Sometimes, a tremendous battle of gigantic monsters is exactly what you need. Godzilla incinerating Tokyo with his atomic breath, King Kong absconding with beautiful women, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stomping on New York (I say he’s an honorary kaiju, come at me).
They’ve long been a source of inspiration for games large and small, so much so that there’s even a kaiju-themed game jam hosted by Itch.io (opens in new tab). One of the entries features the best name for a videogame in the history of videogames—a kaiju dating sim called Let’s Smash (opens in new tab).
Another entry from the jam this February is coming to Steam some time in 2022. Kaiju Klash is a turn-based monster fighter where you build your own creature, enter them in tournaments, and battle for giant monster supremacy. Use a rocket punch from the robot arms coming out of your half-Kong, half-tentacle monster in Pokémon-esque battles, earn money to buy more monster parts, then head back into the cage.
According to the Steam (opens in new tab) page it features “hundreds of unique monster part combinations” and a “Type system [that] allows you to strategize around your opponent’s weaknesses.” The art style is simple but fun, with cobra heads smooshed on robot chassis with tentacle arms and cyborg eyes. Different parts give you different abilities that cost certain amounts of action points—the more powerful, the more they cost. You might constrict a monster with your snake tail, or shoot your laser eyes at what appears to be a massive swarm of bees.
As someone who loves tinkering with builds of battling robots (I’m looking at you, underappreciated ’90s gem Robotrek), I could see myself spending a few hours with this one. Playing it on Steam Deck in the dentist’s office comes to mind—where I’m definitely looking to unleash some atomic breath.