Nexomon is a Mons Series game developed by VEWO Interactive, and the successor to Micromon: The Legend of Vaithe, a 2014 Mon game released for iOS. Nexomon was originally released in 2017 for iOS, but a Steam version was made available as an Early Access title in November 29th, 2019, with the full release coming in July 2020. A sequel, Nexomon Extinction, was released in late August 2020.
You play as the child of two scientists, who are working on an invention for The Nexolord, the most powerful man in the land. However, after one of his minions ambushes and tries to steal from their best friend, the child realizes his evil intent and decides to become a Nexomon Trainer, going on an adventure to save the world from not just the Nexolord, but also the Nexomon King they have seen in their nightmares.
The overall setting and gameplay take heavy inspiration from Pokémon, meaning you'll be collecting creatures and fighting with them, while also paying attention to type coverage. This installment is quite linear, with a single route from town to town, and only features seven different Nexomon elements (Normal, Mineral, Wind, Water, Fire, Thunder, and Plant). However, there are also some convenient features, such as always being able to choose what skills a Nexomon can use in battle from a list of all that they've learned.
Tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Just before the final battle, Professor Malk from Micromon reveals that he was an NPC of Project Pixekai, a digital world created by people to escape Omnicron. Enraged at his own existence after discovering his true nature, he destroyed Pixekai and everyone on it, and The Power of Hate allowed him to manifest in the real world. He then met Metta and taught him how to revive his father, so that Omnicron could destroy humanity.
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: Various environments return for the post-game in the form of "Nightmares" that the Wardens of the Underworld use to cage Omnicron and his Tyrants.
- Big Bad: The current Nexolord Metta, with his plan to revive his father Omnicron, the Nexomon King and restart his war to destroy humanity.
- Bittersweet Ending: In the game's true ending, Omnicron has been destroyed once and for all, stopping his crusade against the human race and freeing the Nexomon from his influence, giving them true freedom to coexist with humans. Unfortunately, he's devastated Parum and he and his children unleashed immense suffering across the world during the story. Also, according to Omnicron himself, the Nexomon will be doomed to go extinct as his soul was the source of their lifeforce. Extinction fortunately removes much of the bitterness, as Omnicron was wrong and the Nexomon continue to thrive and survive centuries after his death.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Oh boy, Atlas just loves doing this. This includes some Leaning on the Fourth Wall.
- Character Customization: There are a few male and female avatars to the player choose from, and they aren't gender-locked.
- Chessmaster Sidekick: Malk is this to the Nexolord. After escaping and destroying Micromon, Malk sought out Metta and gave him the means to resurrect Omnicron's children as well as Omnicron himself. All as part of his revenge for being created in the first place.
- Deadly Distant Finale: To Micromon. Malk destroyed everything in Pixekai (the entire Micromon race and every last human) out of disgust for his creators' cowardice. All that remains from that virtual world is him, and him alone.
- Doomed Hometown: On the way to the first town, Parum, the player comes across a few houses that have been set on fire by the current Nexolord's minions. In the post-game, the whole town and the preceding routes, including the player's house, has been wrecked by Omnicron after escaping from the Underworld. Once Omnicron is destroyed for good, Parum is rebuilt and becomes a thriving city by the time of Extinction.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: After the opening narration, the first scene of the game is the protagonist having a nightmare of being knocked out in front of a revived Omnicron, who is about to conquer the world.
- Dream Within a Dream: In the post-game, it's revealed that the entire Underworld you've been exploring, including the "Nightmares", are in fact all part of one huge Nightmare that Ziegler has trapped the protagonist in.
- Dumb Muscle: Ivan, the first Overseer, has transformed his corner of the town into a gym and is capable of punching rocks to dust, but repeatedly charges at & instantly gets knocked out by Champion Fenrir after letting his existence slip.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Certain Nexomon types are stronger or weaker against others. For example, wind types are effective against mineral types but weak against electric types. The only type without a weakness or strength are normal types.
- Everybody Hates Hades: The post-game content's main antagonist is a powerful Nexomon called Ziegler, who oversees the dead, including the soul of the recently felled Omnicron.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Glacia, the snow-themed Overseer, is the one most devoted to the current Nexolord, to the point that in the post-game she (or at least a fake version of her) captures all of the Wardens after the player invades the Nightmares and uses them to try and revive Omnicron's soul.
- Faceless Goons: All of the Nexolord's minions wear the same outfit, featuring a grey mask that covers their face.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: The Justice Knights, a Super Sentai-esque group beloved by their town's children, that lay a beatdown on Willy the thief when he steals from Ellie...turn out to have no prior victories and immediately retreat when asked to help fight against the Nexolord. Later, they side with the Nexolord and fight the protagonist.
- Feathered Serpent: Fethra is a Wind-type snake with two feather-shaped crests above its eyes and subtler plumage running down its back. It evolves into Tempestra and Draclone, which are effectively bigger, more impressive versions of Fethra.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Even after Spencer's Heel–Face Turn, the protagonists frequently get annoyed by him. Even the post-game begins with Atlas asking why the player has to be the first to enter the Gate to the Underworld instead of using Spencer as a disposable test subject.
- Funny Animal: Ron, the Nexo-Mart shopkeeper, is a well-dressed orange cat that talks and walks like a human. In the post-game, you also meet his daughter, Molly, though she's eventually revealed to just be a part of the protagonist's Nightmare.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Many times the player is assisted by Overseers and other companions. It is implied they fight some battles with them, but they are never actually seen fighting during battles. Only the player's fights are shown.
- Genius Cripple: Ellie, the protagonist's best friend and the inventor of Atlas, is always seen in a wheelchair.
- God in Human Form: The current Nexolord Metta and his Champions, though seemingly human, are the Primordial Tyrants, the children of Omnicron in disguise. This is also the case for Deena, who is actually Nara, the Primordial Tyrant of Life.
- God Was My Co-Pilot: It turns out that Deena, the hapless explorer you first meet on the way to Overseer Kane's Hidden Elf Village, was in fact Nara, the Primordial Tyrant of Life, who betrayed her father and the others to protect humanity.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: The game boasts a total of 310 Nexomon to catch and train.
- Great Offscreen War: The game opens with narration about how the world used to consist of just humans, until Omnicron the Nexomon King invaded, and was eventually defeated by the first Nexolord (the best of the humans that learned how to befriend and train the Nexomon).
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: At some points of the story, you fight against Omnicron's children in their true form, and after winning the battle, the cutscene shows the them overpowering your character anyways.
- Heel–Face Turn: Multiple Overseers, such as Ivan and Remus, end up fired from their positions after losing to the protagonist and end up helping them progress towards the Nexolord.
- Hidden Elf Village: Overseer Kane, a shaman that reveres the first Nexolord, and a friend of previous Nexolord Remus (which is how he got the Overseer title), established one of these in the jungle so the current Nexolord can't find and subjugate him.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The initial battle against Ziegler is unwinnable. If somehow won, the story will progress normally anyways.
- Hu Mons: A few Nexomon look like cartoonish little humans. Pira is a grey-skinned humanoid with pointy ears, lots of jewelry and a mane of fiery red hair, making it look like a Chibi version of a Hindu god. Flexel is a muscular little creature that looks like a shirtless bodybuilder with baggy pants. Digga is a humanoid dressed like a miner, with a hardhat on its head and one or both hands replaced by mining tools.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: In Ira's boss fight, she starts off with a weaker team. However, after being defeated, she loses her temper and instantly charges into battle, revealing a second considerably stronger team and showing she was holding back.
- Keystone Army: Fortunately Averted. Omnicron believed his soul was the source of the Nexomons' lifeforce and that they would be doomed to extinction in a matter of years if he was destroyed. As Nexomon Extinction showed, he was completely wrong, as the Nexomon are still around and thriving centuries after his death.
- Kill All Humans: Omnicron created the Nexomon as an army to destroy humanity and claim their world for himself. However, he was more than strong enough to destroy everything on his own, holding back his full power simply because he despised humans and wanted them to suffer before dying.
- Killed Off for Real: Omnicron's soul is destroyed in the post-game, ensuring that he can't be revived. This is confirmed in Extinction by Atlas.
- Lampshade Hanging: Atlas engages in this quite frequently, such as commenting on how all of their problems seem to be solved with Nexomon fights after Ira claims she'll help them (despite being completely loyal to the Nexolord) if they can beat her.
- Limited Move Arsenal: Each Nexomon learns a large pool of skills, but only four of those skills can be assigned for use in battle at any given time. Outside of combat, assigned skills can be toggled off and inactive skills can be toggled on in their place from the Skills menu.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: The post-game involves traveling into various "Nightmares" in order to free the souls of the Tyrants, which unlocks where Omnicron's soul is being kept, and erase it instead of letting Omnicron recover and eventually resurrect itself. However, towards the end, it turns out the protagonist has been in one of these since the post-game started; between the original ending and when you continue, there was an off-screen attempt to defeat Omnicron's soul, which failed, let Omnicron and the Tyrants escape, and led to Ziegler imprisoning the player as punishment.
- Mana Meter: Nexomon have a Stamina meter which depletes as they use their battle skills, with different skills consuming different amounts of stamina. If a Nexomon doesn't have enough stamina left to perform a move, it will skip its turn to rest and recover some stamina.
- Mirror Match: The spirit of the very first Nexolord, Ulzar, challenges you to a battle and uses a copy of your current team against you.
- Mon: The titular Nexomon, of course. They are creatures possessed of powerful elemental abilities. Humans can capture Nexomon using devices called Nexotraps and train them to fight other Nexomon. Like Pokémon, many Nexomon can evolve into stronger forms when they reach certain experience levels.
- Money Spider: Any Nexomon battle, regardless if it's against another trainer or just a random encounter in the wild, rewards money.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: In the post-game, copies of your allies are encountered in the "Nightmares", but your actual allies (save for Atlas, Deena, and Ulzar) are all mysteriously preoccupied. Averted towards its conclusion, when a second Ulzar, Deena, and Atlas appear, and reveal the player's been trapped in a Nightmare with fake copies of themselves.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In order to get concert tickets and reach Overseer Ira, the protagonist agrees to a deal with Ron's human assistant Matthew to protect a Nexocore, which can power the Nexolord's machinery if he got his hands on it. After defeating Ira, the next mission is to locate a scientist that's retreated to Overseer Kane's Hidden Elf Village...and the Nexolord's Champions track the Nexocore's energy signature to find the village.
- Non-Elemental: The Normal type is neutral to the other six types. Nothing resists it or is weak to it, and it is not weak or resistant to anything.
- Notice This: Throughout all the areas are sparkling patches that, when interacted with, grant a free item.
- Older Than They Look: In the post-game, there's a brief gag where the protagonists are incredulous that the Justice Knights are all 40 years old.
- Olympus Mons: To complete the Nexomon database, the player will need to collect not only Omnicron himself, but also the Primordial Tyrants, Ziegler, and his Wardens.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Malk went completely nuts after discovering he was not a real human and became so disgusted with the cowardice of his makers that he declared war on humanity, becoming even more monstrous than Omnicron himself. He destroyed Pixekai and all those who lived in there, and helped Metta revive Omnicron so that he could destroy the human race.
- Planimal: Quite a few Plant-type Nexomon look like animals with floral traits. Petril, the game's Plant-type starter, is a bipedal reptile with two leaves growing from its tail, a facial crest made of tree bark, and a neck frill made of large pink flower petals.
- Portal Network: After befriending Overseer Khan, he uses his spiritual power to reawaken Warp Totems across the world, allowing the player to travel to locations they've been to before.
- Post-End Game Content: The defeat of the Nexomon King isn't the end, as the Primordial Tyrants, the Wardens imprisoning their souls, and a rematch against Omnicron's soul become available to fight.
- Power Equals Rarity: There are six rarities of Nexomon: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mega Rare, Special, and Legendary. The rarer ones are more powerful, with Uncommon Nexomon capable of one Evolution Powerup, and Rare, Mega Rare, and Special Nexomon getting two.
- Precursor Heroes: The first Nexolord is lauded as the champion that originally saved the world from Tyrants. His spirit, as Ulzar, ends up coming to the protagonists' aid.
- Prestige Class: To access the post-game content, the player is asked to "Rebirth" their Nexomon team, which sets them back to their first form at Level 5 but vastly improves all of their stat growths. To make progress easier, the player keeps all their items (including key items like an Experience Booster), and any Nexomon caught in the post-game areas will start Rebirthed. Near its conclusion, the Underworld is no longer restricted to Rebirthed Nexomon, but the option to "Rebirth" for better growths is still available.
- The Psycho Rangers: There are Overlords that the Nexolord puts in charge of each town, but above them are the Champions, five people shrouded in secrecy that report directly to the Nexolord. The true identities of these Champions are Omnicron's children.
- Puppeteer Parasite: Cordyant and Zombyant are a pair of antlike Nexomon infested with—and implicitly controlled by—a sapient cordyceps fungus.
- Purely Aesthetic Gender: You can play as either a boy or a girl, with no differences other than appearance. You can even change your avatar to the other gender, other NPCs, or into Nexomon via your profile at any time.
- The Rock Star: Ira, the Overseer of Fire, is also the lead guitarist of her own band.
- Sequel Hook: After completing the story portion of the Post-End Game Content, there's a brief To Be Continued and mention of how the Nexomon will eventually become extinct before Atlas interjects and the game returns to the present.
- The Starscream: Remus was the former Nexolord before the current one beat him, and even though he's now employed as an Overseer, it's an open secret that he has grievances with the current leadership. Even when a Champion forces him to fight the player, he goes easy on them, and openly rebels afterwards.
- Starter Mon: The player is given a choice of seven "Special" rarity Nexomon at the start (one for each element); although they can all be later encountered in the wild, only Legendaries have a lower encounter rate.
- Stealth Sequel: The connections to Micromon are mostly stylistic, until you find a lab in the fire-themed Ignatius territory with terminals detailing the creation of a "Pixelmon" world as a potential escape from Omnicron, and The Reveal after beating Overseer Ira that Professor Malk, from the world of Micromon, is reporting directly to the Nexolord and his Champions.
- Too Awesome to Use: Golden Nexotraps will catch any Nexomon without fail, but unlike regular Nexotraps, they can't be bought from shops. They're either given to you in limited quantities as part of the story, or they're lying on the ground for you to find. Either way, there is a finite number of Golden Nexotraps available in the game.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: The first minion of the Nexolord you fight tries to steal Atlas even after losing, and the robot knocks him skyward. You find his landing spot in the mountains, about two towns away, and have a rematch.
- The Unfought: The true form of the Nexolord, in his Nexomon form, is never fought directly.
- Victory Fakeout: The first battle against Overseer Ira ends with her outraged, and immediately transitions to a second fight, with her using a new set of Nexomon against the player.
- Villain Has a Point: In the post-game, Ziegler accusing the player of causing catastrophe by trying to meddle with Omnicron's soul turns out to be correct, with the revelation that you already failed to defeat it and have been trapped in a Nightmare since the post-game began. However, him keeping the player imprisoned prevents them from finishing the task, and lets Omnicron and his Tyrants wreak havoc in the real world.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The current Nexolord, revealed to be Metta, one of Omnicron's children, is not seen again after he gives up his life force to resurrect Omnicron. Even in the post-game, his soul doesn't appear.
- White Sheep: Nara is the only one of Omnicron's children who doesn't hate humans and even tries to help the player stop him. She was disowned for this reason and continues on as Deena.
- You No Take Candle: The people of the Hidden Village speak in broken English.
- You Will Be Spared: Towards the climax of the post-game story, the player (now the newest Nexolord) is stopped by a large group of the now-former Nexolord Metta's masked minions, seemingly setting up a battle...but instead, they all beg to be forgiven, claiming that they only followed Omnicron because of this trope, and eagerly hand over a Mysterious Key that they had previously been tasked with guarding.
