here be monsters is hardly a new game, but it's relatively recently that it stopped being just a facebook game, and since i do not facebook i wasn't going to play it until it was browser-based as well.
when it went browser-based, i was paying attention to something else and didn't look in on it until last monday.
i like it. it has a lot of the components i liked about glitch, but it is not as rich. f'rinstance, the graphics are not as lovely and there's only the one sound loop. the story arc is far less imaginative and the player's journey in it is much more scripted.
if i'm only going to compare it to glitch, it's a pretty poor substitute.
but if i'm going to think about it on its own merits, it is a very pleasing little game. it is played on the actual globe with travel costs, so it has a feeling of placiness that i like. it also has complex little crafting trees and an interesting harvesting system that's fun for me.
although other players are on the same field, aside from chatting with them there's little interaction, unless you count going to your friends' houses and fertilizing their crops and sending and receiving gifts from your friends.
the gift giving is nice, and it's free stuff, because there's no cost to the giver of the gifts, and simply hitting the "say thank you" button puts coin in your pocket.
i'm kind of ambivalent about that.
on the one hand it's good manners but on the other, it's very transactional.
the game has fishing. the kind of fishing where you tie flies and then go stand at a body of water with your little digital bait on the hook until a digital fish bites and you have to reel it in.
it's a pleasant way to pass time and i think it's set up to poke the reward center of your brain.
short version: you won't land in the game and think "OMG, best. game. ever." but it is a playable game, and it's interesting and fun.
if you want to try it, you can do that here: http://www.herebemonstersgame.com/play
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