It's worth stressing a few things about Temtem upfront now that it's released on PlayStation 5.
If you're burned out on Pokémon in general, there's a decent chance Temtem won't do enough to differentiate itself, and that's kind of where I fall. But if your love/hate relationship with Game Freak comes down to very specific gameplay criticisms – or a perceived lack of difficulty – it might just click. Besides its "familiar but different" learning curve, there's a real effort to push back and test players.
On the one hand, it feels great to be challenged again – to have to consider a bunch of short- and long-term factors and truly think things through in any given battle. On the other hand, the grind is no joke.
It's also worth noting that Temtem is still in early access on PS5. It's in a good spot, but it isn't done.
