[Update #2]: After two years in Early Access, Temtem will finally be launching onto PC and consoles in September 2022.

[Update]: Temtem has now landed onto Steam Early Access.

Despite the Pokemon games being an absolutely gigantic success, the series has unfortunately never evolved past its original form. So even though the TV show is all about a group of trainers roaming the world and discovering strange new Pokemon, the games themselves are a surprisingly solitary experience. A real shame since the all of the Pokemon games seem like they would be an absolutely perfect fit for co-op.

This is where TemTem comes in as on the surface it appears to be exactly that: a creature collecting and battling RPG with a heavy focus on player-to-player interactions and even co-op! If you're like me that might sound a bit too good to be true, so allow me to share with you the recently posted gameplay trailer:

While the art style and overall concept are both pretty darn good, the one key thing that remains to be seen is whether TemTem is actually any fun to play or not. Thankfully, we won't have to wait for too long to find out as Temtem will be heading over to Steam Early Access on January 21, 2020!

This initial Early Access version will have around 50% of the story content, three different islands with unique biomes to explore, player customization, co-op, and naturally, a competitive mode with a pick & ban system. Honestly, that looks like a rock solid start to me, so here's to hoping TemTem will manage to live up to its expectations and finally provide a worthy competitor to Pokemon.

You can learn more about TemTem, as well as its upcoming Early Access release, over at its Kickstarter page.