Revision 4

Monster Fantasy is developed and published by Jotoyo, also styled as Jotoyo Games. The studio is based in Chengdu, China, and is a small team of roughly 20 people who bring decades of combined experience across the games industry. Despite its compact size, the studio is attempting an ambitious blend of genres, combining action role-playing combat with the slower rhythms of a cozy life simulation.

The Studio and Its Vision

Jotoyo was founded by Allan Xai. His stated ambition for the project is to break down the barrier between action games and cozy games, two styles that are often kept apart. Monster Fantasy is the studio's expression of that goal: a single title where players can hunt giant creatures in real-time battles, then return to a peaceful town to fish, cook, build a home, and chat with neighbors. This pairing of high-energy action and relaxed daily life sits at the heart of the studio's design philosophy.

Villager Dialogue

One of the more talked-about choices in the project is how the townsfolk are handled. The complete set of NPC dialogue for the roughly 100 Villagers is written by hand, without AI. Separately, the studio is experimenting with an optional feature that uses AI large language models to let players converse freely with their favorite residents. Jotoyo describes this as exploratory and has not decided whether it will appear in the final release. The feature is covered in more depth on the AI-Powered NPCs page.

Announcement and Kickstarter

Monster Fantasy was announced to the public around June 2026. The studio is funding the game through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It is a single project page presented in both English and Japanese, with the Japanese introduction running underneath the English one, reflecting the studio's intent to reach a broad international audience from the start. The campaign was first scheduled for July 15, 2026, but in July 2026 Jotoyo postponed it so players could experience a more complete demo first, and a new date has not been announced. The studio has framed the campaign as a way to build a community and offer rewards to supporters rather than a condition for finishing the game, and has said it will complete development regardless of the crowdfunding result, though funds raised would help make the game richer. No funding goal has been shared, so the specific amounts being sought are not yet known. Further details on platforms and the planned launch are gathered on the Platforms and Release page.

In mid-July 2026, Monster Fantasy reached 100,000 wishlists on Steam. The studio thanked players for the support and said it would keep working to expand the game's world of monster hunting and cozy life.

Jotoyo now expects to open a playtest in September 2026, with the demo the campaign is waiting for arriving around the same time. The studio has also outlined a wider testing and release roadmap, summarized below.

The pre-launch page remains in its "launching soon" state while the campaign waits on the demo, and it has gathered several hundred followers who have asked to be notified when it opens. It is the studio's first Kickstarter project.

Stated Influences

Jotoyo has been open about what shaped the design. On its campaign page the studio names Monster Hunter, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon as the classics it drew from, and it has said the aim is not to place those ideas side by side but to make every system connect so the whole feels like a second life in a world of swords, magic, and giant monsters.

Asked directly about the resemblance to monster-hunting games, the studio agreed the comparison is fair and said its core creators are fans, while arguing that hunting is only one part of what Monster Fantasy is trying to be. It has said it took the feedback seriously, is adjusting the design, and expects players to judge the difference once they can play a build themselves.

Testing and Release Roadmap