With a month left on its Kickstarter campaign, Pokémon-like monster-collecting game, Wonderful Neoran Valley, has shattered its fundraising goal. The developer, Nara Studio, requested just $100,000 to piece together the game, which is deeply reminiscent of Palworld, but this weekend, the funds raised passed the half-million-dollar mark.
Per the Kickstarter, Wonderful Neoran Valley ‘is a monster collector roguelite experience, in which you will have to convince the creatures you meet to fight by your side.’ It’s inspired by all monster-collecting games, but Nara name-drops titles like Pokémon and Shin Megami Tensei.
Wonderful Neoran Valley Could Be a Palworld Hit
In January 2024, Palworld emerged to an overwhelmingly popular reception, hitting the market and shifting millions of copies. It became a sensational success, empowering Pocketpair, the game’s developer, to epic proportions. Of course, Nintendo eventually chased the studio down with a legal fervour because of the Pokémon comparisons, but it’s still doing great today.
Wonderful Neoran Valley could be the next Palworld, if all goes well.
On Kickstarter, the project has managed to secure five times the money needed to develop the game, and there’s still a month left in the tank. At the time of writing, 8,255 backers had contributed to the project.
Wonderful Neoran Valley is remarkably fleshed out for a new IP from a small indie studio. Players will contend with more than 70 Neoran creatures, all unique and boasting an array of abilities and quirks, just like Pokémon. The goal is to assemble a team and uncover the dark truth behind Neoran Valley, adventuring through the map and exploring challenges that pop up with a Roguelite twist.
The Kickstarter uncovers some of the Neoran characters, all of which are based on plants and animals. There’s Noctivora, Owrion, Pero, Chugaloo, Sagira, Mehtyr, and Wakiza, with the naming conventions alone pushing the Pokémon vibes further.
However, Wonderful Neoran Valley avoids the strict Pokémon comparisons in a clever way. You don’t actually catch Neoran, but you work to convince them to join your roster, approaching the recruitment process with a somewhat psychological and strategic twist.
Nara Studio has offered a blurb about the game’s world:
The Wonderful Neoran Valley is a place where humans and Neoran coexist without mixing. Humans live in feudal cities, governed by a monarch, while Neoran inhabit harsher biomes: deserts, glaciers, jungles, caves, and oceans. The two speak the same language, but follow vastly different societal and political rules. Humans excel in ingenuity and planning, while Neoran transcend common biological limits, powered by an ancestral energy called Neura.
You’ll assume control of The Knight, a player character who walks the line between human and Neura. This is a master tactician and is ‘skilled in directing others through combat.’
In a bizarre twist, the Neoran trailer reveals some intense horror elements. Nara has quelled concerns from easily-spooked players by suggesting that defeating ‘Neura Clusters’ will remove the scary elements from the game and ‘everything will be fun again!’
There’s still a month to back Wonderful Neoran Valley. If you head over to the game’s Kickstarter, you’ll see a lengthy breakdown of the tiers, ranging from a single Euro to as much as €8,500 for the ‘Architect’ tier. This has received one backer, surprisingly. The minimum you need to donate to receive a copy of the game is €20.
The most recent milestone secured a Nintendo Switch 2 port of the PC-first game, and the next step secures the ‘full team, full time’ milestone.
Are you eager to see more from Wonderful Neoran Valley? Let us know what you’re thinking on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that a new God of War game might be revealed this year
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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