Temtem: Swarm Preview

Vampire Survivors spawned an entire genre of games, and many have followed in poncle's footsteps, hoping to pursue a taste of that glory. The latest to join this trend is none other than Crema, the developers behind the creature-taming MMO Temtem.

Temtem: Swarm is the result of the creature-collecting genre mixing with survivors. You'll take control of the adorable Temtem as you set out to survive each round, fighting a few bosses along the way, gaining new abilities, and even evolving, giving you stronger abilities to select.

Far too few titles explore the capability of taking control of the creatures you tame in creature collectors, so it's a breath of fresh air that Temtem: Swarm explores that in its entirety. Depending on the Temtem that you select for your match, you'll be able to unlock abilities related to them and their type. Starting with Platypet and that evolutionary line (Platox and Platimous), you'll get a few water/poison abilities to survive the 15 minutes, defeating opponent Temtem that spawn and unlocking more characters and locations to play in.

Though I do love the opportunity to play as the Temtem and get unique abilities and evolutions via levelling up, it definitely is far more enjoyable thanks to the inclusion of online co-op. As an up-and-coming genre, very few survivors titles have explored this at full length and planned the experience with cooperation in mind. As the creators of the MMO creature collector, it makes sense, then, that Crema would seek to pioneer in this area by building Temtem: Swarm with co-op in mind from the get-go.

You can play with up to three other players, each being able to select the Temtem of their choice, unlocking new powers and abilities, and advance through the worlds by cooperating and defeating the bosses that come. Paired with the unique abilities that each Temtem gets due to its type, it gives the opportunity to explore different compositions and builds, while everyone finds their favourite Temtem to play as.

It's great that the characters don’t get locked when a player selects them. Since each Temtem is essentially a species, there's no problem if two — or more — want to play the Platypet evolutionary line, as everyone can play the same character. Instead, customisation comes into play with a skill tree that you can add points to with every round completed, as you can modify things such as strength, cooldown reduction, or even how often your ultimate comes up.

It's all very progression-heavy, and it's the core of what makes a great survivors title — you need to have something to work towards and finish. Even past completing your first map, so many things will still be waiting for you: new maps, new Temtem, new eggs, new levels... It's important that the experience feels more than just the 15 minutes of self-contained gameplay while still not excluding those pockets of playtime. There's a fine balance between letting the matches feel like a worthy experience for those who don't have the time to jump into another one and have reasons to keep going and unlock more things, and judging by the demo gameplay, it seems like Temtem: Swarm is teetering that line expertly.

Crema's survivors title will be released on the 13th of November of this year on Early Access, and honestly, this is one definitely picking up when it releases. I was already excited about the prospect of a survivors Temtem title where you play as the creatures, and upon playing it myself, I can confidently say it's something I thoroughly enjoyed.