Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 is basically Pokémon but with that classic Dragon Quest charm—chunky monster designs, goofy sound effects, and way more strategy than you’d expect. You start off scouting monsters (no pokéballs here—just a weird little radar thing) and before long you’re fusing them into ridiculous hybrids like a slime knight or a dragon with a hat.

The battles are turn-based but surprisingly deep—some monsters synergize better than others, and figuring out which skills to pass down during fusion is half the fun. The first time I accidentally bred a monster with a healing spell that also poisoned enemies? Game changer.

It’s got that classic Dragon Quest grind, but the monster variety and sheer dumb fun of seeing what abominations you can create make it worth it. Just don’t get too attached to your team—you’ll probably fuse them into something weirder five minutes later.