Thanks to Wayforward for the review code

Title: Dawn of the Monsters
System: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Price: $29.99
Release Date: 03/15/2022

---

Story

In this belt scroller, you take control of a resistance group who sets out to defeat a terrifying force known as the Nephilim, which invaded Earth years ago, wiped out areas such as Toronto, and have begun to seize the entire planet. Definitely a big tribute to Tokusatsu/big monster media in many ways, especially in terms of the plot, which throw callbacks to quite a lot of those sources as the narrative fleshes out.

Presentation

From the same studio behind the brilliant looking Runbow, Dawn of the Monsters continues 13AM’s stylish record with a very comic-like presentation, with great outlines and onomonopeia really giving the game a great look. Even the UI for the game is done in a comic panel fashion, and the in-game cutscenes even have character designs that scream comic book. It might not seem anything like the Sentai or Kamen Rider Manga with their more stylized designs, but if you’ve seen stuff like the excellent Netflix Ultraman or SSSS Gridman then you have a good enough idea of what to expect from these monster/character designs, and it definitely pops in motion, especially in docked mode.

Speaking of motion, the animations are pretty good, with each playable character having a lot of actions that bring to mind older toku/kaiju series like the aforementioned Sentai/Kamen/Ultra shows, but also other monster focused adventures like Godzilla. Each character looks and animates like their attacks have a big amount of force to them, and really does a good job of selling the notion of you playing as a giant; each stage does take place over cities and areas far smaller than your characters, and you’re even able to use the environment during combat, with nothing looking out of place in the process, though I did notice when playing the game in handheld mode, a lot of these stage assets looked rather fuzzy, even though the HUD still looked crisp and the game continued to run fine.

Originally this game launched at a lower, locked framerate on Switch, and in that lower aspect DOTM still felt fun to play, with the game’s steady movement still shining through a lower framerate. Luckily, a recent update added a performance mode option, which added 60FPS to this version (though at the cost of some visual aspects, which makes the fuzzy handheld mode look even more blurry, and that combo is how I captured screens for this review), and wow, does DOTM feel like butter when this is toggled, though neither option is really that bad for the kind of game you’re getting here, and the game feels super tight regardless.

On the audio front, the game is a bit more lacking, unfortunately. Some dialogue scenes are voiced, and the voice acting that is here manages to be pretty decent. It is cool for the voice acting to kick in during a stage every now and then, though I do wish that a lot more of the out of stage dialogue had VA, as it would enrich the experience just a bit more. The music is also pretty generic, and while it does sound fine in the action-y moments as you beat down on enemies, none of the music holds a candle to the likes of the scores from the toku/kaiju series that inspired it, and I would have loved to see what a take on a soundtrack inspired by the likes of UltraSeven, Gridman, or Kamen Rider V3 would have been like.

Gameplay

Dawn of the Monsters is a belt scroller, taking place all over the globe as you fight the Nephilim threat across four worlds. Both single player and co-op take place in the same set of missions, and while the game is more than enjoyable solo, I much preferred playing this with a buddy around, (even if waiting to primarily play this way held this review back more than I wanted it to!) as the game felt a lot more lively and frantic when duking it out with a monster pal.

Of course, regardless of whether you play this alone or with a friend, Dawn of the Monsters will shine immediately with a very fun combat system. Each stage is broken up into various waves of Nephilim, and upon picking one of several characters of your liking, you go in and use their combos and movesets to duke it out, with each beast having their own style. I personally went with Aegis Prime due to the Ultraman throwback he exhibited, and his swiftness with combos came in real handy, due to being able to pull off quick hits and dodge at a comfortable rate. Still, you also have the big, bulky Megadon, the defensive, crab-like Ganira, and the other Ultra-esque character Tempest to choose from, each with their own movesets and capabilities.

You have your typical light attack and heavy attack buttons to play with, plus a helpful dodge button on R and a rage button with L. As you fight it out, the rage meter will increase, and pressing L in conjuction with a face button will allow your giant to pull off a rage attack, which can really save your life if you’re being ganged up by enemies. The rage mechanic also allows you to pull off an execution attack, which uses the B button and some rage to finish off a foe at low health, beautifully working as a combo finisher. Even more handy during all of this is the parry mechanic, which is pulled off when pressing L right as an enemy tries to strike you, and allows you to counterattack and deal a lot of damage. Really there’s just a lot to work with in this combat system, and I found the variety of moves to be just fun enough to keep the stages very engaging.

Your usual melee set isn’t all you have to fight with, as stages will often have various objects to pick up and use, whether that be an energy gun, a building, or even enemy bombs that you can throw like a baseball, which yes, also works great with combos. Upon clearing a stage, you’ll also be given the choice of taking home two augments, which can be equipped to your character in one of three tiers, each with their own set of augments to discover, and a lot of these are fun to mess around with, as some will offer benefits such as your execution attacks now healing you, stronger counterattacks with a parry, or increased critical hit chances. They all have their own stats too, so some may even increase your attack or defense more than another augment of the same name, acting like a RPG system in a way. Luckily if you get duplicates or augments you don’t want, you can just sell them to buy upgrades from the shop, which are little more than max health/rage upgrades and some alternate costumes, but they’re fun enough to try and buy them all.

Satisfying combat, fun levels that don’t overstay their welcome, and a surprising amount of customization and depth really do make Dawn of the Monsters incredibly fun, and while the main story is the only mode you really have to play with (no arcade/survival/1 on 1 fighting modes to mess with), the levels do have a ranking system, so if you clear each wave with great combos and little damage, you can work your way up to rank S+ for a stage, which adds some fun replay value to the mix if you wish to perfect every stage. There’s also in-game achievements for the Switch version now, which is appreciated.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Dawn of the Monsters is a really fun time, both in solo and especially in co-op, being a pretty good brawler that’s both a serviceable tribute to the Toku days and one with a decent amount of depth, with lots of great combos and augments to mess around with, and a fun combat system to keep stages interesting as you work towards those S+ Ranks.

While I do wish the music was far better and there was just a bit more variety in the enemies, this definitely was a game that made for several fun Co-Op afternoons, and is definitely worth a look if you enjoy the stuff the game is throwing back to. Extra kudos to Switch getting a sweet performance mode patched in, making this experience just as smooth as the other systems, and really darn fun for kaiju fans, especially as it seems that this game will be getting more support down the road in the upcoming Arcade Edition update. DOTM may have a high price, but the sheer polish and depth of the combat was more than engaging enough to keep me satisfied with every minute I had, and I absolutely recommend this for any Kaiju or brawler fan.

I give Dawn of the Monsters an 8 out of 10.