Developer Crema's massively-multiplayer riff on Pokémon, Temtem, will be making its way to PlayStation 5 on 8th December as an early access "console debut" exclusive.

Temtem launched into Steam early access back in January this year, selling over half a million copies in its first month of release, and Crema has steadily expanded its core creature-collecting and battling action as development has continued, introducing new islands to explore, new social and competitive features, house customisation, and more.

Early access is expected to continue well into next year, and Temtem's eventual Version 1.0 release will launch on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. However, Crema has now announced it'll be expanding early access development to PS5 from December, in what Sony is referring to as an exclusive "console debut".

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Who would've ever thought that a cutesy massively multiplayer Pok mon-style adventure game would be so popular? Literally no one could have predicted this. Nope. Nobody.

Well, the interest in Temtem has already been so high that the game's servers were struggling to keep up with demand. A problem they've since fixed. And now, fully realising that I may be adding to their burden, I'm here to show you where you can get a decent deal on the early access hit.

If you head over to Green Man Gaming you can get Temtem for 22.95. All you need to do is add the game to your cart, enter the code 'UPCOMING18' at the checkout and you'll save 18 per cent off the normal price.

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Temtem reminds me of being eight years old and playing Pok mon Yellow for the first time. I already knew a lot about Pok mon, like the various evolution trees, but when it came to the mechanics of the game, namely managing the stats for each of my chosen creatures, I was a novice. I learned by catching one of every Pok mon I encountered and, in turn, taking them into battle, until I had the type chart permanently ingrained in my brain. My love for the Pok mon franchise was born out of the excitement of purely not knowing what I was doing - and of how rewarding it felt when I had built a party strong enough to defeat the Elite Four.

Years of playing Pok mon has slowly dissolved that feeling to the point that I've had to ban myself from using particular Pok mon, because I know them too well (sorry Lapras.) Playing Temtem, a new PC game with some very familiar ideas, for the first time this week allowed me to embrace that feeling of unknowing once again. I experimented with a range of Temtem, beginning what I hope will be a balanced team, and explored every area carefully to ensure that I didn't miss anything important. As I played, however, I couldn't stop thinking about how similar this game is to the mainline Pok mon series.

Temtem is never going to escape being compared to Pok mon, because it is, in many ways, a clone of a Pok mon game. From the opening minutes, in which you leave your hometown to begin a grand adventure, to testing the abilities of your Temtems at the first dojo, it's very clear where the developers drew their inspiration from. You even have a rival who appears every so often to insult you. The fact is that Pok mon is no longer part of a genre about collecting and training magical beasts. It has, instead, become its own genre. Temtem can easily be described as a clone, but it's also currently carving out its own place within this genre. It's introducing its own ideas, while bringing a fresh perspective to the staples created by the Pok mon franchise.

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Temtem's launch has been something of a roller coaster, as while the game has experienced significant demand, it's also been struggling to keep up with said numbers. Thankfully it seems the situation is now under control, as developer Crema says it's managed to stabilise the servers.

Launched in early access on Tuesday, Temtem is essentially Pok mon but an MMO - and this popular combination earned it a peak of nearly 32k players on Steam. Unfortunately, this started causing problems, with players experiencing long queue times, login problems and lag issues. At one point Crema had to cap the game at 20k players, and noted players could request a refund if they didn't want to wait for the servers to stabilise. At least the community seems to be making light of it.

Judging by the honest (and quite sweet) flow of updates on Temtem's Twitter, the team's been working diligently to get things back up and running - and after multiple hotfixes and server restarts, Temtem says it can now deal with over 27k users at once.

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Temtem, an eye-catching massively-multiplayer take on Pok mon, arrives today on PC via Humble and Steam Early Access.

If you're not familiar with the game already, it's a blend of exploration, monster catching and battling developed by Crema, the small Spanish indie team behind excellent roguelike Immortal Redneck, and published by Humble.

Its inspiration is obvious - there's no getting around that. But its in Temtem's differences where my interest lies. The ability to combo attacks in new ways using two creatures in battle, for instance. Or being able to explore Temtem's world with a pal - and square up to them for a battle.

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