Temtem: Swarm News

Hi Tamers! Tomorrow, a lucky chunk will have the Temtem: Swarm beta in their hands, and that's so exciting! We want you to know what you'll be able to experience and what the limits of the Beta are, so you can know what to expect. Let's take a look!

[h3]Co-op, survivor, bullet-heaven![/h3]

Temtem: Swarm is a hectic and exciting experience set in the bullet-heaven genre. Your Tem will be surrounded by swarms of enemy Tems, and you must use quick thinking to get rid of them! Your Tem will launch Techniques on these Swarms and attacks come in all shapes and sizes, with some targeting specific Tems, some based on the direction you're moving, and others being completely random (it depends on the Tech!). You also have a different Ultimate Technique per Temtem that you can cast whenever you want, as long as it's not on cooldown.

The main goal of each Arena is to defeat its main Boss. If you happen to faint across the line, don't give up! If you're playing in co-op you will enter Ghost mode, a last-chance mode that will allow you to stay around while your pals make their way to your soul, left behind where you died, and revive you. While in Ghost Mode you'll be able to move around freely and knock enemies back to help your friends.

If you know Crema, you know we believe everything is more fun with others, so Temtem: Swarm can be played in online co-op of up to 3 people: you and your two best friends, you and your parents, you and your girlfriend's evil exes... you choose!

[h3]Two Arenas to explore and conquer![/h3]

Play in Deniz, a Mediterranean paradise of sandy beaches, or in Cipanku, a techno-oriental promenade under the cherry blossoms! Each map has its own decorations, pickable items, enemies... Of course, this also means different bosses and mini-bosses! Cipanku and Deniz each have two mini-bosses and one final boss per arena, and they have 25 Techniques in total that are exclusive for bosses and mini-bosses. Learn their patterns to plan your attacks!

Obtain victories in both Arenas to unlock Kudos and new Tems!

[h3]Four Tems to unlock and play with![/h3]

While the full version of Temtem: Swarm will have a good chunk of playable Tems, in the Beta you start out with lovely Platypet, and can unlock Oree, Innki and Pigepic as you play. Completing challenges in each map will make you progress in Kudos, a sort of in-game achievements, and some Kudos will reward you with an egg. Completing a Capture event in any following game will hatch that egg, giving you the chance to play with a new Temtem in following runs!

Your Tems can also evolve! The evolution system is the same as it was in Temtem, so Tems don't evolve at fixed levels, but rather after gaining a set number of levels. Platypet, for example, will evolve into Platox after gaining 10 levels, and Platox will evolve into Platimous after gaining another 15 levels. Evolutions improve your stats, so keep this in mind while playing!

Platy has two evolutions, and Oree has one, so discover three more Tems while playing the Beta!

[h3]Skill Trees to grow and enjoy![/h3]

You'll have even more control over your builds by building your Temtem's Skill Tree! Every Tem can have its own different progression, since Skill Trees are unique to each Temtem- You can allocate points by using Pansuns, which you'll earn during your matches. If you want to take on a new progression approach, you can always reset any given Skill Tree and you'll recover the Pansuns spent. Start from scratch whenever you want!

During the beta you'll be able to explore the Skill Tree of all four playable Tems: Platypet, Oree, Innki and Pigepic. The Skill Tree changes apply to further evolutions of the Tem.

[h3]Techniques, Gears, Kudos and Synergies![/h3]

A full world of possibilities unrolls once you start tapping into the different builds you can have in Temtem: Swarm. There are 28 different Techniques in the Beta, some of which are exclusive to certain Tems. By playing matches and achieving Kudos you'll be able to unlock Synergies, which will make your Techs way more powerful than at its base. Synergies happen when a fully maxed Technique is paired with a certain Gear. You can figure them out as you go, or check out our wiki for the how-to!


Please keep in mind that a lot of stuff in the playtest is simpler than those found in later levels. Expect more options and new, more challenging content once the game is released!

We're super excited to see you play our new game, to hear your opinions and feedback, and to play a couple of runs with you. Don’t forget to sign up for the Beta playtest, and to wishlist Temtem: Swarm if you haven't already!

See you soon on the Arenas, Tamers!

We're absolutely thrilled to see the incredible response from all of you who have been eagerly requesting access to our upcoming Temtem: Swarm Beta Playtest! It gives us that tingly, warm feeling inside! (Thank you!)

Our plan for granting access to the beta is to bring in waves of Tamers throughout the Beta Playtest. So, if you don't get selected in the first wave on September 12th, don't worry! You could still make it in through a future wave!

On that note, we're excited to announce another way for you to get your hands on one of 250 beta keys!

Simply participate in our new SweepWidget campaign to enter for a chance to win. You'll get entries for completing specific tasks, none of which are required, but the more entries you have, the higher your chances of winning!

Winners will be announced on September 11th, giving you a whole day to get ready for the Beta Playtest, which starts on September 12th.

Don't miss out on this chance to be one of the first to experience Temtem: Swarm!

If you haven't already requested access directly in Steam, you just have to head over to the Temtem: Swarm Steam page and click on the Request Access button.

This one's a decoy please don't click it

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we announce more ways to gain access too!

Following the successful Alpha Playtest (thanks to everyone who played, watched, and gave us feedback!), we've noticed a surge of interest in Synergies. Many players asked what they are, how they work, and how to unlock them. Sooooo, let's dive deeper into these powerful techniques that can turn the tide of battle.

Synergies are special, supercharged techniques that can decimate the endless swarms of Tems coming after you. Think of them as secret moves that become available as you progress through the game. Let’s look at how you can unlock these incredible attacks!

[h2]How to Unlock Synergies[/h2]

You won’t be able to get a Synergy in your first game on Swarm, since you’ll have to discover and complete the Kudos first. Kudos are challenges or achievements that you complete in-game, and some Kudos are tied to unlocking specific synergies. So as you play more rounds and survive longer, you’ll discover the requirements for Kudos so that you can complete them!

Similarly, some Gears don’t make it into the pool of choices you have when you Level Up until you’ve completed the Kudo for it. So make sure you check those Kudos out as you make progress, so you know what to aim for!

I’ve found that the easiest way to explain it is to think of it like a recipe: you need both the Skill at Level 5 (the main ingredient) and the Gear (the secret ingredient), and then you just have to Level Up (the cooking time) to create the final product (the Synergy). Let’s look at a specific example and stop talking about theories!

[h2]Data Burst+[/h2]

Data Burst+ is a synergy available to Oree and pummels the swarm with a constant barrage of digital attacks. The first step to unlocking it is completing this Kudo from the Digital Kudos section:



Once you have that Kudo complete, you’ll need to jump back into the arena, max out Data Burst to Level 5 and get the Drill gear.



Now you're just one level away from being able to choose Data Burst+ and start obliterating the swarm!



[h2]What about co-op?[/h2]

Synergies work a little differently in co-op, and the responsibility of who has what to unlock the synergy can be shared. If one player has the Level 5 technique and the other has the necessary Gear, the Synergy becomes available. Also, proximity matters with some synergies in co-op and will require you to be close to each other to activate. This opens up endless possibilities of combinations of techs and gears depending on what the other players have chosen throughout the game!

With Synergies, you'll have the power to turn the tide of battle and emerge victorious against the relentless onslaught of enemies. Start discovering them by leveling up your techniques and completing Kudos in the upcoming playtest…signups are open on the store page! (unless you read this months from now!)

Until next time...you can wishlist Temtem: Swarm today!

Hey Tamers!

Temtem: Swarm is coming along nicely and we feel it's in a good place for you Tamers to try it and let us know your thoughts on it so far! So we are hereby opening the sign-ups for the first round of the Private Beta playtesting of Temtem: Swarm!

To request access you just have to head over to our Steam page, wishlist the game if you haven't already, and click on the Request Access button.

This one's a decoy please don't click it

The Beta Playtesting will start on September 12th, and will last for a couple of weeks! We're looking at early October 1st as our closing date, we'll remind you along the way!

Not everyone will make it into this first round, but don't worry: there'll be more chances to get access to the Beta in the future. We might also do more rounds here on Steam, too!
Those who get lucky and gain access will receive an e-mail from Steam on the 12th letting them know Temtem: Swarm playtesting is available for them to play! Make sure your Steam e-mail is one you check regularly.

You'll be able to let us know your thoughts through a link in the in-game lobby, and you're free to stream and make content about the game, no embargo whatsoever! We are so eager to see what you cook and the builds you make!

Have fun, best of luck, and see you soon for some Swarm conquering!

We at Crema HQ are buzzing with excitement to unleash the chaotic mayhem of Temtem: Swarm onto the Steam Deck! But why the Deck, you ask? Why not just sit at a desk with your favorite gaming PC? Well, buckle up, because we're about to delve into the electrifying world of swarm-surviving co-op carnage, and why the Steam Deck is the perfect Temtem Swarmer’s companion!


(Puppy Tax included!)

[h2]Swarm Co-op Reigns Supreme on the Steam Deck[/h2]

Temtem: Swarm's heart and soul lies in its 3-player co-op. We didn't just shove co-op in as an afterthought: we built the entire experience around the joy of battling alongside your best friends or those strangers on the internet that our parents warned us against. Imagine you and your fellow Tamers, chilling on the couch, Steam Decks in hand, strategizing how to take down a crazed Nessla or a hulking Yowlar. No need to be tethered to a desk – the Steam Deck lets you unleash co-op chaos anywhere, anytime!


(Double the Puppy Tax - aren't you lucky!?)

[h2]Temtem Tech for All Those Tiny Titans[/h2]

Our clever little monkeys have been working tirelessly to make sure the game feels great in your hands. The game's interface scales beautifully to the Deck's screen, so you can keep track of your Temtem squad and the incoming enemy hordes with ease. And of course, full controller support lets you unleash your inner swarm-battling master without ever needing to touch a keyboard.

You might be asking yourself how we got hundreds of detailed Temtem models to show on the screen without making the system crash and burn. For that we relied on the amazing TechArt and Programming teams to find ways to make the magic happen.

Normally, Temtem are animated using skeletons, but with so many animated characters on screen at once this can really slow things down. So, we used a special technique to bake animations into textures which allowed us to have the graphics card (GPU) handle those animations. This frees up the processor (CPU) for other tasks, like enemy behavior and executing your attacks, dashes, and movements.

The VFX teams were also responsible for making a ton of beautiful animations with eye-catching particle effects for the pick-up items. There can be a lot of those items on the screen at once - especially after Platypet’s Tsunami goes off! Those animations and particles were being handled by the CPU, but using a similar technique, they made it so that the process could be handled by the GPU instead.

On the programming side of things, we noticed the game was chugging a bit when players were going wild at the same time, especially when the host of a co-op game was on the Steam Deck. Turns out, one of the plugins we were using wasn't built for such chaotic fun! The team cooked up some special tweaks just for the Steam Deck, and voila! The game runs like a dream, even with a whole crew of players causing mayhem.

All of this means that the swarm can be larger, drop more items, and chase you harder all while the Steam Deck runs like a dream. We have even more we can optimize, so we’ll keep pushing to have the best experience possible!

[h2]Let's Face It, Armchair Battle Stations Are So 2005[/h2]

We all know that sometimes you just gotta relax in your favorite gaming chair with a giant bag of chips, keyboard in hand, and feel the breeze of your computer fans on your face. But for those of you who know what’s up, you know epic Temtem battles don’t require a sedentary lifestyle. The Steam Deck's portability lets you conquer the swarm from anywhere! Park, plane, or that weird uncle's house with the surprisingly comfy beanbag chairs – Temtem: Swarm is a blast on the go and its quick-burst gameplay is perfect for a short commute or an extended monster-bashing marathon.


[h2]Stay Tuned, Tamers![/h2]

We’re only a few months away from getting Temtem: Swarm into your hands so you can play it yourself! We’ve got a lot of plans cooking, including playtests, demos, fests, and so much more. So make sure to Follow and Wishlist Temtem: Swarm here on Steam, so that you get updated on all the latest details.

If you want to be kept up on everything Temtem related, we’ve also got a monthly newsletter you can Sign Up for, join us on Discord or check out our socials:

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Until next time…