Dawn of the Monsters is the Godzilla game of my dreams

Dawn of the Monsters is easy to explain: Select a giant, venture through different cities, and defeat kaiju while progressing through a story. But it isn’t nearly as basic as it sounds at first glance. It’s evident that 13AM Games put a ton of love into the title. It just screams “by kaiju fans for kaiju fans,” which instantly made me fall head over heels.

From color palette references to the fact that you can make kaiju roar and strike fear in enemies, there are so many little Easter eggs all over the game that give me an indescribable feeling as a fan. It takes me back to a time as a kid when my dad was constantly showing me Japanese films and anime that blew my mind. They featured giant battles over the fate of humanity fought by unstoppable forces of nature or a lone hero piloting a government tax-paid mech. The idea that a new IP could give me that sort of nostalgia is a dream come true, and I get the sense that many kaiju fans will feel the same.

It isn’t just for die-hard kaiju fans, though. Dawn of the Monsters features a fun combat system with tons of customization and four unique characters to brawl with (kaiju based on Godzilla and Gamera, a growing man inspired by Ultraman, and a girl piloting a mech that seems like it’s pullsed from Getter Robo, Kamen Rider, and Gundam).

Players can customize each character with various buffs and risk/reward edits that come in the form of cards. Cards are earned after every mission and can either be equipped to change the way you play or be sold to earn money for other unlockables, like palette swaps or more health.

I found myself doing a lot of experimenting to find exactly what I wanted in my game and had consistent fun doing so. For example, Tempest Galahad’s combos have several functions, including a vacuum bomb that lifts opponents, allowing them to continue their combos. I equipped an item that gives me an extra special move bar for every parry and a speed-up item so I could always get in range to continue my combo for even more damage.

And yes, the game has a training room, so you can bet I’ve spent hours there trying to find the coolest-looking combos possible.

The combat is a clear standout, but the story caught me by surprise too. As a fan of tokusatsu, I was more than impressed to find that I was actually enjoying the narrative 13AM Games weaved with this game. I love all the characters and their stories, and even got sucked into the mystery that starts coming forward at the end of this first chapter. I felt like I was watching the 2000s Godzilla cartoon mixed with some of his comic runs, a tokusatsu superhero show, and your favorite mecha-versus-space invaders anime.