Monark teaser trailer delves into characters, buddy system, and combat

Monark, a JRPG being developed by former Shin Megami Tensei staff, has been officially announced through a new trailer on its website. The trailer is a little over three minutes long and delves deeper into both the combat system, the buddy system, and the characters themselves.

The trailer reveals that the protagonist, using both “EGO” and the demons he summons derived from the power of the seven deadly sins, will battle enemies called unreasonables. The game takes place at school, and the protagonist is a member of the True Student Council.

The cast of characters, both playable and NPC, is quite extensive, with the former playing a major role in the narrative and combat. There’s a buddy system in which the protagonist chooses who he will fight alongside, which in turn determines which one of the multiple endings you’ll get. The characters you can choose from include Nozomi Hinara, Shinya Yuda, Kokoro Surugadai, and Kyotaro Date.

The official scans from Famitsu magazine have also been released, revealing more gameplay details. Monark uses a command-based battle system with a free move turn system. Increasing madness will gain access to more powerful skills; however, if you increase it too much, the protagonist will go insane and rampage against both friend and foe, making it impossible to control him directly.

The “EGO” system previously mentioned represents the player’s desire levels of pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. The values of each of these categories change depending on your diagnosis and the choices you make. This also affects the demons you control as your “underlings.” You can customize your underlings’ appearance.

Twitter user Renka shared the game’s official box art and limited edition set.

Monark will launch in Japan on October 14 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The title is being developed by Lancarse and published by FuRyu. It was also announced that NIS America will be publishing the title in the West, with a planned release sometime in 2022. There’s also a limited edition set up for pre-order now.