Cassette Beasts
For an entire generation, Pokémon was the gateway into the world of gaming – accessible, engaging, and driven by an addictive gameplay loop that tapped into our hunter-gatherer instincts. Cassette Beasts is clearly inspired by Nintendo’s iconic series, and like Pokémon, it’s an excellent starting point for newcomers and – even better – perfectly suited for playing together.
While the story in Cassette Beasts can be a bit confusing at times – especially for casual players returning after a break – it’s hard to find a more approachable couch co-op title available on nearly every platform (except, unfortunately, PlayStation), and even included in Game Pass.
Combat is turn-based and, unlike the latest and greatest in turn-based gaming world: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Cassette Beasts doesn’t require any reflexes. Losing battles carries minimal consequences, and you don’t need to master the mechanics or elemental affinities to finish the game (though it will be easier and more fun if you do – at least partially).
The moderately sized 2D world (shown in an isometric view) is easy to navigate thanks to a clear map, and there are very few places where progress isn’t obvious. In most cases, that’s an intentional design choice – the developers tie story progression to character development, ensuring you don’t wander into areas that are too difficult or narratively advanced too early.
Playing in co-op has an additional advantage (exploit?) when it comes to movement: because the game doesn’t offer split-screen, both players’ characters must stay close to one another. If one player moves ahead and the other stays still, the stationary character is automatically teleported to their partner. That means if one player manages to reach a tricky spot – like jumping onto a hard-to-reach ledge – the second player only needs to stop moving to be “pulled” to the more agile partner. The entire game feels tailor-made for introducing someone close to a more experienced player into the world of gaming. The experienced player can help, give advice, or even take over the controller if a challenge proves too difficult. It’s a very teamwork-friendly experience.
Cassette Beasts follows a tried-and-true formula – anyone who’s played retro pixel-art jRPGs like Final Fantasy VI or the original Pokémon games, a style still alive in titles like Sea of Stars or Octopath Traveler, won’t be surprised by anything here. And that’s actually a strength: even someone with minimal gaming background from 30 years ago will recognize familiar mechanics and interfaces, while casual players don’t need to learn how to play all over again if they return in a few weeks or even months.
So why not a 10/10? We’re docking two points of the casual score because of the story – it builds a completely new universe, but one that’s vague and underexplained. The goals of your character are so unclear that returning after a break can be disorienting. How exactly does moving rocks around in a subway station help you get back home – your main (if somewhat vague) objective? And what does any of it have to do with recording living creatures onto cassette tapes? Why tapes, anyway? Without a clear sense of cause and effect, the surreal narrative feels like a thin excuse for gameplay, and it’s hard to remember where you left off after time away.
As for the n00b-o-meter, it also drops a point or two because without couch co-op, the game becomes significantly less approachable. Without a more experienced player to accompany them, newcomers lose the helpful “teleport” exploit/mechanic that lets one player pull the other to hard-to-reach spots. And without familiarity with the jRPG genre, they’re thrown into a fairly chaotic interface with unclear terminology (something we’ve already criticized Clair Obscur for). In this single-player scenario, there’s a real risk that beginners will bounce off Cassette Beasts entirely.
Aside from those few issues, we see no real reason why this game could ever be considered inaccessible — on easy settings and with a co-op partner, anyone should be able not only to finish Cassette Beasts, but actually enjoy the ride. Nothing here feels designed to frustrate the player. It’s clear the developers set out to create a relaxing, approachable experience — and they absolutely succeeded. We wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try and proudly award it the Easy Mode Certificate with all due honours.
Final Izzy Mode Score for Cassette Beasts
Casual score: how suitable the game is for casual players – casual players who like a challenge from time to time, but generally just wanna’ have fu-u-n🎵 a few hours a week without stress and just for the fun of playing. The higher the score the more casual-friendly the game.
n00b-o-meter: how suitable the game is for n00b players – new players whose gaming career started and ended with Candy Crush, Tetris or browser games or even never played a game and would like to start. The higher the score the more n00b-friendly the game.
General Izzyness Level: between Izzy Mode, Normal, Hard and Nightmare – how would the title score in the difficulty scale known from games?
