Adore Critic Reviews

At the end of the day, though, that’s not the vision the developers had for Adore and that’s fine, as what they have produced is a damn fine spin on the monster taming genre all the same. Look past the repetition, and you’ll find that early simplicity was a complete red herring, as the complexities of team synergy, hidden passives, and the real-time combat suck you in. The core of what’s here is excellent, and while the narrow scope of the moment-to-moment gameplay loops may feel a little limiting, they allow the excellent core combat and surprising depth to shine through. If, like me, you were a little tired of the genre rehashing the same formula for what feels like forever, then Adore, while not without its flaws, will likely feel like a total breath of fresh air.

Adore is a rather good game that has a refreshing spin on the creature collection genre. The action-based isometric combat presents a unique take regarding controlling a team of creatures, and mastering when to summon them and customising a team made for a compelling experience. The gorgeous and charming art and soundtrack are also a pleasant inclusion. While the very limited variety in quest objectives starts to become an issue long before the credits roll, you can definitely still have a fun time with Adore’s new interpretation of isometric dungeon crawling and creature collecting.

It may be a little uneven, but Adore nonetheless stands out from the pack as an innovative new entry in the monster-catching RPG subgenre. The fast-paced combat, detailed team customization, and high level of replayability all make this one easy to recommend, though we say this with the qualifier that performance could be better and the gameplay loop can get pretty grindy. All the same, we’d give this one a recommendation to anyone looking for an interesting new monster catcher — it’s a welcome addition to the genre and we hope to see its ideas further explored in future games.

I have to commend Adore for trying something different and largely succeeding with it. Adding action to the monster-catching formula is always a fun twist, and depriving the player of a method of direct attack in an action RPG certainly freshens things up. There’s something really special at the core of this one, but it feels like it just couldn’t carry that spark all the way to the goal. If you’re intrigued by the premise, I can give it a mild recommendation.

It may not work enough to sustain it for a 10+-hour runtime, but there are enough interesting ideas here that it’s not hard to imagine it evolving into something fun.

While the unique monster-taming dungeon-crawling crossover gameplay that occupies much of Adore is surprisingly engaging, a lack of character and a bendy difficulty curve stop it from reaching its potential heights.

Adore brings action packed combat to the monster collecting genre, but unfortunately it's just too repetitive and frustrating to recommend.