From an independent studio in Indonesia, a new game called Montabi arrives as a quiet but ambitious synthesis — asking players not merely to collect creatures or play cards, but to hold three kinds of thinking in mind at once: who to bring, how to grow them, and where to stand. Released by Mankibo in August 2026, it enters a crowded genre space not by simplifying, but by layering — trusting that the pleasure of complexity, when well-designed, is its own reward.
Mankibo Launches Montabi, Blending Creature Collection With Tactical Deckbuilding
Your creatures aren't just your team—they are your deck.
Mark
What makes Montabi different from just playing a creature-collecting game or a deckbuilder separately?
Mimi
It's about how the three systems talk to each other. Your creatures ARE your deck. You can't separate team-building from card strategy—they're the same decision.
Mark
So if I pick the wrong three creatures, my deck is already limited?
Mimi
Exactly. But that's the point. It forces you to think about synergy from the very start, not just grab the strongest individual cards.
Mark
And the grid combat—does that feel tacked on, or integral?
Mimi
It changes everything. You can have the perfect card hand, but if your creatures are positioned wrong, you can't execute the play. Positioning becomes a resource you have to manage.
Mark
What about the Trainer system? Why make that a permadeath condition?
Mimi
It's elegant. It gives you a clear win condition and a clear loss condition. You're not just surviving—you're protecting something. That creates narrative weight even in a roguelike.
Mark
Does the game feel like it has a lot of replayability?
Mimi
The Trainer selection alone changes how you approach every run. Add in the creature evolution system, and you're constantly discovering new card combinations. It's designed for repeated attempts.
El Pulso
- Mankibo has fused creature-collecting, deckbuilding, and grid-based tactical combat into a single roguelike — a combination that demands players think in three strategic registers simultaneously.
- The tension is built into the foundation: your team choice determines your deck, your deck determines your options, and a single misstep in positioning can unravel everything you've built.
- Creatures evolve mid-run, unlocking new cards and reshaping the deck in real time — forcing players to plan not just for now, but for the version of their team that doesn't exist yet.
- The Trainer system raises the stakes further, introducing a permadeath condition tied to a single character whose loss ends the run instantly, balancing aggression against survival.
- Each failed run becomes a lesson rather than a loss, as the roguelike structure rewards iterative experimentation across different Trainers, team compositions, and strategic approaches.
From an independent studio in Indonesia, a new game called Montabi arrives as a quiet but ambitious synthesis — asking players not merely to collect creatures or play cards, but to hold three kinds of thinking in mind at once: who to bring, how to grow them, and where to stand. Released by Mankibo in August 2026, it enters a crowded genre space not by simplifying, but by layering — trusting that the pleasure of complexity, when well-designed, is its own reward.
Mankibo, an Indonesian independent studio, has released Montabi — a roguelike that weaves together three distinct game traditions: monster-taming, deckbuilding, and tactical grid combat. Rather than treating these as separate systems bolted together, the game makes them inseparable. The creatures you choose to bring into battle are also the source of your cards, meaning team selection and deck construction are the same decision.
This interdependence runs through every layer of the game. As creatures gain experience and evolve during a run, they unlock new cards, transforming the deck as the campaign deepens. Players must think ahead — anticipating which evolutions will matter, which synergies are worth cultivating, and how to shape a team's growth to meet what's coming.
Combat takes place on a 3×3 grid, where positioning is not cosmetic but structural. Where a creature stands determines what it can reach, what can reach it, and how effectively cards can be played. The spatial dimension turns each encounter into a puzzle layered on top of a card game.
Adding further weight to each run is the Trainer — a character class chosen before the adventure begins, whose death ends everything immediately. This single rule creates a persistent tension between boldness and caution that colors every decision.
The roguelike structure ties it all together, ensuring that no two runs are identical and that failure carries forward as knowledge. Montabi seems designed less for mastery on the first attempt and more for the kind of understanding that only accumulates through repeated, curious failure.
Mankibo, an Indonesian independent studio, has released Montabi, a roguelike that fuses three distinct game traditions into one cohesive experience: the creature-collecting appeal of monster-taming games, the strategic puzzle of deckbuilding card games, and the spatial reasoning demanded by tactical grid combat. The result is a game that asks players to think simultaneously about team composition, card synergy, and battlefield positioning—each decision rippling into the next.
At its core, Montabi tasks you with assembling a squad of creatures, also called Montabi, and guiding them through a series of escalating battles to save a city from some unnamed threat. What makes the system work is that each creature comes bundled with its own set of cards, meaning the team you choose to bring into battle directly shapes the deck you'll be playing with. This creates an immediate strategic layer: selecting your three creatures isn't just about raw power, but about whether their card pools complement each other, whether their abilities chain together, whether they form something greater than the sum of their parts.
The game's progression system reinforces this philosophy of constant adaptation. As your creatures gain experience during a run, they evolve into stronger forms, and these evolutions unlock new cards that weren't available before. This means your deck isn't static—it grows and transforms as you push deeper into the campaign. The player's job becomes one of foresight and flexibility: you must anticipate which cards will matter most, which creatures are worth investing in, and how to shape each team member's growth to meet the challenges ahead. Every playthrough becomes a conversation between your initial choices and the opportunities the game presents.
When combat arrives, the action unfolds on a 3×3 grid, a small but consequential battlefield where every square matters. Positioning your creatures isn't window dressing—it's fundamental. Where you place your team determines which enemies they can reach, which attacks will land, and how vulnerable they are to counterattack. This spatial dimension adds a layer of puzzle-solving to what might otherwise be a straightforward card game. You're not just deciding which cards to play; you're deciding where to play them.
Before each adventure begins, players select a Trainer, a character class that functions much like a king in chess: a powerful piece that must be protected at all costs. Each Trainer brings a distinct playstyle and strategic toolkit, meaning your choice here shapes everything that follows. If your Trainer falls in battle, the run ends immediately. This creates a constant tension between aggression and defense, between pushing forward and playing it safe.
The roguelike structure—where each run is a fresh start, where failure is permanent, where you must adapt to new circumstances each time—naturally encourages experimentation. Players will find themselves returning again and again, trying different Trainer combinations, different team compositions, different approaches to the same encounters. The game's design seems built to reward this kind of iterative discovery, where each failed run teaches you something about synergy, about positioning, about the hidden depths of the system.
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