Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PC) Review

Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure for the PC... Wait, something went wrong here somewhere along the way. This is a very delayed worldwide release of the PC game Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure that later gave birth to the classic PSP remake, not released outside of Japan before 2015. That's better. It has been a long wait of over ten years, but finally Western PC gamers can play this treat on their computers. Enough backstory about the weird circumstances of the Western PC release, though, and on with the review.

In Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure, a young girl named Parin has moved into Tiese Town with her grandfather as her parents are working on uncovering the secrets of an ancient ruin. The town is, however, beside the cake seller Fan, only inhabited by old miners, making it a very boring place for a young girl like Parin to live in. One day, she finds a childlike being that is not human - a monster. As only children can see monsters, they have a hard time finding someone to help them in Tiese Town, and with this encounter the adventure is on.

The story is whimsical, yet will hit a sweet spot for both children and fans of Japanese RPGs. The typical components are there: a cute female protagonist, a lolicon who is after her, and a colourful cast of supporting and equally cute characters to help Parin on her quest to save Monster Town from the dangers that are lurking.

Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure does a great job of creating an Action Adventure title that appeals to JRPG fans both when it comes to the story and gameplay. The UI is heavily inspired by JRPGs, making fans of that genre feel right at home from the beginning. The action elements are also very finely made. Parin's weapon of choice is a legendary drill that was used once long ago to kill an ancient dragon that threatened all of existence. The drill is manoeuvred by either swift swings and stabs or loaded to perform heavy drills on the opponents, and if it is done to the rhythm of the background music, critical hits are performed. A great throwback to the JRPG classic Mother 3.

There are several treats for the JRPG fanatics to find, both in the form of UI and mechanics. This does, however, come at the price of appeal towards the classic Action Adventure audience. The cute graphical style and JRPG-inspired UI that will surely capture the hearts of both children and JRPG fans alike might turn away classical Action Adventure fans just as the graphical style of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker upset many fans of that series' followers, only that this is way more striking in terms of its cute art-style. It is sad because given a chance Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure proves itself to be a decent Action Adventure.

Another issue is, on the other hand, will it be enough to capture the attention of pure JRPG players? In most cases, yes, it is appealing enough to do that. However, most people in that camp would rather play a JRPG over an Action Adventure and while Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure shows that Falcom has great knowledge about both genres in question, this is a jack of all trades and master of none. The exploration aspect and puzzle elements of Action Adventures are strongly downplayed and the customisation from RPGs is kept at a minimum, creating a game that fans of both genres will love, but mostly only those.

This ends up as a game for fans of both games like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD and Tales of Hearts: R, but not for many others, and even those players might prefer any of the former more than this due to how downplayed the mechanics of each genre's representation are. It will, however, definitely be a heart-warming experience for those who it is designed towards and children might very well find its beginner difficulty to offer an optimal experience, with cute and quirky characters to laugh at and relate to, mixed with plausible and fun combat that focuses on everything that is enjoyable and direct in the Action Adventure genre.