Nexomon: Extinction is the third game in the Micromon Mons Series developed by VEWO Interactive, and serves as a direct sequel to Nexomon, following centuries after its end. The game was released on August 28, 2020, and is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The game follows you, a young Tamer who has joined a guild dedicated to helping humanity in troubled times. After certain events you have a clear goal, to hatch the fearsome "Tyrant of Light", in order to bring an end to the endless war between powerful elemental Nexomons called Tyrants. You're also joined by a heavily cynical and self-aware cat named Coco, and various other characters who are not afraid to break the fourth wall.
Similar to the previous two games, the 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. However the game is quite generous with where you can go at the beginning alone, allowing for a great degree of player freedom. It also features a dynamic difficulty system, a high number of side quests, craftable equipment called cores, and bosses that function more like traditional role-playing game compared to its inspiration.
Tropes:
- Admiring the Abomination: Despite having the potential for untold destruction, certain characters view Vados as this. In particular, Ross initially views Vados as useful and has no problem with it.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Subverted. Vados is doing exactly what it was designed to do — kill tyrants and prevent a new monster king from rising and uniting all Nexomon. The problem is that Amelie doesn't understand that, if a king doesn't rise, then tyrants will keep being born no matter how many Vados kills. And with the level of destructive power it wields every time it attacks a tyrant, eventually the planet will be damaged beyond its ability to sustain life.
- All According to Plan: Deena insists throughout the game that she has a plan, and throughout the game, others are shown to be involved with said plan to varying degrees. Unfortunately, she never properly explained her plan to anyone, though the end goal is to bring peace to the Nexomon. If Nara is resurrected, she comments that everything went according to plan, with the exception being her death.
- Animal Jingoism: The canine shopkeeper in Parum is perfectly civil to you, but he's rather prejudiced against cats like your friend Coco, who he refers to as "one of those" upon meeting him.
- Coco also mentions he is not a fan of the shopkeeper as well.
- Arch-Enemy: Dragons are the biggest, natural threat to Tyrants, as by nature they are naturally drawn towards Tyrants and compelled to slay them. Due to the player being a Tyrant, this creates major issues throughout the entire story; in one instance, this causes one of Lydia’s tamed dragons to become violent and go on a rampage, and before that, the elevator to Ignitia is destroyed by a dragon trying to attack the player.
- Vados considers the player to be his Arch-Enemy. Their typings play into this, as Vados is primarily a Ghost type and Solus is a Psychic type. Both types are strong against each other.
- Auto-Save: The game can optionally autosave every time you enter a room or do certain things.
- Badass Normal: There are two notable examples of this, Lydia and Xanders. Lydia is able to finish off a Tyrant without the need of any Nexomon, she's one of the only people to have tamed a Tyrant, and she has access to multiple greater drakes. Meanwhile, Xanders was able to survive an attack from a greater drake with barely any scratches and had enough strength to tackle it to the ground. Tyrants and drakes are considered 'Legendary' rarity, by the way, which marks them as stronger than most other Nexomon.
- Bait-and-Switch: From what happens at first, it seems that the Dragons and Tyrants are being used by the cultists who praise Omnicron, led by the Renegades, and to counter them you must hatch the Tyrant of Light from an strange egg given to you. It turns out that not only do the Renegades and cultists have nothing to do with each other, the Dragons were created by the guild leader Amelie to fight back against the Tyrants. The Renegades were people who were against the creation of Dragons, and Amelie branded them as traitors in response to that. Also, it turns out that you are the Tyrant of Light, and your journey was masterminded by Deena/Nara for you to become the new Nexolord, only not seeing her death. In the end, the cultists and Renegades team up with you to beat the guild leader and her creation.
- Back from the Dead: As the heir to Omnicron (and child of the Tyrant of Life), you have the power to resurrect Tyrants so long as their souls are intact. You also do this to Vados in the ending, and all but one of the Primordial Tyrants in the post-game.
- Big Bad: Amelie, who while having good intentions, nearly dooms humanity because her creation Vados threatens everything in the war against the Tyrants.
- Big Good: The player character becomes this as the new King/Queen of Monsters, Solus, at the end of the game. Though there are hints that even a Tyrant of Light may not be completely good.
- Blow You Away: Wind type Nexomon attack using various wind attacks.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Where to begin.
- Coco will regularly note and complain about RPG story elements.
- The fortune teller states that they're in a video game.
- When facing Ventra, she notes that she was
That One Boss, so the developers had to Nerf her. - One character states that despite not having a pickaxe anymore, it still shows up on her portrait because the developers ran out of money to make alts.
- When confronting Xanders at the Wind Tyrant's grave, he's about to punch Atlas when the robot states that as a sidekick, he has Plot Armor. Too bad for him he's been demoted, and gets punched into a wall.
- Call-Back: At the beginning of the game, the protagonist falls into a tomb and meets the ghost of the previous game's protagonist. On their grave is a picture of the protagonist and allies from the previous game.
- Cats Are Snarkers: Coco, whose snark is powerful enough to break the fourth wall.Coco: Have you never played an RPG before?
- The Cavalry: The five resurrected Tyrants arrive to help Solus during the final battle with Vados. Their combined strength allows Solus to temporarily evolve into their ultimate form, Omnisun.
- Character Customisation: You can select one of several character presents for your appearance, and this can be changed at any time.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Protovados annihilates all the Tyrants in one shot by launching a Wave-Motion Gun at them.
- Creating Life: Amelie is revealed to be the one who created the dragons in the first place as an attempt to create predators for the Tyrants in order to protect humanity; however, this would not be her last attempt. Using the Tyrants themselves as a basis, she easily created Vados, one of the strongest creatures in the world. Vados is more intelligent, powerful, and dedicated to his mission than the Dragons. The only thing that could compare to his power is Solus, but even then, Vados evolved into a higher form and could easily defeat the Tyrant Of Light. Luckily, Solus evolves as well and is able to match Vados' power and win.
- Deader than Dead: It's confirmed that Omnicron's soul was destroyed at the end of Nexomon, meaning that he isn't coming back.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most of the characters have snarky moments, but Coco is the most snarky by far.
- Decon-Recon Switch: The game starts out as a deconstruction of the Mons genre. For one, it's treated as barbaric to capture Nexomon and make them fight, and one girl's attempts to reassure Coco that it isn't such a bad thing backfire so badly that he concludes the Big Bad of the previous game did nothing wrong by trying to wipe out humanity. For another, it shows that humans would not fare well in a world filled with aggressive monsters of mass destruction. Later on, though, it's shown that humans and Nexomon can live in peace, and it's your job to make sure this happens.
- Disappeared Dad: Deena is firmly established as Solus' mother, but their father is never mentioned, and it's not clear if they even have one.
- Distant Finale: A post-game cutscene is briefly shown, taking place several centuries after the end of the game. A teacher is explaining the story of Solus to a young Tamer girl and boy, and how Solus and Vados joined forces to bring a long lasting peace to their society.
- The Dreaded: On the tamer side, Lydia and Xanders are this. Outside of being tamers, both are extraordinarily strong. Lydia is the Renegade of Wind and moves as such with her sword and easily defeats human enemies without using her Nexomon. Xanders is the physically strongest tamer and able to shrug off attacks from Tyrants and Dragons like they are nothing.
- Vados becomes one for the world as a whole, due to his power to detect and destroy Tyrants effortlessly.
- Elemental Powers: Obviously there's the Nexomon, who are associated with different elements, but there's also the case with the player. As elemental power is put into their Tyrant Egg, they are able to channel the egg's power in order to interact with the environment. Or so you're're told; this turns out to be a lie, and it's your own power.
- 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. Vados, as the ultimate artificial Nexomon, can change his type at will. After his capture, he only keeps his Ghost type, but retains moves of several types as a nod to this.
- Enemy Mine: The Tyrants, resurrected by you, and the Renegades, lead by Lobo, team up with you during the finale to take care of Vados. After the final battle, they're pardoned for their crimes and even become part of your council of sorts.
- Establishing Character Moment: Each of the Guild's Grandmasters get one.
- Amelie interrupts your bonding with your first Nexomon to bluntly remind you that it is not your friend, that all Nexomon are evil monsters determined to wipe out mankind, and the only reason your Nexomon isn't savagely attacking you right now is due to the Tamer device effectively brainwashing it.
- Xanders dismissing a Guild veteran as "weak" for losing control of her Dragon, then proceeds to subdue said Dragon with his bare fists.
- Evil Power Vacuum: There 'must' be a king of monsters to control all the rest. Without Omnicron, every Tyrant is scrambling to fill the role themselves. Even Vados killing them all won't solve the problem, as until a king is crowned, new Tyrants will just keep being born… that Vados will kill again and again.
- The Faceless: Lobo, who never removes his Omnicron inspired mask.
- Fiery Redhead: Ross, who often rushes into things. Gold Tamer Finn, though a bit more reasonable than Ross, can qualify as well.
- Friendly Enemy: Of Omnicron's children, Zetta/Luxa is the friendliest of the bunch, not counting Nara, the player's mother. If he is resurrected, he chooses to fight the player for the fun of it, instead of purely testing their strength.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: The player is more than capable of releasing Solus/Omnisun; of course, this doesn't make any sense from a story perspective since they're one and the same entity, thus make this should be theoretically impossible. But since Solus/Omnisun is treated like any other Nexomon without exception, there's nothing preventing the player from doing this.
- Despite being the new King of Monsters, wild Nexomon will still attack you without any regard despite the fact you're their monarch and royalty, and as such, they should obey you, but just don't. To make the situation worse, in the game story itself, they give a genuine reason on why The Dragons would attack you even as the King Of Monsters, but everyone else doesn't have a good reason. Considering your power and position, it's probably not a good idea.
- The player character is recommended not to utilize their Tyrant form to keep their human identity safe; however, they're more than capable of battling other Tamers as Solus, without any consequences. Some people are just blind to royal shapeshifters, even when they transform in front of them.
- It is possible to randomize every single Nexomon in the game; even those that are story relevant. The game by now is ignoring its own story and coming up with nonsense for gameplay. However, there are options for the randomizer to make a little bit more sense in terms of story; but where's the fun in that?
- Primordial Tyrants, in lore, are drastically more powerful than the Tyrants of the current day. In gameplay, however, their stats are relatively similar in power. It's mentioned in-game that their powers have waned over time, so it does make some deal of sense... At least until the post-game, where the Primordial Tyrants are revived with their original power, yet still don't become more powerful in terms of stats.
- It’s noted, in-game, that you probably could have caught Vados during the main story if you tried, but you aren't given the option to do such a thing.
- This trope is Lampshaded in the postgame by Coco. When the two of you go find Vados, he's cooled down considerably and is open to allying with you. He offers to simply come along of his own volition, but Coco refuses, saying 'That's not how these things go!'. Cue a battle to capture Vados.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: The Children of Omnicron generals are a Super Sentai-like group who try to be imposing Co-Dragons. Key word try, as they fail in every scene they're in, with one member failing a landing and breaking their bones, forcing them to flee. When they try to gang up on Xanders during the endgame, he effortlessly blows them away and goes on to fight you as if that never happened.
- Graceful Loser: When Vados is completely defeated, Amelie gives up and lets herself be exiled by Lobo. When met again after the credits, she's put herself behind bars and asks you to tame Vados.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Vados in the ending, as after being resurrected and bonded to the player, he threatens Amelie, his creator, when she tells him to stand down. She uses this as proof that Vados has become more of a Nexomon, if his basic program to obey her has been overwritten.
- Grim Reaper: Ripha, Grimmon and Devoul are a family of Nexomon based on Death.
- Heroic Mime: Your character is actually acknowledged as "mute"... but you do have some dialogue options.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Near the start of the game, you fight a level 45 Galoon with a level 6 starter, which obviously doesn't go well.
- Part of the final boss fight against Vados is this as well, as he constantly regenerates his health. At least until The Cavalry arrives.
- I Am Not My Father: To be specific, it should really be Solus is not their grandfather, Omnicron. Many tamers, especially Amelie and Xanders, fear that Solus could become a violent Tyrant like Omnicron. Deena's entire plan was to ensure that didn't happen; since Solus grew up as a human, they have a respect and understanding for humanity that Omnicron lacked.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Amelie outs herself when she states she never created Vados; Lydia never said that name.
- Kaiju: Fully grown Tyrant Nexomon are enormous. Their bones are littered throughout the landscape and are large enough for people to walk under. A prime example is shown after killing Vados' evolved form. His skeleton fills the crater in which he was killed, and the several human characters nearby look like mice next to it.
- Last of Her Kind: Deena/Nara is the last pure blooded living descendant of Omnicron. As is the player, who is Nara's child. In the post-game, this is averted, as the protagonist revives all of the Primordial Tyrants except for Metta.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: As this takes place centuries after Nexomon, spoilers are abound, such as the existence of Primordial Tyrants and Ziegler.
- Like Father, Like Son: The Player, as Solus, borrows both Nara’s pose and theme, while the design takes many cues from Nara’s appearance in the original game. Meanwhile Solus' overall color scheme closely resembles Omnicron, and upon evolving into Omnisun, their appearance becomes even closer to that of the former King Of Monsters.
- Luck-Based Mission: In the post-game, capturing the Wardens and the resurrected Tyrants, such as Eurus. The Wardens can spawn randomly in the grass anywhere in the world, and the resurrected Tyrants spawn randomly in areas they used to live. For example, Eurus only spawns randomly on the Drake Isles; Mulcimer around Ignitia, etc.
- Making a Splash: Water type Nexomon attack using various water attacks. Water attacks also overlap with Ice Magic Is Water, as several water attacks use ice and can potentially freeze targets as well.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: The ghost of the tamer protagonist from the previous Nexomon game introduces their friends as the greatest tamers… and Spencer.
- One-Winged Angel:
- Protovados to Vados.
- Solus to Omnisun.
- NPC Roadblock: While the game is open and explorable from the start, there are some parts blocked by NPCs before certain story events occur. An example is exploring the Citadel in the Frozen Tundra. The player is told to leave and can't explore it until the main quest to investigate the cultists who use it.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Human ghosts, colored transparent blue, are common place in the Nexomon world, often working with still living humans. Some are unique, such as Mentor/Grunda and Zetta/Luxa, who are revealed to have been Dead All Along but appeared solid enough to pass as living beings.
- There is also the Nexomon Ghost-type. The most unique ghost Nexomon is Ziegler, a powerful Nexomon who rules the Underworld. Though it is still possible to capture him like any other Nexomon.
- Outside-Context Problem: Ziegler, a Nexomon who controls the souls of the dead. He appears near the end of the game while Solus is resurrecting Bolzen, one of the Tyrants recently killed by Vados. He fights Solus for its soul, commenting they are going against the natural order. His Nexopedia entry states he's older even than Omnicron, and it's not known if he's even a Nexomon at all.
- Playing with Fire: Fire type Nexomon attack using various fire attacks.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Edward, the other grand master in charge of the Tamers Guild, is this especially after Amelie begins to attack Solus directly. Edward goes out of his way to help the player, such as pardoning them for any perceived crimes. Somewhat subverted near the ending when Edward tries to stop Solus from attacking Vados, but he does it more out of duty than wishing Solus' death.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After witnessing Vados' Tyrant destroying power, the protagonist's allies leave due to fear of being destroyed. They later return to assist the player.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: The children of Omnicron are able to switch between a humanoid form and their true Tyrant form. You and Coco learn the hard way that this is how Fenrir/Fona fights. Grunda/Mentor and Nara/Deena use this power in order to disguise themselves as humans in order to hide from the guild, watch over the player, and ultimately guide them in Nara’s plan in order to make a peaceful King of Monsters. The player eventually is able to use this ability as well in order to transform into their own Tyrant forms, Solus and Omnisun.
- Shock and Awe: Electric type Nexomon attack with various electricity based attacks.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: The game begins with a happy explanation that Nexomon let people live and help, before mentioning it's what fools like to believe and jumping headfirst into darker stuff. Played straight in the end, where centuries later, humans and Nexomon are living together in peace.
- Snarky Nonhuman Sidekick: Coco's main purpose in the game is to provide sarcastic commentary on everything that happens and lampshade the various RPG cliches that the game is riddled with.
- The Starscream: Logan, the Renegade of Thunder. He seems to be a loyal henchman at first, but when Vados annihilates all remaining Tyrants left on the planet under Amelie's instructions, you can overhear a short monologue where he reveals his plans to take over the guild for himself.
- Starter Mon: Deena gives you a choice of starter Nexomon, one of 9 to be exact. All starter Nexomons and their evolutions can later be found in the wild.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The spirit of the previous game's protagonist serves as this to Ulzar from the previous game, who in turn resembles the protagonist from the first game. Also, Protovados looks like Vaithe from the original Micromon, and both are feared and powerful artificial Mons.
- The Chessmaster: Nara/Deena set her child’s life up in order to save humanity from the fighting Tyrants and ultimately become the peacekeeper to both Nexomon and humans. Everything from them being raised among humans, joining the guild, to the Tyrant Egg was all part of her plan in order to guarantee not only the protection of Omnicron’s heir, but also their kindness. While there were a few bumps in the road — she couldn't foresee her own death or the artificial Tyrant, Vados — she ultimately succeeded anyway.
- The Unfettered: Vados is this, as he has a singular mindset with wiping out all Tyrants and later all Nexomon.
- The Unintelligible: Almost everyone in the underwater city of Cadium speaks in undecipherable gibberish. Out of everyone, only the ghosts, a scientist, and the President, Zetta, can speak English.
- Token Good Teammate: Lydia is the only Renegade that's on the player's side the whole time. Then the other Renegades help the player near the end.
- Tomato in the Mirror: YOU, the player, turn out to be an heir of Omnicron. Everything bad that has happened to you throughout the story is because of your nature as a Tyrant, aka the Tyrant of Light Solus/Omnisun. Meanwhile Deena/Nara, who is in fact your mother, was guiding you to become a good Tyrant and preserve the balance and future of Nexomon and humans.
- Too Dumb to Live: Early on, you encounter a trio of children jump-roping over a hole in a badly-damaged bridge, at which point Coco muses that the "extinction" in the game's title suddenly makes a lot more sense.
- Voice Grunting: Every character makes a beeping noise when talking.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Amelie turns out to be creating Vados to fight back against the Tyrants and retake the world for humanity.
- Vados also falls into this category. He was created with the drive to protect humanity from Tyrants, no matter what. Initially it is feared that since he was created to kill Tyrants, he would cause nonstop destruction over the world as more Tyrants appear. Later, he decides all Nexomon are the cause of humanity's problems and resolves to destroy them all, not only Tyrants.
- Wham Shot: The mysterious "Atlas" Deena urges you is integral to her plan is in fact the robotic companion Atlas from the previous game.
- The 'Wham' itself is Played for Laughs, as "Atlas" emerges from a large cylindrical tube. The party is underwhelmed when the diminutive robot appears
- When Trees Attack: Mr. Short Hands, a malevolent-looking talking tree who asks for two Nexomons, seems to be this. Several villagers in the Immortal Citadel comment on not making deals with him. Averted as Mr. Short Hands does not do anything actually malevolent.
