Pokémon with real-time combat sounds interesting, right? Well, that’s exactly what you can expect from Synth Beasts, a new ARPG coming to you from Radhood, the creator of The Outbound Ghost and Soul Stalker. Much like those two games, Synth Beasts has a Kickstarter campaign, allowing you to offer your support for the game.
Naturally, the ARPG has numerous tiers available, and the aim is to involve the community in the final stages of the game’s development to ensure it’s what players want – you can even design your own in-game monster. Games like Pokémon are a dime a dozen, so it’s crucial to have something that makes you stand out from the crowd, and it’s fair to say that Synth Beasts does that.
Beyond featuring real-time combat you find in action games, it also turns out that Radhood’s next title qualifies as a boat game, as you get to sail around on a boat, using it to explore and traverse the world around you. So not only does it have Pokémon vibes, but it also has a touch of Wind Waker about it, and we’re all for it, especially as you get to use the abilities of the monsters you get while on your ship.
At launch, there’ll be roughly 40 creatures available, though that number may increase depending on the number of Kickstarter backers who get to create their own monsters. You can level up each beast five times, with each milestone boosting the creature’s battle prowess and abilities. For some, this may involve shooting more projectiles, while for others, they’re able to light torches for you, which is sure to be handy in those dark areas. We all know how horrendous it is to go through Cerulean Cave without flash.

Much like in Pokémon, different Synth Beasts call different locations home, so you need to make sure you take that boat of yours and explore the entirety of the Genesis Archiplego to catch them all; this means stopping by every island you encounter. Like any good open-world game worth its salt, it appears as though Synth Beasts has plenty in the ways of adventure.
The story even intrigues us, as it looks like you’re an experiment striving to stop some evil scientists from creating more Synth Beasts, which feels somewhat similar to Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Star-Lord didn’t hesitate to help Rocket, and we won’t hesitate to help the Synth Beasts when the game releases later this year.
We don’t have a precise Synth Beasts release date, but we know it’s due to launch in Q2 2025, and it’s coming to PC and consoles, including the recently confirmed Nintendo Switch 2. However, as the next Nintendo Direct regarding the new hardware isn’t until April, there’s a chance that the console won’t be out when Synth Beasts releases, so you may have to wait a bit longer to experience it on 2025’s hottest piece of kit.