Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp Review

Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp is a monster of a game. Giving an option of two modes, a 30-minute game and an hour, regardless of how long you take, the gameplay will chalk up a lot of time through the ridiculous amount of options. That’s value, friends.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, the game is a dating simulator, a little like Lovingly Evil, where you play one of four monsters in summer camp, looking to hook up with a fellow monster, demon or miscellaneous love interest.

It’s more or less a visual novel then, and that puts us in a dubious territory as I’m not a fan of the genre. But, from recent experience, I think it’s down to the quality of writing, incentives and overall characters that can make or break a game and shouldn’t reflect the genre.

Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp Review

From the outset, you’re given a good deal of control over the content – your children might play this, you’re pretty sensitive, or you want complete control over your potential love life (who doesn’t?). I was quite surprised by some of the options.

You want me to go over them? But of course! You can toggle a list of filters that include drugs, toilet humour, ‘too graphic’, horrible people, Monster Prom references and alter the Damien Bee costume. I kept them all as is but admittedly disallowed the Monster Prom references as I hadn’t played it before and didn’t want to feel left out.

Once you’re good to go with your 30 or 60 minutes game, you pick one of four characters already assembled for you. You can select one of the generated names or use your own and then set a pronoun. Regardless of who I played, they were all called Vulgaris (as you might see in the screenshots – depending on what I end up using). You can also play with up to four players.

Get used to creating characters no matter what duration you choose as aside from the fact that the dating experience is often quite brutal and you can’t secure a date (art imitating life), plus it’s so addictive to run through immediately after finishing to unlock more goodies.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp, from Beautiful Glitch, begins on the bus that takes you to camp and depending what you choose as your first dialogue response, you’ll get paired up with one of the many characters such as a witch, fashion diva, computer terminal and more. I thought this would give me the advantage to woo someone, but it’s not always the case.

Once at camp, you have five areas you can go – each unlocking a mini-story where you’re presented with dialogue options based on what was said before. Usually, you’re granted a boost to your stats in the story sequence, but risk losing them based on your response at the end of the segment.

For example, you may opt to go to the lake and depending on who you’re paired with, will have a couple of options on how to respond to some lifeguards. You may say something that has the other party swooning, or you’ll please the lifeguards (I don’t believe you can date?!).

In the top right of the screen is a display of your stats. They don’t always play out to your advantage as I was able to quadruple my charm stats but would continually be rejected by the end of camp. You have three weeks to find a date, which is split into morning, afternoon and night. With the 60 minute game you get five weeks, thus more of a chance to hook up.

Monster Marshmallows

At the end of each night, you crowd around the campfire with fellow campers and can choose who to sit next to. Much like the sections during the day, you’ll have the option to pick a statement that will either work in your favour or against you. It’s an excellent opportunity to target one character. I changed my mind so often…

After the dialogue, on most nights, you’ll get the chance to have a cocktail concoction that can either boost or lower your stats in some way. You never know what you’ll get but have the opportunity to swap for a mystery drink. Sometimes you’ll have stats reduced, other times, they switch around, and each playthrough unlocks something new.

It’s a good mechanic as the game always feel fresh despite the one location and a handful of dateable characters. I was quite surprised how well I got to know the characters in Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp – I mean, you spend a lot of time with them, but you start to notice the patterns on what they like or expect. Call me Casanova Frankenstein.

One such character that you don’t date, but is very prominent, is the narrator throughout. They have some pretty good quips and are like an inner voice for your seemingly mute character. It adds to the storytelling and another lure to keep you invested in the stories.

Who You Calling Monster?!

The visuals in Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp are excellent. I liked the art style and variety of nasties. The music is good, and there are interjections from characters, but it’s not fully voice-acted – but that’s not an issue as you can admire the artwork.

I’ve given this a headline as if to refer that these characters are far from monsters, but it’s lazy writing as they are all monsters. You do warm to the characters early on, and even the annoying ones are likeable in some way, but they’re all equally horrible with their put-downs. Don’t expect to get loved up in this game, but if you’re up for the alternative, Monster Prom 2 Monster Camp is great.

One of the biggest incentives isn’t just the thoroughly enjoyable dialogue or the bloody challenging task of securing a date, but the ‘unlocks’. Like a rogue-like, after completing the game each time, you will get a stats screen on ‘this run’. Here you will find out if you unlocked a secret ending, new events, outcomes or special stuff.

When there’s a total of 1130 outcomes, you get the feeling that you’ll keep returning to camp in the hope of experiencing as much as possible. Overall, it’s an enjoyable experience with (seemingly) endless paths, well, 1130 of them. For someone who isn’t keen on visual novels, this is one that will be getting a recommendation from me.