Preview: Beastieball Is Like Pokemon Mixed With Inazuma Eleven

I like seeing unconventional kinds of RPGs. Especially if it seems they have the potential to execute concepts well. Beastieball is a new creature-catching game along the lines of Pokemon, but at the same time it is also a sports RPG not unlike early Inazuma Eleven titles. The early access version of this title is actually beatable as-is, but it feels like there’s still potential for it to grow even more ahead of its “end of 2025” launch window.

In Beastieball, we create a character who’s absolutely loved beasties and the titular game played with them since they were a child. Our avatar and their best friend would even sneak into the preserve next to their hometown as kids to interact with the creatures. However, years later, the league is tearing down the natural habitat for fresh construction. Since the local team’s standings fell so low, the only way to save the preserve is to become the town’s new coach, build up a team capable of climbing the ranks by beating other towns’ teams, and hopefully convince the league to leave the land alone.

The Beastieball similarities to Pokemon are rather obvious. We’re catching beasties in the wild. We train them. We send them into turn-based battles. They can even evolve. It’s easy to hop in and feel comfortable with the formula.

However, even early on it plays with the ideas set forth in Game Freak games. For example, you can’t just toss a ball at a beastie in Beastieball to catch them. You need to impress them during a match by performing certain actions. There’s also the element of teamwork present. Beasties you have working and fighting at the same time will form relationships naturally as you play. So you can have them turn into friends or rivals, as an example, and have that affect gameplay.

The Inazuma Eleven element might not be as obvious to Beastieball players, given we didn’t see most games in the series worldwide. At face value, both are RPGs tackling certain sports. For Inazuma Eleven, that’s soccer. In Beastieball, that’s volleyball. While Level-5’s early games could feel a bit like RTS titles with turn-based execution of certain moves, Wishes Ultd is going for a more straightforward, turn-based RPG. Elements of volleyball are still there, from the passing and ensuring you block, receive, and send back shots. But it still feels unique.

As-is, you can go into Beastieball even in early access, know what you’re going to get from this Pokemon and Inazuma Eleven type of take on creature catching and sports, and beat the game. It will likely even feel satisfying. I enjoyed it. I can see how it would benefit from some balancing and additional beasties, but the starting lineup seems quite strong.

Beastieball is now in early access on PCs via Steam.