visually it's basically trying to be pokemon, and i don't hate it. mechanically it is not a monster battler but otherwise it borrows a lot of concepts from that direction and the gameplay loop is kinda working for me
it's pretty much a jrpg with a 1v1 turn-based battle system, and the strategy element is focused around learning moves and tailoring a limited moveset to combo various effects, particularly status effects
it does a neat thing when you're inflicted with a status effect where the gameboy pallette of the screen changes and a filter gets applied to the music, both of which are different depending on which status effect it is, which i thought was really cool
there's a really off-putting interaction slightly over halfway through the demo where a random npc who... seems to represent critics of the game??? he goes on a 4th-wall-breaking rant about the game's writing and then literally shoves a stick up his ass
i'd had mixed feelings up until that point but the vibes of that moment were really rancid and it kinda tipped me over into actively disliking the game's sense of humor