Review: Monark

destructoid.com:

Monark starts off with very little preamble. Within about ten or so minutes, you’re already battling, already meeting major characters, and already seeing some dark story developments. It starts out with a lot of great ideas.

The disappointing part of Monark is that it struggles to keep that initial luster over the course of its run. It has some real great moments, like big boss battles with tailored tracks, surprising story twists, and a fairly deep and interesting combat system. It’s the hours of necessary grind, repetitive environments, and narrative stumbles just can’t keep pace.

Monark (PC, PS4, PS5 [reviewed], Switch) Developer: FuRyu Publisher: NIS America Released: Feb. 22, 2022 MSRP: $59.99

Monark is a new RPG from Lancarse and FuRyu, with some help from a few former Shin Megami Tensei developers. It’s got the vibe of an SMT game; Shin Mikado Academy has been cut off from the outside world by a magical dome barrier, and inside, a mysterious mist is flooding the grounds, driving students mad. Amid a lot of horror are Pactbearers, individuals who’ve made a deal with the patron deity of one of the seven deadly sins to see their wish fulfilled. It’s a bad time to be a normal, everyday student at Shin Mikado.

You awake as an amnesiac student and are plunged into the Otherworld, an alternate dimension where demons manifest. In a last-ditch effort to save some friends you’ve just made, you make a Pact with the demon Vanitas, becoming the Pactbearer of Vanity. Everything settles down after you slay some demons, but then the dean of the school arrives and reveals the facts: to erase the mist and return everything to normal, you’ll need to defeat the other Pactbearers—and eventually, yourself.

Monark‘s setting is one of