Summary

  • Creature collector games can offer diverse gameplay genres, allowing players to raise creatures from eggs to build powerful teams.
  • Games like Monster Crown, Pokemon, and Ark: Survival Evolved involve hatching and raising eggs to form a formidable army of creatures.
  • Unique mechanics in games such as Siralim 2 and Stardew Valley provide players with hours of gameplay tweaking builds and hatching exotic eggs for their farms.

Creature collector games have a long and storied history, but they have always been an inherently engaging and fun pastime. From the monoliths of the genre like Pokemon to the ambitious indie titles putting their own spin on archetypal formulas and mechanics, there's always something to look at and explore with games that let players rear up beasts in some capacity. Being able to raise creatures - tracking and charting their growth from birth onwards - doesn't appear in a lot of games, but when it does, it's usually a treat.

Whether in colony sims, farming sims, or monster tamers, there's a variety of different niches in which players can hope to raise creatures. Whether this is to build a lifelong bond with an animal companion, gain one more pack animal, or make the start of some sort of ravenous beast army, is usually up to player discretion. These games in particular form a diverse range of genres allowing players to raise creatures from eggs onwards, usually to whatever end they see fit.

1 Monster Crown

A Unique Monster-Tamer With Great Aesthetics

Monster Crown
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Released
October 12, 2021
Platform(s)
Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Android
Developer
Studio Aurum

Inspired by classic Pokemon games on the original Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, Monster Crown is an incredibly interesting spin on the monster-tamer genre, taking a much more adult approach to the setting and capturing the charm of those early Pokemon designs perfectly.

Creatures can be hatched from eggs in this game, and also form eggs for hatching subsequently after fusion, which makes for an incredibly interesting system of building a team to one's liking from a host of options.

2 Pokemon Scarlet And Violet

A Land Of Whimsy And Vitality

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
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Released
November 18, 2022
Developer(s)
Game Freak
Platform(s)
Switch
Genre(s)
RPG

Eggs have been around in almost all of the mainline Pokemon games to date. From the Bad Egg of Emerald, spawning a slew of myths about the game, to the Strange Eggs of Pokemon Go and the droves of adorable level 1 creatures every player loves to see.

Eggs are only hatched by players in Pokemon who carry them while walking around, filling up a slot in their party. One interesting thing to note is that if a Pokemon with the Flame Body ability is at the head of the party, the steps needed to hatch eggs are halved.

3 Ark: Survival Evolved

A Brutal But Rewarding Sci-Fi Survival Game

ARK: Survival Evolved
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Released
August 29, 2017
Developer(s)
Studio Wildcard
Platform(s)
Linux, macOS, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, Switch, iOS, Android
Genre(s)
Survival

An often brutal game that asks much of its players, Ark: Survival Evolved has had a long history of servers with brutal clan wars across a host of maps, but one of the main draws of this game is the monster-taming elements.

ARK trio
Best Maps In ARK Survival Evolved 2023

Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the most exciting survival crafting games in recent years, and these maps are some of the best locations in the game.

Creatures can lay eggs which may be fertilized and hatched, giving players generations of creatures like raptors or wyverns to turn into a formidable army or disrupt the natural ecosystem.

4 Monster Hunter Stories 2

Monsties Are Engaging And Creative

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin
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RPG
JRPG
Exploration
Creature Collector
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Released
July 9, 2021
Developer(s)
Capcom, Marvelous
Genre(s)
RPG, JRPG, Exploration, Creature Collector

A fantastic title for those looking for a monster-tamer JRPG, or for those who want to engage in the Monster Hunter universe but hate the monster-hunting side of things, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a definitive sequel to a great story-focused game.

Players engage in simple but immersive scissors-paper-rock style battles alongside their monster buddies, affectionately termed "Monsties," and can raise new creatures from eggs found in nests as a slightly unethical means of getting new companions.

5 Stardew Valley

Chickens And Ducks And Dinos

Stardew Valley
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RPG
Simulation
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Released
February 26, 2016
Developer(s)
ConcernedApe
Platform(s)
PC, Xbox One, Android, iOS, PS4, Switch
Genre(s)
RPG, Simulation

There are a host of eggs available in Stardew Valley, and while some of them are more focused toward being trinkets or accessories, some are actual, proper eggs, that can be incubated and left to hatch.

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Best Open-World Creature Collector Games, Ranked

When we think of creature collector games Pokemon always comes to mind but there are lots of great open-world creature collectors that aren't Pokemon.

Chicken eggs are the most common example of this, but there are some rarer eggs available, such as void chicken eggs, or even the huge and ancient dinosaur eggs for those wanting a more exotic farm.

6 Siralim 2

A Hardcore Monster Tamer Roguelike

  • Platform(s): Windows, macOS
  • Released: August 12, 2016
  • Developer(s): Thylacine Studios
  • Genre(s): RPG

A no-holds-barred grindfest of a game, Siralim 2 has some incredibly interesting ideas worked into its foundation. Creatures can be fused and raised from eggs in this brutal monster-tamer roguelike, which has a broad away of stats and modifiers.

This game is perfect for those who want to sink hundreds of hours into tweaking the absolute, inarguable, most fine-tuned builds they possibly can. Each creature can have its stats altered by fusion and items in such a way that they are essentially the players to shape in their image.

7 Palworld

A Chaotic Monster Tamer Shooter

Palworld
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Released
January 19, 2024
Developer(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
Div
Genre(s)
Open-World, Shooter, Survival

Few games are as chaotic as Palworld. Its aesthetic is chaotic - a Breath of the Wild-style high fantasy world with very Pokemon- esque (maybe a little too Pokemon-esque) designs, photo-realistic guns and equipment, all paired with anime character designs. It's...a lot.

But it also has to be said that there are few things as cathartic as stumbling upon a rare-looking egg in the wild and hatching it to find some new, absolutely bizarre, or terrific Pal to add to one's collection.

8 Rimworld

Creative Animal Breeding Mechanics

RimWorld
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Simulation
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Released
October 17, 2018
Developer(s)
Ludeon Studios
Platform(s)
PC, PS4, Xbox One
Genre(s)
Simulation

Like most of the systems in Rimworld, there is a complex but surprisingly straightforward system for the fertilization of a host of creature eggs. Farming in Rimworld and building up a good stock of animals is a great path to long-term success.

Whether players want to breed chickens or ostriches, if they can get a male and female together, it will eventually happen. Baby creatures are far easier to tame and working with baby animals can be a cathartic break from the horrors that often lie in wait in Rimworld.