Temtem interview: PS5, Early Access, and what's next

The PlayStation 5's game catalog is growing by the week, filling up with retail and digital titles. Of the dozens of games that have released, one of the most exciting may be one that hasn't officially left beta. Temtem can cynically be called a Pokemon clone, but this monster-collecting RPG is about delivering some of the former series' most requested features in a brand new setting. Originally released on Steam Early Access, publisher Humble Games and developer Crema has since extended the early access period to PS5 owners and it's a PlayStation owner's first opportunity to get into this type of monster-collecting game for their own line of consoles.

With Temtem hitting PS5 early access back in December, now felt like a good time to learn more about what Crema has lined up next. The game's full 1.0 release is just a few months away, so we reached out to Game Director Guillermo Andrades to learn more. He talks about bringing Temtem to PS5, the game's various features, and what players can expect when they pick up Temtem for the first time.

Shacknews: What made the team want to release Temtem on PS5 for early access instead of waiting for 1.0?

Guillermo Andrades, Game Director: Temtem is our first time attempting to manage a game with frequent patches on PC and consoles, and as such, we wanted to start somewhere first and learn little by little. Releasing the Early Access on only one console (apart from PC) gave us an early testing ground to experience this.

Sony has been super understanding from the beginning with us and has understood our thoughts perfectly, so we decided to start our journey on PS5.

Shacknews: Are there any specific PS5 features that the team's been looking to take advantage of for the game?

Andrades: We're currently supporting Activities for all the main quests and we also support native 4K resolution on Temtem. We're currently looking to expand our support for Activities to include all the quests in the game (main and sides) and we're also very interested in making use of the DualSense features and integrating haptic feedback.

Shacknews: Are there any features you wanted to make sure to roll out prior to the console early access release?

Andrades: The biggest one was cross-play. We think of Temtem as a unique huge world, where everyone can interact with each other, no matter their platform, so we wanted to include cross-play with the PC community since day one on PS5.

Shacknews: What are some features that you're working on for future updates? And are you planning on rolling out PS5 updates same day as the PC version?

Andrades: We're currently working on a whole new island called Cipanku, which will include several new Temtem, techniques and even more importantly, the first Mythical Temtem.

Mythical Temtem are very special Tems which will arrive accompanied by a new activity that players will need to complete in order to meet them and we're very excited about it!

All the future updates will roll out at the same time on all platforms.

Shacknews: How important was it for the team to roll out crossplay between PC and PS5? And will you look to have those features ready for the other console versions on day one?

Andrades: Very important, as I said before cross-play for us is almost obligatory due to the way we see the world of Temtem. Our plan is to keep cross-play (and in the future, work on cross-save) between all of our supported platforms.

Shacknews: What's more important to the team from a game design standpoint: Creating a variety of different activities and features or creating hundreds of different Temtem?

Andrades: We are more interested in working on new features and improving already existing features. Working on new Temtem is exciting, but we don’t want to have an enormous roster we can’t handle. We prefer to have the precise amount of Tems we need in order to have a varied ecosystem and meta.

Shacknews: Lastly, if you're meeting somebody who's never played Temtem before, how would you describe the game to them?

Andrades: Temtem is an adventure game in which players will be able to travel through the islands of an airborne archipelago, capturing interesting creatures and fighting with them. All of that, while being accompanied at all times by other players in a massive multiplayer world.

Temtem is available now on PlayStation 5 and Steam Early Access. The full game will be available later this year on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?