Cassette Beasts Is a Unique Twist on the Monster Collecting Genre Coming to PC and Game Pass Next Month

By Tim Bowman, March 31, 2023

There’s an unusual approach to catching and battling creatures in this upcoming indie game.

Cassette Beasts is a different take on the Pokemon and Digimon-style monster catching games, where the player transforms into the creatures themselves. The game will first come to PC on Steam and Game Pass for Windows on April 26. A console version for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One will arrive later this spring that will also be available for Game Pass subscribers on those Microsoft platforms. An official release date for consoles hasn’t been announced yet.

Players will use a cassette recorder to capture monsters in this role-playing game. Each monster’s essence can be recorded on a cassette tape using the cassette player’s built-in microphone. The character will then have the ability to transform into those creatures later on for battles by playing the tape. Set on the fictional island of New Wirral that’s filled with monsters, Cassette Beasts features 2D pixel art designs in an open 3D world. The main character washed up on the island and must now try to get back home, like everyone else on New Wirral. However, players may discover they traveled to a different world. There are over 120 creatures to collect in the game. Two monsters can be combined in battle to create an all-new creature with the game’s special Fusion system between two human companions. This could lead to over 14,000 different monster forms according to the developer.

The game’s battles are done in turn-based combat. Battles will have an elemental chemistry system to them. There will be 14 elemental types of monsters, including plastic, glass and glitter forms among the traditional ones. Monsters can learn new moves by attaching stickers to the cassette tapes. Some of the monsters abilities can also be used by the human character in the game outside of battle, like flying, climbing or swimming to further explore the world, solve puzzles and complete other tasks. Harbourtown is the home base for residents of the island where players can take on quests, listen to rumors from the townspeople or shop at stores for items and upgrades.

Players will also battle against captain level Rangers of Harbourtown who are protecting the city. There will be 12 of these captains to face in the game. Stronger monsters called Rogue Fusions will be around the game world for players to encounter that give higher rewards. These enemies also give players the chance to earn Bootlegs, which are rare types of creatures with variant moves that are different elements compared to their normal design. There will also be dungeons to explore with special enemies to encounter called Archangels that are part of the story behind the main character returning home.

There’s a cast of six different human characters that players can team up with. Relationships will grow between these characters that will strengthen their connection in battles. Another character will join the player in battle and be fully controllable. There will be friendship levels for all the companions. Higher companion levels will unlock stronger Fusion combinations and attacks. There will even be a romantic option at the highest companion level.

Cassette Beasts will have local co-operative play for up to two players to take on the story together. There will also be post-game content with optional bosses and quests containing a new story and monsters to discover. There will be speedrunning features and in-game options as well, including LiveSplit compatibility.

The game is in development from the Brighton, UK-based Bytten Studio and being published by Raw Fury. Bytten Studio is mainly a two-person team of Jay Baylis and Tom Coxon. The studio’s previous and first game was Lenna’s Inception, an action adventure RPG like Zelda that released for the PC in January 2020. The team has prior experience working on games like Stardew Valley (2016), Starbound (2016) and Wargroove (2019). This game’s composer is Joel Baylis, who also did the music for Lenna’s Inception.

Cassette Beasts was first revealed in 2020.

A demo of the game is currently available on Steam.

Watch the game’s latest trailer: