Mongil: Star Drive First Impressions — Looks Good, Plays Bad

I was invited to try out Mongil: Star Drive, an upcoming free-to-play action RPG, during its recent closed beta. This was actually my first time playing a gacha game — and unfortunately, I walked away feeling mostly underwhelmed.

The biggest issue for me was the combat. It looks great on the surface — flashy animations, smooth character-swapping, and dodge indicators that light up enemies before they strike — but when I really break it down, all I was doing was left-clicking, occasionally dodging with the right mouse button, and spamming Q and E for skills and ultimates.

It felt like I was brute-forcing my way through every fight. After an hour or two, my right index finger straight-up started to hurt. There just wasn’t enough complexity or strategy to keep me engaged. I’m sure things pick up later with mechanics like elemental weaknesses and boss patterns, but the road to get there felt painfully basic.

Mongil: Star Drive also markets itself as a “creature collector,” which I found a bit misleading. Instead of taming monsters in any meaningful way, you’re just acquiring buffs — tiny companions that act more like stat-boosting charms than actual creatures. It doesn’t scratch that Pokémon itch at all.

On the bright side, the game is definitely visually appealing; I dig the anime aesthetic. I also liked the light-hearted tone of the dialogue. But that surface-level charm quickly gave way to repetitive gameplay and a lack of real depth.

Maybe gacha games just aren’t for me — or maybe it’s just Mongil: Star Drive. I’ve heard great things about other titles like Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves, but if this is the kind of combat and gameplay loop most gacha games offer, I’m not sure I’ll find what I’m looking for.