While Pokémon is the most famous creature-collecting game, many others have emerged in recent years. It’s tough for these games to stand out, and often they borrow familiar ideas while adding their own spin. EvoCreo aims to do just that, offering a level of difficulty that rivals—and even surpasses—classic Pokémon games. Originally released on mobile in 2015, EvoCreo is now coming to PC via Steam on January 7th.
At first, EvoCreo seems very similar to the original Pokemon games with its pixel art style and basic idea – you travel around collecting and training creatures to become a champion. While it shares many similarities, EvoCreo offers its own unique take on battles and exploring the world, and it’s noticeably more challenging than many recent Pokemon titles. Even with a few minor issues on the PC version, EvoCreo should satisfy players who are looking for a more difficult monster-collecting experience.
Rating: 3 out of 5
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| In-depth battling system offers a challenge ideal for fans of early Pokemon | Not optimized for full-screen play on PC |
| Interesting and unique Creo designs make collecting exciting | Some controls are poorly translated from mobile to PC |
| World exploration is immersive and engaging | The difficulty curve can be a bit uneven at the start |
| Attractive pixel art style with compelling battle animations | |
| Great amount of gameplay content for the price |
EvoCreo Offers Up Impressively Complex Battle Mechanics
Like most games where you collect creatures, battles are central to the gameplay of EvoCreo. If you enjoy a good strategic challenge, you’ll find the battle system particularly engaging. Your Creo learn new moves and abilities as they gain experience, and you can always see a complete list of what they know. This allows you to customize your team and switch up tactics to handle different opponents and situations. Essentially, you can build each Creo to fit a specific strategy and even change their strengths in battle.
In this game, both Creo and their moves have different types. Many Creo have two types, which gives them unique strengths and weaknesses. While there aren’t as many types as in games like Pokemon, there are still lots of possible type combinations. The game is well-balanced, so you’ll need to use type advantages to win the harder battles. You can’t just keep leveling up one Creo and expect to win easily!
Okay, so one thing that really sets EvoCreo apart from other monster-collecting games is how moves are categorized. There are regular moves, then these super powerful ‘Elite Moves’ that take a while to charge up, and finally, healing moves. Those healing moves let your Creo recover HP and even get buffs during battle, which is awesome. It adds a whole new level of strategy because each of your creatures can equip one Elite Move, three regular moves, and one healing move. You’ve gotta think about how long each move takes to recharge, too – finding that sweet spot to make sure your Creo are always ready to fight is key!
This game is packed with battles! If you enjoy strategic combat, you’ll love it. You’ll typically fight 3-4 trainers in each new town before challenging the strongest trainer to earn a Key. There are also plenty of trainer battles and wild Creo encounters on the routes between towns. I recommend stocking up on healing items, but overall, it’s a great game for fans of classic turn-based creature battling.
As a PC Port, There Are Still Snags for EvoCreo to Iron Out
Bringing mobile games to PC can be challenging, and EvoCreo is no exception. It initially launches in a small window, and while you can switch to full screen, it doesn’t quite look right – the graphics appear stretched. I prefer playing PC games in full screen for a more immersive experience, and the windowed mode detracts from that.
A few other things hold EvoCreo back from being truly great. Some menus, like the one showing your Creo’s details, still expect you to swipe to see everything. When playing with a mouse and keyboard, I found the only way to move through pages was by clicking and dragging, which isn’t very user-friendly and can be difficult to get the hang of. This is especially annoying because you need to swipe through these menus to change your Creo’s attacks and abilities, so figuring out the controls can be quite frustrating.
I noticed a couple of small issues while playing. Sometimes, when I used healing items, the game would use two instead of one, making me run out of supplies faster than expected. While you can work around this by buying twice as many items, it can be expensive, especially for pricier ones.
Getting Started with EvoCreo Can Be Tough, But Old School Pokemon Fans Might Love It
It takes a bit to get used to EvoCreo, particularly on PC. Unlike many games, the tutorials are found as text in the menu, rather than being shown during gameplay. While this might be helpful for players familiar with similar games, new players may find it confusing to learn how to get around and teach their Creo new moves and abilities.
Exploring the game world is a key part of the experience. You’ll discover creatures called Creo with unique skills – like Glide for reaching high places – that unlock new areas. It’s reminiscent of the early Pokémon games, where figuring out how to reach certain locations was a challenge on its own. You can also Dig to uncover hidden underground areas and Ride larger Creo for even more ways to get around. If you enjoyed using HMs to explore in Pokémon, you’ll likely appreciate how Creo Abilities work in this game.
Honestly, I was a little disappointed with how much exploring actually paid off in the game. You can wander into pretty much any building and chat with everyone, and some of the conversations are neat, but they rarely felt meaningful to the overall story. It’s the little things that bothered me too – like not being able to even peek inside trash cans! I was hoping to find hidden items or have people offer me quests or trade, something to really make me want to check every corner of the towns. It just didn’t quite happen, and I ended up feeling like talking to people wasn’t always worth the effort.
Early on, EvoCreo can be quite challenging. It’s easy to fall behind in levels as you head to the first town because there aren’t many chances to gain experience. This makes the first battle arena tough, especially since experience isn’t shared with Pokémon not in the battle. You’ll need to spend time battling to level up your team enough to beat the first boss. After that initial hurdle, the game’s difficulty becomes more balanced, though it never gets overly easy. If you’re a Pokémon fan who misses the older, more challenging games and the lack of XP share, EvoCreo is worth considering, despite some problems with the PC version.
EvoCreo will be available on PC through Steam starting January 7th and will cost $9.99. We received a copy of the game from the publisher to evaluate for this review.
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2026-01-06 18:11