Curious, you answer the call, and suddenly you’re…somewhere else. This freaks your unknown companions out, because no one has had cell phone service in weeks there’s been no communication, in our out. In the middle of trying to figure out where you are and what’s happening, you get a phone call on your cell phone. Three people stand over you: a rumpled, unkempt middle-aged man, a high school girl who will obviously become waifu bait at some point, and a younger middle school girl. You hear both eerily unhinged laughter and pained moaning coming from far away. You wake up in a dark, mist-shrouded hallway, with no memories of who or where you are. The game is dark, and at moments very disturbing, with the few light moments that poke through not really doing enough to dispel the gloom. This game has a lot of heavy, mature themes in it that some may find inappropriate for teenagers to be grappling with. Negative Themes: In all honesty, I question why Monark wasn’t rated M. There’s no visual sexual content, but there’s plenty of suggested sex going on.
You find out that one student has an incestuous love for her sister (which is not reciprocated). Sloppy seconds are mentioned at one point. People mention their first time and having their virginity taken. Unfortunately, some of it is rather sexual in nature. Sexual Content: Monark is set in a high school, so there’s lots of second-hand relationship drama that you come across in the course of the game. Language: Cursing is used throughout the game, including d***, h***, s***, b**** The combat itself is not very graphic the worst that happens is a bleed effect causing a character to spurt cartoony, low-res blood at the end of their turn.ĭrug/Alcohol Content: None to speak of, which was a pleasant surprise. People burst into flames and get electrocuted. There are pools of blood just lying around. People’s heads explode in a bloody cloud, jump off of a roof in front of you, and get their cartoony hearts ripped out while alive. You hear pained moaning everywhere you go. Violent Content: Monark is a violent game, more so outside of combat than in. Monark asks many, many questions about justice in a cruel world and why life is unfair to people, but it never has any good answers, sending a message that the “spiritual” causes problems instead of solving them. One of your companions makes some derogatory remarks about prayer being for those who are too weak to help themselves. The seven deadly sins are featured prominently in Monark. People form pacts with daemons, and the areas you fight in are somewhere in the spiritual realm. Spiritual Content: Monark’s entire plot revolves around the “spiritual” and its effects on the real world. In all honesty, I question why Monark wasn’t rated M. Much like Sumire, I wonder what people see in Monark Content Guide Monark’s few saving graces are not enough to earn it a recommendation. Certain aspects of the game have great potential, but it fails to deliver as a package, due to being low-effort, formulaic, and rather trope-heavy. By 2022 standards, however, NIS America’s Monark is largely unimpressive and at times needlessly frustrating. That is to say, it would have been a good game ten years ago, to a younger demographic, on a platform that was more restrictive technologically. The best praise I can give Monark is that it would have been a really good game on the 3DS.