As much as people like to complain about Pokémon, it says something that no other franchise has ever dethroned the original monster-collecting game. Realistically, the newly-revealed Steam creature battler Olympus Rangers probably won’t take the crown either. So why is this indie take on Game Freak’s signature concept turning so many heads?
On social media, the trailer for Olympus Rangers is amassing millions upon millions of views for a few reasons. Sure, the graphics for the upcoming Steam game are even cruder than what you’ll see in Pokémon. The designs fall between DeviantArt and Temu, a fact that would doom most games in a genre that revolves around collecting monsters people care about. The public appears willing to overlook these shortcomings because Olympus Rangers has features you would never, ever find in a real Pokémon game.
Olympus Rangers is built from the ground up for multiplayer that goes well beyond merely fighting against other players. There are modes where your team or their moves are randomized, and another mode where you’re tasked with entertaining viewers. There’s an endless mode, which is exactly what it sounds like, and a mode where you permanently lose monsters that faint.
Where Olympus Rangers goes all out, though, is its vast customization options. Some lobbies let you fine-tune nearly everything, from the damage doled out by super-effective moves to the limit of monsters you can pull into battle. You can ban moves and monsters. You can allow monsters to learn more than four moves.
You also control every aspect of the game’s presentation. Olympus Rangers comes packed with 60 original monsters, but it also allows players to import their own creature concepts and movesets. Through mod support, you can pull in custom items and stages. All of these details can be 3D, but the game also supports 2D visuals. Naturally, more basic things like avatars and banners are fully customizable, too.
My favorite detail has to be the built-in database, which allows you to see exactly what every move does as well as calculate damage numbers for any possible combination.
The other major reason people are hyping up Olympus Rangers is, ironically enough, Pokémon itself. Theoretically, there is nothing stopping players from importing every single Pokémon in Game Freak’s compendium. Olympus Rangers could be a way for people to build their own dream Pokémon game, at least when it comes to battles.
Olympus Rangers has no release date yet. Hopefully, the developers won’t wait until Pokémon Winds and Waves comes out to give us a taste of what they call the “ultimate battle simulator.”
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