Monster Crown: Sin Eater Review, A Powerful 90s‑Style Dark RPG That’s Far More Than a Collectathon
I am going to preface this by saying that this is solely based on opinions after approximately 15 hours playing Monster Crown: Sin Eater. This game is not a cozy, warm, fuzzy game, nor is it lenient and soft. While news of the game has been spread far and wide, it has now been launched on Steam and the Nintendo Switch. Monster Crown: Sin Eater, it is worth the $25.
While Monster Crown: Sin Eater draws some parallels to Pokémon in the fact that you build a team of enterprising monsters to aid Asur’s quest, that is seemingly where the similarities abruptly end. The stakes are exponentially higher as the player must take Asur down a path that he may not survive if the player isn’t wise.
How Monster Crown: Sin Eater Came To Life
Getting a little carried away, that’s sort of the way the game is, though. So let’s back up to the beginning. As soon as the game came across the screen, some digging needed to be done. Through looking at their X feed, I found they had a Kickstarter, which gave some background on the studio. Launched on March 25, 2025, in under half a day, the game was nearly halfway funded. Studio Aurum already had people pleading for higher tiers to have the limit raised; they, of course, obliged happily.
Day 5 saw everything fully funded, which began all the extra tiers of goodies for the Monster Crown fans. What makes the whole thing amazing is that the team is a small group, from the environment artist Arex, to the music director Onion_mu, to all the unique creatures, both menacing and fierce, pixeled in by RacieB. Kyle Toom is credited for the crossbreeding system they implemented, giving players a unique chance at some intriguing opportunities for battle companions. Which brings us to the finale, Jason Walsh, the mastermind behind Monster Crown and the game director, APE-AHAB, working together to bring it to the players.
Story And Gameplay That Make Monster Crown: Sin Eater
As far as 2D Monster Taming RPGs go, Monster Crown: Sin Eater is definitely making its own mark on the gaming landscape. Players take on the role of Asur, a budding young man who looks up to his brother, mentioned as one of the greatest tamers in the nation, Dyeus. The first thing that happens after a chat with his brother is that Dyeus gets taken by the Beastman Inquisitor, Nefer. She looks nice, but she is positively diabolical and may take a bit too much joy out of her job. With Dyeus gone, Asur strikes out on his own with nothing but a pile of coinage and a gun to protect himself with.
This is where things start turning from dark to positively morbid, and young children should definitely not be playing this game. As a tamer with no monster, the only line of defense is to flee a battle or hope Asur can aim well enough to defeat whatever attacks him. This was where I became transfixed with the game, as it has so much variation and options to choose from. The only wish I have is that I’d had more time to play the game. Despite getting the ability to leave the Windy Province, the dungeons needed just one more dive before realizing how late it was getting!
Not only that, but Asur himself has tamer levels that add something unique to the gameplay, with perks unlocking every couple of tamer level-ups. While training, there is a lot to learn by talking to NPCs and scouring the land for random loot and monsters to capture. Some unique items can be found that could cause alterations in the way your monsters look, adding yet another touch of uniqueness to the gameplay. This is on top of their monster fusion options and breeding possibilities, though fusions will consume two monsters to create a new one with its level somewhere between the two, whereas breeding takes two parents and creates a baby at level 1.
The gameplay is very fluid but also unique. Each monster has one of 5 typings: blue for Will, red for Brute, purple for Malicious, green for Unstable, and yellow for Relentless. Will will hit for 1.5x against Brute, but Brute will only hit .5x to Will. They managed to make a simple way of typing that is both effective and complicated, but as players progress, it becomes easier to figure out what move types are most effective in battle. There are unique status effects as well as movesets for general damage.
The Writer’s Thoughts On The Game
Something worth noting: the playthrough was not as extensive as I’d have liked, which is a fault on my end. Studio Aurum packed so much into it that by the time I completed Asur’s first objective and had begun tackling the next, too much time was devoted to exploring caves and the Windy Province. The final count of found monsters was somewhere between 35 and 40, the variations of which are actually kind of fitting for the macabre storyline. In some ways, it gave me Pokémon vibes, but other times it felt almost like Earthbound or Chrono Trigger with how the storyline was developing.
Pretty sure the entire Windy Province is waiting for Asur to leave for his next destination by now, though the scary monsters at the bottom of the dungeons are now safely gone and can be traversed! This was what really brought home that the game is enjoyable. Becoming so immersed in playing the game that time flies by without noticing.
The Final Verdict
When the game came across my screen, I did a bit of digging to see what it was about. While looking deeper at Monster Crown from before, it received a lot of negativity due to a lack of updates fixing problems that were prevalent in its first iteration. Reading the remarks about its unplayability hit pause for a moment as I looked at the launcher, but I wanted to give it a fair shake. Have I enjoyed what I’ve played so far? Absolutely, without a doubt.
Do I have any quibbles? Yes, I didn’t get near enough of the ultra-special-use case scrolls. One of the most integral items in the game is so fleetingly rare to get, using contract after contract to tame at least 2 of each monster, the special monsters fled from my presence!
