Developer Rayka Studio has announced that there’s not long left to wait before you can hop in and play its stunning creature-collecting RPG, Yaoling: Mythical Journey. The game’s early access launch is just around the corner and packs in a staggering amount of content to play through.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey will be released for PC via early access on Steam on July 16, 2024. I knew the game initially as Home of the Yokai, but while the name has changed, the gameplay that drew me into it has not. It’s a cozy fusion of turn-based RPG gameplay and combat with creature-collecting, eastern fantasy, and even a bit of base-building for those of us who like slowing down between bouts of epic battles.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey has a brilliant art style and more to do than you can shake a stick at in early access
In Yaoling: Mythical Journey, you explore the Land of the Ancients. Here, creatures called Yaolings and humans live together in harmony. You want to become a Yaoling Keeper, sort of like a Pokemon Master, but darkness has corrupted the land. As you continue your training, you’ll free the world from this evil power and develop strong relationships with your Yaolings along the way.
When it’s released in early access, the game will have over 300 Yaolings to capture, train, and battle with. My ten-year-old self would have been blown away if Pokemon Red and Blue had that many Pokemon to catch. You’ll find them across 30 regions, with some being easier than others to track down. I’m a sucker for the rarest creatures in these sorts of games, so I hope there are legendaries and other rare Yaolings to hunt down.
There’s a massive index of Yaolings you can look through at any time, and every system you’re used to from other creature-collectors has been contextualized in your village inYaoling: Mythical Journey. This includes a huge building for all your Yaolings, vendors to help you craft new items, and even facilities for minigames such as my favorite in every game, fishing.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey packs a lot into a single game, but its gameplay trailer shows that it all works well together. You can try out the Steam demo now before its launch. We won’t know what the plan is for updates until the game is out, but I imagine new regions and Yaolings are the baseline, with much more on the way in the future.
