Monstruous is a single screen puzzle game that presents you with a giant, strange monster that needs to be destroyed. This monster won’t attack at first, and everything within this game is triggered by the decisions you make, creating a puzzle that you need to solve by getting the right combination of moves.
You control four different characters, each with two powers. Some of these powers only really work if another move is done before it, sort of powering them forward. Your goal is to defeat this monster, before it defeats you, without killing your team. This is sort of done through trial and error, but you can also see the actions and understand how another action could benefit it. Playing the trumpet doesn’t seem like it could do much, but once you see that it lights up the other hero’s wand, then tells you to use the wand after that action.
You can restart anytime that you need to on Monstruous, which is especially handy as you come to grips with the different moves. You can also fast forward so that you can quickly speed through combinations that seem to work after each other, to get to new combinations to try out.
Monstruous has some really interesting graphics and feels quite curious and unpredictable as you come to terms with what things do. The game feels like a movie at a few different places, as you watch a hero do a giant action or the monster move around and change. There are so many moments that I caused within the game, where I did not expect the monster to act a specific way or was confused as to what had happened. Figuring out this combination is a challenge, but it’s neat to see where each move takes the game as you play.
You can download Monstruous on itch.io, for free.