Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia just hit PS5 and Switch
Hamster brings the 1997 hex-based tactical RPG to modern consoles as part of its Console Archives series.
Hamster Corporation has released the 1997 tactical RPG Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia for PlayStation 5 today. A Nintendo Switch version launches tomorrow, May 15. The game is the latest addition to the Console Archives series and costs $11.99 on both storefronts.
A spreadsheet with dragons
Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia originally launched on the PlayStation. Toshiba-EMI published the game in Japan, and ASCII brought it to North America in 1998. The title is a console-focused spin-off of SystemSoft's older PC strategy games. SystemSoft originally created the franchise for Japanese home computers like the MSX and PC-8801 in the late 1980s before porting it to the Sega Genesis. Disciples of Gaia shifted the art style toward anime character designs to fit the 32-bit console market.
Players control a "Master" character who summons armies of fantasy creatures to fight across a hex-based map. The game sits somewhere between a traditional wargame and a Japanese role-playing game. You choose one of several different Master characters at the start of the campaign. Each leader has a specific magical alignment. A Necromancer excels at ice magic and fights better at night. A Warlock uses fire spells and performs better during the day.
Combat resolves in a separate side-view screen.
The battle animations use large 2D sprites. Characters trade physical blows and cast screen-filling magic.
Managing a fantasy army on a grid is basically just accounting with dragons, but the math holds up well enough.
The modern wrapper
Like other Console Archives releases, this port includes basic modern conveniences. Players can remap the controller buttons and adjust the display settings. The emulator also supports save states. You can create a suspension point at any time and reload it if a battle goes poorly.
The core gameplay loop revolves around capturing towers and leveling up veteran units.
Towers provide resources to summon more creatures. They also heal units stationed on top of them. Your monsters gain experience points through combat and can eventually evolve into stronger forms. You can also fuse different monsters together outside of combat to create entirely new units.
If the main Master character dies, the game ends immediately. It is a punishing mechanic that demands careful positioning. You have to keep your leader safe while expanding your territory across the board. The computer opponent will aggressively target your Master if you leave them exposed.
The release includes a full story campaign alongside single map scenarios and a versus mode. Up to four players can compete in the multiplayer mode.
Strategy games from this era are notoriously dense. The documentation is somewhere between "incomplete" and "optimistic." You will spend a lot of time reading stat screens and figuring out elemental weaknesses through trial and error. Hamster's release does not change any of the original code or balance. It just provides a legal way to play a 32-bit strategy game on current hardware without tracking down a used disc.
Comments ()