencils and pens to rewind them, if you didn’t have a machine to do it for you. It’s little touches like this that make the game ooze with personality and charm.

Let the Beat Drop

But how does an RPG like Cassette Beasts play? One part is the over-world, which is filled with hazards to avoid or fight, and puzzles to solve. Some puzzles are as simple as finding a switch and flipping it. Others involve the use of the Monsters you can become. New Wirral is covered with all manner of monsters. Some of them have special abilities that will aid you in the over-world.

In a unique twist on the monster collector genre, Cassette Beasts allows you to become the monsters you capture. Using blank cassettes. you can attempt to copy a monster and use it in your next battle. Leveling up your beasts can grant them new attacks and abilities, and eventually you can ‘Remix’ them into a larger more powerful monster.

Combat is turn-based, with you and any partners you have taking the form of monsters you’ve collected. Each partner has a signature tape they start with, but you can swap this out mid-battle if you wish. Battles play out as you’d expect: if a beast is knocked out, you switch to a different one and keep on going. A touch that honestly is super cool to me is that saving your game and healing is you hanging out with your partner, either at a cafe or camping in the wilderness.

Final Thoughts

On a totally unrelated note, while doing research for this review I found out that Cassette Beasts has a guide for Mod Development. Which, to me, is huge. A game like this is already super varied and cool, but to be able to add mods to the game? Chef’s kiss.

Cassette Beasts is magnificent. I liked it when I saw it on Steam for wishlisting, but to play it and have my expectations exceeded is such a thrill. I couldn’t keep a smile off my face while playing, and I felt so dang cozy while doing so. In this reviewer’s humble opinion, it might be one of the best indie titles of 2023. But try it out for yourself, don’t let this review slow you down.

Cassette Beasts is available now on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/Series X/ S, and PC on Game Pass, Linux, and Steam. Review code provided by Raw Fury.