The creature collector genre is a space primarily dominated by Pokémon, then enriched by numerous games inspired by it. Many kids who grew up on this hugely popular IP via the card game, anime, and its many video games are now developers looking to add their own twist to the format – some of them have been modestly or better acclaimed, like TemTem, Cassette. Beasts and Palworld. I enjoy these kinds of games, but most of them tend to be uninterested in realizing a vision for a game I’ve had in mind for years – through no fault of their own, of course . It is My vision, not necessarily theirs. Beastieball, a new creature collector from Wishes Unlimited – the team behind Heartfelt indie darlings Chicory: A Colorful Tale and Wandersong – seems randomly constructed from the ground up, as if his studio is reading my mind. Finally, there’s a Pokémon-style game that consciously washes its hands of some of the genre’s more uncomfortable animal implications.

I’ve written before about the intersection of animal rights and video games, and many readers who previously overloaded my articles with negative comments were, from a certain point of view, right. When we are interested in animal rights, it is not necessary to extend our concern to virtual animals, since they are not living beings. To this I both proposed and once again made a resounding uh. But my goal was never to advocate for the release of Pokémon, Pals, or in this case, Beasties.

I focus instead on representations animals in games. The way we present our ideas through our media often affects the way we perceive similar topics in the real world, even if we don’t always feel the changes taking shape. If I watch a lot of movies, read a lot of books, or listen to a lot of podcasts, all espousing a particular point of view, how long will it be before I start believing that it’s true in real life? Just look at how YouTube algorithms or the “manosphere” have, in many cases, roganized a generation of (usually) white men. My concern with how we gamify animal exploitation is not centered on freeing virtual animals from their imaginary chains; it’s about hoping to promote representations that reject the tropes we so often see in games, where animals are little more than the making of resources, transport ships, and supply chains. If we reconsidered how animals are depicted in games, it would have a real-life knock-on effect for a number of players. This is how progress happens, and Beastieball is a sure sign of it.

In order not to bury the lede here, I would appreciate Beastieball for much of what it does, even if it did those things the same way as Pokemon or any other major creature collecting game. But by making a concerted effort to harmonize its story world and gameplay mechanics, it revealed an exciting, animal-friendly new path for games like this. None of this means you should feel bad for liking Pokémon. At the same time, it feels really good to love Beastieball.

Pokémon’s central mechanic is its turn-based battle system, which has been around for so long that it can be easy to forget that it’s essentially in-universe dogfighting, something few people practice would approve in real life. There has long been debate over whether the creatures actually enjoy fighting the way they do when captured by human trainers. Some say they enjoy it and only resist capture so that trainers can prove their worth. This doesn’t appear to be in the text, but even if we accept this as true for the sake of argument, the fact that an abused creature cannot choose to leave its trainer suggests that these creatures are closer to indentured servants only companions.

Pokémon gives some of its prominent creatures personalities – Ash’s Pikachu most of all, of course. But for the most part, the show’s lovable monsters are defined solely by their race. The story naturally centers around Ash and his entourage of Pokémon trainers. It’s a story of human triumph in which creatures are tools to achieve a goal. Beastieball goes to great lengths to abandon all of these notions and more.

On the one hand, its turn-based combat system is recontextualized as volleyball. The Beasties are said to love the sport and are actively looking for trainers with whom they can meet other Beasties and play volleyball – called Beastieball in-universe. There are no signs of animals harming each other. Such a simple reinvention of the genre’s key mechanics can help players of all ages, but particularly younger, often more impressionable players, discover a creature collector that doesn’t require the cognitive dissonance of believing you both like your creatures and eagerly send them into the streets. fights.

Given that Pikachu is both Ash’s pet and fiercest soldier, this depiction quickly falls apart. Pokémon asks us to accept that this is exactly how its world behaves. That’s fair enough, I suppose – the show has never been too concerned with introspection – but it’s even better. not asking players this, which is what Beastieball does.

However, Beastieball goes beyond that. The entire game world exists in harmony with this example; it’s clear that slight changes in genre tropes were consciously made to move away from them. Beasts who play together a lot can become close friends and teach each other moves, and this process is depicted with the pair happily coming together for an epic celebration that expresses their love and appreciation. Rather than forcing a Beastie into an object resembling a Poke Ball, it can be recruited by discovering its unique recruitment conditions, such as winning a game a certain way or performing specific moves. And the beasts you recruit trail behind and beside you, joining freely in your adventure, like dogs on a walk rather than pets locked in a cage.

As you fill out your Pokedex-like Beastiepedia, details are filled in that often have nothing to do with game mechanics. These short biographies are heartfelt, as if their authors wanted to celebrate animals for their traits and their personality like a museum would. Not everything is there to help you dominate your competitors and win the game. Much of this is pure enrichment via a tradition that treats its star creatures as unique beings.

Even people in the open world will make such sweet remarks about their Beasties. A woman I met early in my trip explained to me how she thought her bird-like Beastie was unique compared to other members of their family and explained why. Beasts are not simply tools or even races. They are individuals, each of them referred to not as “it,” like a chair or a doorknob, but as “he,” “she,” or “they,” as beings with their own wants and needs. .

Despite having a similar story structure and gameplay mechanics to Pokemon, Wishes Unlimited’s gameplay gets rid of the parts that require mental gymnastics. Even if you always want to be the best (like no one ever was), catching them is not your real quest. Its story is actually about saving a Beastie habitat from closure, and the adventure you experience is about returning to your town with the resources needed to save a space that means so much to the locals and the Beasties. This is not a story of conquest; it’s a story of community.

It’s long been a genre in which we often ignore, consciously or not, the uncomfortable implications of a story’s universe. But Beastieball proves you can have it both ways. In the broadest sense – the one that will ultimately determine the game’s longevity – he’s an awesome creature collector who will surely scratch the Pokémon itch that many never quite satisfy. But in bringing the studio’s now-signature air of emotional sincerity and attentive kindness to a genre where it’s often lacking, Beastieball is the creature collector I always wanted but wasn’t sure I’d get a day.