Taking the classic beat ‘em up genre to a new view is developer 13AM Games and publisher WayForward. Their latest title, Dawn of the Monsters, puts players in an apocalyptic world where Kaiju have invaded and mankind must make their last stand. As a huge fan of the beat ‘em up genre and after playing through the game myself, I have to say that I am impressed with how this title turned out. While it wasn’t flawless, it provided a very entertaining experience.

Story

The world is overrun with Kaiju known as Nephilim and it is up to a special unit known as DAWN to take mankind’s last stand. Somehow in control of two Nephilim themselves and in possession of two ass-kicking fighting machines known as ATOM’s, they set out to destroy the Kaiju nests and hierarchy. There is a lot of work to be done and even more ass to kick, so get ready to be sent down to Earth from the home base in space in order to complete missions and save humanity!

All-in-all, the plot itself was a bit simplistic and overdone. However, there was a twist at the section of the game that I thought was the end that was actually unexpected. So, points for the turnaround near the end, but everything leading up to it could be guessed if you know anything about stories with a space-based setup. The good news here is that given this game is a beat ‘em up, having a simplistic story can be considered part of the genre.

Gameplay

In this game, you have four fighters to choose from. Each one is a bit different in their fighting style, speed, and skills. It is best to spend the first few levels trying out the different characters if you aren’t sure which one you would like to use. I, personally, ended up using Megadon, but to each their own here. Just don’t forget to try out their special attacks while testing them.

Before worrying too much about the character choice, make sure you get a feel for the movement style for the game and executions. These are the same for all characters. You basically are able to move through a full 2.5D walkway through each level and enemies can fill up this space. But once you line up with an enemy and get their health low enough, an icon will pop up over them to complete an execution. This will instantly kill that enemy, make you invulnerable during the action, and provide a little bit of health back to you. Utilizing executions and their timing will literally save your life.

Right below your health bar, you will see a row of short bars that can be filled up. These bars are your rage meters and they are used to perform special skill attacks. While holding block, you will see three special attack options to choose from and the number of rage bars each move costs. For Megadon, I could use one rage bar to make my character go into Rage mode, increasing his attack temporarily, or utilize two actual attacks costing two bars each; explosion and fire breath.

Along with the rage meter, you will find a purple bar that can be increased near your health bar. This is your Cataclysmic bar and once it is full you will be able to do a super attack. This is, again, different for each fighter and can be utilized for tough moments when you are surrounded or to simply help take out the bigger, tougher enemies.

Other than straight fighting, there are side options to keep in mind. For once, as I mentioned before, you can block. Blocking at the right time will lead to a parry of your opponent’s attack. You can also dodge, which can also provide a perfect dodge if timed well. On their own, perfect dodges don’t do anything, but some of the advance cards can utilize it better. Other than those two, you can also interact with your environment a bit by picking up items, such as buildings or bombs thrown at you, and throwing them at enemies. You can also pick up power-ups that can be found through the level, be it health or rage refill, or perhaps an actual elemental damage boost.

The last thing that goes into the gameplay is the character setup. At the end of each level, depending on how well you did in the match will depend on how good the cards are that you can choose from. Over time, you will build up a collection of cards to start doing actual build setups. These cards each provide their own booster to the fighter and are divided between card set one, two, and three. There will end up being a bunch of options to utilize, including a parry-focused build, defense build, and offense build, but my favorite to use was the execution build. All three of my cards gave some kind of boost when I completed an execution and it helps a ton! However, I did switch this up to an offense build for the boss fight levels, since you don’t do a lot of executions there.

Audio and Visuals

The aesthetic of this game was something I didn’t care for much at first but it grew on me as I kept playing. All of the cutscenes and art style is in the form of a comic book, so when it came to the levels themselves I thought it looked cheesy at first before it just become more and more fitting. It’s an interesting choice to go with and one they did a great job setting up, even if you are like me and didn’t find it appealing at first.

As for the audio in this game, it is pretty well done. The music is fitting, if not somewhat ‘basic action tones’ in style. I was impressed with the voice acting though as I wasn’t expecting there to be any, let alone for the majority of it to be good.

Replayability

Given this game has shared screen co-op, the booster builds can be changed around at the start of each level, there are multiple fighters to choose from, and you are scored at the end of each level, I would definitely say there is some replayability. I didn’t see an option to adjust the difficulty, but it can always be fun to go back and try and get a better score for a level that has already been beaten. Not to mention, almost any game is better with friends!

What It Could Have Done Better

They give us these four fighters, but they don’t tell us up-front what each one’s strengths are. Typically in a game like this, the character list will have a quick stat list to show off their difference in strength, speed, and other attributes. This is missing and makes the character selection a bit of a guessing system at first.

When I did play the game with a friend, the number of enemies that showed up seemed to be exactly the same. So, if there is no difficulty option and having a friend join you doesn’t change anything, then how do you adjust the challenge to be easier or harder? This is something that should always be available in a beat ‘em up and it is simply missing from this game.

Verdict

Dawn of the Monsters is a great beat ‘em up that does well in its new rendition of the genre! While it doesn’t bring a unique story, the atmosphere and art style is the type you wouldn’t expect from this genre. It is a very fitting title to add to any collection where the focus is kicking ass and saving the world. I looking forward to bringing more friends into the Kaiju fighting world in the future with this game and definitely recommend that any beat ‘em up fan checks this one out.

Dawn of the Monsters is now available on PC via Steam, Google Stadia, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.