Developer Crema has announced it'll be removing all monetisation from its Pokemon-like creature-battler Temtem in an update scheduled for June, with one final major patch to follow before updates refocus on bug fixing and balance changes.

Crema shared the news in a lengthy post on Steam, which spent a lot of time addressing ongoing player complaints around a lack of major new content since launch, such as more islands, new Temtem, or additional multiplayer features. Broadly, the studio says Temtem's early access demonstrated major new content didn't have a significant impact on the game's player base, making it difficult to justify the development resources required - although other issues, such as mounting technical debt, are also cited as concerns.

After a lot of words, including some regret over having described the game as an "MMO" in its marketing material, Crema gets to the crux of its post: that it will release two more major updates for Temtem before development switches to more modest bug fixing and balance patches, as the studio's focus turns to new projects.

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Crema, the creators of much-liked Pokemon-like Temtem, are teasing a new untitled game set in the same universe - the mystifying Project Downbelow. It isn't Temtem: Swarm, aka Temtem Vampire Survivors, nor is it Temtem 2. But it will "try out new things we would love to see in a hypothetical Temtem 2", including a new combat system running on a "stronger" game engine. The tease accompanies news that Crema are making significant changes to Temtem as part of the game's update 1.7 - for one thing, they're getting rid of the whole microtransaction system. Temtempestuous times indeed!

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Temtem was a brief mega-hit when it launched in Early Access back in 2020, as a Pokémon-like that was both online and on PC. Now it's getting its own "survivor-like bullet heaven" spin-off called Temtem: Swarm.

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