Pokémon fans are always asking Game Freak and The Pokémon Company to add or flesh out certain features that will make the games more accessible and fun for players looking for a specific experience from the franchise. Competitive battling is one area that players feel has been neglected, and seeing a game like Temtem release the perfect version of what they want is like a good-natured slap in the face.
Temtem is an indie-developed MMORPG inspired by Pokémon that became an internet sensation when it was initially announced with a Kickstarter campaign in 2018. It blew past its initial goals, raising a total of $573,939, and continued to draw attention when it was released through Steam Early Access in January 2020.
While the game didn’t end up setting the world on fire between its early access period and various console releases over the last three years, Temtem and its developers have cultivated a dedicated community. Now that community has arguably the best official implementation of a Pokémon-like battle simulator in the form of Temtem: Showdown.
The team at Crema released Temtem: Showdown as a free-to-play multiplayer battle client that will give players of any skill level easy access to the core game’s two-vs-two, no RNG battle system to pair with its growing esports scene.
This standalone platform even features ranked matches, community tournament features, and a system that gives players competitive rewards that they can use in their regular copy of Temtem. It also features no microtransactions along with quick and easy team-building tools, and if players catch a Luma, Crema’s term for a Shiny, during their Temtem journey they unlock the ability to use it in Showdown.
Even at a glance, you can see how much love and attention went into crafting a multiplayer experience that can be enjoyed on its own while still pairing perfectly with the main Temtem title. And, while the Temtem community is celebrating, Pokémon players are glancing over with envy.
While Pokémon is always going to have more players and inherent interest in competitive play than a smaller title like Temtem, the tools players are given to build create a huge barrier to entry.
Instead of being able to select any Pokémon, the moves, items, and stat distribution from a team builder, anyone who wants to play online has to train each member of their team through multiple methods. This might promote players to feel closer to those Pokémon, but it takes time and turns a lot of people off from simply hopping in and giving that element of the game a try.
It also doesn’t help that most of the training methods only truly become viable once you beat the main story of a game, so players who want to focus solely on competitive play can’t jump right into their preferred Pokémon experience.
Game Freak has made huge strides in recent Pokémon releases to open up that barrier and make it easier for anyone to train up a competitive team, or get a taste of high-level battling with Rental Teams, but it isn’t enough. Fans, especially those who spend hundreds of hours battling against other players online, want a dedicated Pokémon battle simulator.
Pokémon Showdown is an unofficial battle simulator that has been consistently pulling thousands of daily users since it was established in 2011 and widely implemented in the online Pokémon community in July 2012. The ease of access to an in-depth teambuilder, multiple supported formats, content sharing, and more make it the perfect place to practice, improve, and battle no matter what Pokémon titles you prefer.
The last time Pokémon got something close to an official battle simulator was Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Wii around the release of Diamond and Pearl in 2006-07. But even that was limited to being a full-price release on a console where you could only access all of the Pokémon available by having a Nintendo DS with a copy of Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum—and even still the team-building element was severely lacking.
Temtem: Showdown is essentially a mirror showing the Pokémon community something they can’t have until TPC decides to do something like it has with Pokémon TCG Live for Pokémon battles and the VGC format.
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Having a dedicated, free-to-play, or at the very least free-to-download, multiplayer client is a good way to get new players to try playing your game. For Pokémon, the name alone would draw people to the game and get them to test the waters in a competitive scenario when they may have simply stopped playing after beating a regular title like Scarlet and Violet.
Even just putting a comprehensive team builder in the post-game for players to use when they want to play online would be enough to entice more people to give it a try while making sure those Pokémon can’t be used in other areas of the game. Game Freak would likely still view this as devaluing other areas of the game, however, making it hard to see a product like this ever being developed as a first-party solution.
I have played a lot of Pokémon, main series and competitive, and highly recommend anyone who has an interest in the VGC’s doubles format to give Temtem: Showdown a try. Crema did a fantastic job with its game’s battle system and now anyone can at least test it out for free on Steam and read more about it on the team’s website.
Fingers crossed we eventually get even a fraction of either Showdown project’s features in an official Pokémon title down the line.
