A turn-based monster fighting game for the Playdate

Pulpmon is a free game that allows players to choose whether to support the developer if they wish, thanks to the “name your own pricing” model. It is an adventure game with turn-based combat and some exploration in a top-down style, featuring a large world to explore.

The game draws heavy inspiration from Pokemon games. Although, it is presented in a two-color format like other Playdate games, including Tochi and Yoshimi Yahtzee, which is due to the black and white display on the Playdate hardware.

Explore a large world

The game features a large world for the player to explore. The game aims to catch and train “Pulpmon,” a class of animals with abilities much like Pokemon. The player will encounter these Pulpmon and other villagers who they can speak with throughout the large world. The game also features turn-based combat with wild Pulpmon, other trainers, and gyms.

Simple controls

The controls of Pulpmon are very simple and should be easy for players of any skill level to pick up. The game also utilizes the Playdate’s somewhat unconventional crank controller that the player can use to cycle through their “Dex,” which refers to their collection of Pulpmon.

Playdate-only

Pulpmon offers a large world to explore and a range of Pulpmon to catch, so it should be entertaining for fans of the classic Pokemon games. However, the app is only available for the Playdate, meaning the player must have one of these devices to play. It is possible to run the game on a computer using the Playdate’s development environment, but this may not be a suitable option for less-experienced users.