Review: DAWN OF THE MONSTERS is a Fun Kaiju Beat 'em Up
Dawn of the Monsters is a game that released earlier this month that takes place in a near-future world and allows you to control giant kaiju-like beasts and mecha to save the world. It was developed by 13AM Games and published by WayForward and is now available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S with an MSRP of $29.99. WayForward was kind enough to provide me with a review copy for the Nintendo Switch. All thoughts below are my own.
It takes monsters to stop monsters in this manga-inspired, side-scrolling, kaiju beat 'em up! Titanic creatures known as Nephilim have invaded Earth, and the only hope of defeating them is DAWN (Defense Alliance Worldwide Network), which unleashes its own colossal combatants to defend against the enemy hordes! Take control of four hulking behemoths – Megadon, Aegis Prime, Tempest Galahad, and Ganira – each with distinct abilities and play styles, and smash your way through destructible real-world environments spanning 35 missions! Power up with DNA Augments, crush foes with devastating Rage Attacks and brutal Executions, and team up with a friend for 2-player co-op action! You are the planet's last line of defense...but will that be enough for mankind to survive the Dawn of the Monsters!?
If you enjoy side-scrolling beat ‘em up games and pretending to be a giant mecha or kaiju, you’re going to love Dawn of the Monsters. The closest analogues I can think of are that Megadon is a quasi-Godzilla, Ganira is a turtle/crab cousin to Megadon, Aegis Prime is like Ultraman, and Tempest Galahad is a very sleek mech. Each mission is composed of two parts that you’ll traverse through and beat up enemy monsters called Nephilim that vary in looks and tactics. Once you clear the level, you go back to base, continue the story, buy upgrades, change power ups, etc. There really isn’t anything fancy here, but it’s still a good game.
Visually, the game has an art direction that feels very comic book-y and at first I wasn’t a big fan. Once I played through a level though I warmed up to it and I really appreciate it. As you play through, you can also unlock skins for the four characters and while these are merely palate swaps, some of them are clear nods to pop culture. For instance, the Amuro skin for Tempest Galahad gives the mech a paint job reminiscent of the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Ganira has a purple and green skin that fans of anime from the 90s will instantly recognize. The environment for the levels is very fitting, but after a couple of missions, it feels a little boring. Thankfully, the levels aren’t very long though which helps everything move along and you don’t typically get a lot of time to just admire the scenery so this is more forgivable.
The story for the game is a little on the generic side, but the voice acting is enjoyable and helps bring it to life a little more. I do like how you have the dialogue that happens in the Missions section of the game which is the most pertinent stuff, but there’s also another section of the game called Chat and it has some additional character moments that you can enjoy if that’s your thing. They’re not super plentiful, but it’s nice when they do appear.
If you’ve ever played a beat ‘em up game, you pretty much know how Dawn of the Monsters plays. You’re always moving to the right until the map stops scrolling and then you just have to fight a ton of monsters. You have three different types of basic attacks (Light, Heavy, Dash) and then you can guard, dodge, use Rage abilities, and if you’re really in a pinch, Cataclysm Attacks. Oh, you can also perform executions on enemies with low health and heal yourself. These executions can often result in you decapitating the enemy and then if you’re lucky, you can pick up the head and use it to attack their comrades. It’s very simple, but effective. You can augment your characters with DNA Augments that provide additional bonuses to stats as well as different abilities such as invulnerability for a few seconds when your health drops below a threshold or after you execute an enemy. They’re small bonuses, but help you develop more unique characters. The 2-player cooperative mode works well with no performance problems and it’s always great to have couch co-op in a modern game.
I really enjoy playing Dawn of the Monsters. It’s not my game of the year, but it’s fun and quick which is great when you have an extremely busy life like I do. If anything I said sounds good, I would recommend grabbing yourself a copy of the game now on your preferred platform. If you have Stadia Pro, you can claim the game right now at no additional cost.
