- Monpic: The Hatchling is a short adventure game that’s coming to iOS and Android
- It follows the story of a girl slowly transforming into a dragon that runs into an adorable hatchling
- Set in a world where monsters and humans live together, it subverts regular fantasy tropes
It’s rare that I find an indie game coming from Japan which conforms to the standards you usually see with European or American releases. When I think Japanese indie I tend to think of series like Touhou, so I was surprised to read about today’s subject, Monpic: The Hatchling.
Set in a fantasy world where humans and monsters live alongside one another, it follows the surprising story of a young girl called Yuzuki, who specialises in studying monsters. After encountering a tiny dragon hatchling, she finds herself transforming into one, leading to an adventure to find a way to restore her human form.
At around 3-5 hours, Monpic is more similar to the short narrative-driven experience I’m more used to seeing from Western studios. However, that’s not to say that it doesn’t look impressive nonetheless, and I’m sure for those looking for a cute, heartwarming short adventure story to play through in an afternoon it’ll be more than satisfactory.
Fire breathing
Admittedly I think the $8.99 price tag and the short playtime may be a barrier to some people. However, I do think that the design and gameplay you can see in the preview videos show there’s a hefty amount of content packed into that time. Still, like I said it’s interesting to find a Japanese indie that goes for the more narrative-heavy, story-based route that isn’t a visual novel, so who knows? Maybe Monpic is a sign of things new things to come.
And if you want to find even more great releases, why not check in on our regular feature covering the top five new mobile games to try this week?
Or if you fancy getting more of a story, be sure to check out our ranking of the top 12 best narrative adventure games that are currently available!
