This morning, Jotoyo Games, an independent studio based in Chengdu, China, announced its debut game, Monster Fantasy. Jotoyo is composed of around 20 developers, though they have "decades" of combined industry experience. The studio is planning a PC release (there's already a Steam page) following a Kickstarter funding campaign set to begin on July 15.
Drawing inspiration from successful franchises like Monster Hunter, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon, it blends free-form monster hunting with village building and life simulation in a colorful Chibi art style.
In the game, players take the role of an amnesiac hero in the Kingdom of Eldoras, a vast fantasy world spanning valleys, rainforests, frozen plains, and volcanoes. The kingdom is the backdrop for both monster-hunting adventures and the quieter village life. Indeed, the central design philosophy of Monster Fantasy is to split the gameplay experience into two fully independent modules, combat and life simulation, each with its own progression path.
Players are never forced into one or the other; a fully hardcore hunter and a purely cozy farmer can both complete the campaign. The studio's stated goal, in the words of founder Allan Xai, is to "break down the barrier between action games and cozy games" and create a space that bridges core and casual players alike.
When it comes to combat, Monster Fantasy features four playable classes, each with a distinct mechanical identity. The Warrior uses heavy gear, offense/defense switching, and precise guarding. The Mage combines elements to craft and cast custom spells. The Archer is, unsurprisingly, all about ranged precision combat, and the Swordsman is another melee character that focuses on agile, dodge-based action. Skills are, however, tied to individual weapons, meaning a single character can ultimately unlock every skill across all classes. Players can specialize or master all four.
Combat is also dynamic: day/night cycles and weather affect monster behavior, rewarding players who study creatures before engaging. Villagers can be recruited as combat companions, though not every villager is suited for battle. Over 50 massive monsters populate Eldoras, each with unique habits and exploitable traits. Named creatures confirmed include:
- Nine-Tailed Fox
- Fire Dragon
- Griffin
- Squirrel-Bear
Defeated monsters can also be tamed and kept as pets. They grow from young forms, evolving new abilities over time, and in some cases, becoming rideable mounts for traversal and cooperative combat.
The life-sim module offers a wide range of activities:
- Fishing, mining, and chopping wood
- Farming, cooking, brewing potions
- Crafting gear
- Village building and decoration
Players can name and manage their own village, constructing homes and shaping the settlement to their taste. Monster Fantasy also features around 100 unique villagers available to befriend, each with their own personality, strengths, and interests. Players can invite favorites to live in their village and recruit them for work or combat. Moreover, an AI-powered conversation system allows free-form dialogue for recruiting, bargaining, or general conversation in real time, thanks to LLM and TTS technology.
The game has no release date yet.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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