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Melody's Escape
Game
Game2015
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
Developer Nihon Falcom, Mastiff
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is a 2004 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom. The game stars a girl named Parin who wields a drill weapon who fights against phantoms who attack a village of monsters. The game features real time combat, rather than turn based combat. It features full voice acting for its characters. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
287 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
88
LovedLoved
158 positive · 22 negative
95% range 82–92%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 158 | 22 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 47 | 3 | 48 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
571 of 630 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
89% recommend · 165 yes, 21 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 186 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,016 of 1,117 positive).
Many note the game has technical issues like 30 FPS lock and clunky controls. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the game for repetitive combat and unskippable cutscenes. [4][5][6]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
This game just does not feel very good. The BGM tracks are unpleasant and the music seems to have no relationship with the beat-based crits, the controls feel very skiddy and lacking finesse, the cutscenes go on too long and are unskippable, and I was pretty thrown off by one of the first NPCs I talked to being a full grown man who makes unambiguous sexual advances on my character, who is a little girl. This is in a …
- [7]
I've found myself greatly enjoying this game. Maybe it's because of how tired I am of modern design sensibilities and writing. So many games these days play far too similarly to one another, so many games have writing that seems to strictly be keeping within certain boundaries, or worse, trying to appeal to people by mimicking the writing and dialogue of the most popular media of the 2010s and 2020s. Then here is …
- [1]
✅ Short but sweet game ✅ Charming protag ✅ Rocking soundtrack ✅ Decent story ✅ Simple but fun gameplay ❌ Gameplay is internally locked at 30 FPS ❌ Enemies can easily fall off map and you lose valuable loot from them ❌ Unskippable cutscenes (makes it a pain to redo boss fight) ❌ Control/Camera can feel clunky (it's an ancient game) ❌ Various translation and spelling errors Recommended fix to apply: …
- [4]
Charming, to say the least. Janky, but very fun. Combat is mindless and gets rather repetitive since you mostly spam the big wave move and otherwise use the air dash or charge drill. A bit repetitive, but combat is fun. Rather long, took me about 12 hours to finish all dungeons and minigames. The dub is cheesy as hell, laugh worthy. Music gets surprisingly good at the end. Mostly very easy, only the last boss and …
- [2]
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is a cute, decent action adventure. + Good amount of control mechanics + Cute characters, situations, story; sometimes silly but also charming in its attempts + Largely but not fully voiced * Third-person exploration and action, and top-down world-map to manually walk - Technical issues - Sometimes clunky progression, controls, visuals - Silly, unnecessary, forced slapstick and …
Summarised from 34 of the 279 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
89% of the 186 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure. The complaint that keeps coming up: technical issues like 30 FPS lock and crashes. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PSP version a total of 31 out of 40. Subsequent reviews for the 3DS port have been "mixed or average".
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 287 · most liked firstI've been playing a game called "Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure" made by Nihon Falcom, what a fun and adorable game.
positive · AI labelView post →Happy 20th anniversary #Gurumin! Reposting some older art to celebrate this amazing game.
neutral · AI labelView post →I got Gurumin for Christmas 🎄✨ Have you played this cute lil game? 🥰
positive · AI labelView post →Love how in Gurumin, the ultimate reward of the game is a swimsuit that makes all of your stats insane
positive · AI labelView post →gonna tell my kids this is hi-fi rush
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've found myself greatly enjoying this game. Maybe it's because of how tired I am of modern design sensibilities and writing. So many games these days play far too similarly to one another, so many games have writing that seems to strictly be keeping within certain boundaries, or worse, trying to appeal to people by mimicking the writing and dialogue of the most popular media of the 2010s and 2020s. Then here is this little relic, Gurumin, that just does things the way it wants to, feeling…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From what I can tell, it's mainly nostalgia thing for many people. I never played it when I was younger so I don't have the same memories. However, if you're into early 2000s games you won't be disappointed. It's a great adventure exploration game with well-told story and fun gameplay.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →✅ Short but sweet game ✅ Charming protag ✅ Rocking soundtrack ✅ Decent story ✅ Simple but fun gameplay ❌ Gameplay is internally locked at 30 FPS ❌ Enemies can easily fall off map and you lose valuable loot from them ❌ Unskippable cutscenes (makes it a pain to redo boss fight) ❌ Control/Camera can feel clunky (it's an ancient game) ❌ Various translation and spelling errors Recommended fix to apply: https://github.com/Tenome/Gurumin-Modding
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pseudoregalia???? Gravity Rush???? Gurumin???? Whatever the inspirations here are this game looks awesome store.steampowered.com/app/2986450/...
neutral · AI labelView post →A more serious review: This silly game was gifted to me by my friend only because I asked, "Hey, what is your profile pic from?" and she instantly seemed so happy to talk about this game, and gifted it to me right after. At the time she gifted me the game, I was in a very depressive state, and had written my own suicide letter and was 100% ready to end it all. But then on that night, I decided "Before I go, I'll give this game a try." I had only put an hour in, and instantly everything…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🔵 Requires light tinkering - Turn off Depth of Field and Back Buffer in launcher graphical settings. - Name entering screen won't respond to controller, use touch screen on it. Optional: To have the best experience download our mod pack https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hlwgMjjZIiMX4iJk8Ygy_Fd7g5TjjRAl/view?usp=drive_link drag and drop all files into the game folder, make settings in launcher look like this: https://imgur.com/a/uVmfTyI Pack includes: - Preconfigured dgVoodoo 2 wrapper to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gurumin walked so Hi-fi rush could run.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Calling this game a masterpiece would be like calling the Mona Lisa fridge worthy or calling 9/11 an OSHA violation. Parin's disposition for life makes me want to get up, storm out of the house and conquer the nearest apex predator. Every time Poco starts dancing it sends shock waves to my nervous system telling me to fix this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up world. Puku and Pino's bond inspired me to reach out to my ex-con sister and revitalize her connection to christ. Pierre defined what manhood and being a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My Playtime: 81.7h (100% achievement, finished the game 5x) Grindy Achievement(s): No (depends on whether you deem replaying the game 5 times grindy or not). Optional Achievement(s): Yes (~36 achievements). Difficult Achievement(s): Yes (~1 achievement). Intro Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is an action RPG game where you play as Parin, a girl who is trying to save her monster friends from the threat that is surrounding their world. Pros: - 27 levels - 5 difficulties to cater to different…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →my game of the year is once again Gurumin
positive · AI labelView post →Play Gurumin a monstrous adventure You stupid bitch
positive · AI labelView post →gurumin is about a cute girl with five billion animations running around 2004 platformer world with a drill sword and hanging out with monsters. it's the best game of all time?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →every game that contains the letters URU in this order is good. Kuru Kuru Kururin Gurumin Uru every game
neutral · AI labelView post →MY DRILL IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i beat Gurumin today! super cute game. i accidentally locked myself in a room with a superboss that you unlock if you beat every level. i was not ready
positive · AI labelView post →Gurumin was my favorite PSP game back in the day, and now for the first time I actually own it. Can't wait to play it.
positive · AI labelView post →This game just does not feel very good. The BGM tracks are unpleasant and the music seems to have no relationship with the beat-based crits, the controls feel very skiddy and lacking finesse, the cutscenes go on too long and are unskippable, and I was pretty thrown off by one of the first NPCs I talked to being a full grown man who makes unambiguous sexual advances on my character, who is a little girl. This is in a story that otherwise seems directly designed for children. It's "funny." Haha.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is a cute, decent action adventure. + Good amount of control mechanics + Cute characters, situations, story; sometimes silly but also charming in its attempts + Largely but not fully voiced * Third-person exploration and action, and top-down world-map to manually walk - Technical issues - Sometimes clunky progression, controls, visuals - Silly, unnecessary, forced slapstick and "violence"/smack humor Some things are somewhat limited. It certainly feels and looks…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Charming, to say the least. Janky, but very fun. Combat is mindless and gets rather repetitive since you mostly spam the big wave move and otherwise use the air dash or charge drill. A bit repetitive, but combat is fun. Rather long, took me about 12 hours to finish all dungeons and minigames. The dub is cheesy as hell, laugh worthy. Music gets surprisingly good at the end. Mostly very easy, only the last boss and the secret one gave some trouble. Got annoyed by a few things:…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I know everyone will talk about the Ys and Trails games (which they should for good reason), but Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is such a cute and fun game!
positive · AI labelView post →Cute charming, almost a Proto-Ys-Oath-In-Felghana you could say. Great game, very easy to pick up and play, can be enjoyed in small portions if your life is busy. If you see it for under 2 bucks, just buy it. Even if it doesn't work too well under 4K.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An action platformer where neither the action nor platforming are particularly good, but it's carried by the charm of the world and music.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing PSP action RPG Works great on the steam deck as well. Just like my PSP!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gurumin is two (2) smackaroos right now, and in my opinion, it's the best two (2) smackaroos you could spend on a game!
positive · AI labelView post →Bad news, I was testing tomorrow's game in OBS and it refuses to be captured like a wily ghost. Good news, that means Gurumin is back on the menu bababaieieieiieieiieieieiei!!!!
positive · AI labelView post →all around minimalist game thats still kinda fun, i have far more play time offline 5/10 combat 4/10 janky platforming 4/10 puzzles. some of those puzzles are trail and error solves that are just you trying a new thing over and over annoying 3/10 story + voice acting + music + pause menu is the protagonist just telling everyone to wait well she does what she does. hold the ♥♥♥♥ up i need to eat some cookies!!!! + price 10$ - they establish MANY times the main protagonist is a child and the only…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you remember getting that one game as a kid, that was a lot of fun to play, had a sweet story about friendship, was sometimes a bit confusing and had that cool art style (Nintendo 64/PS1/PS2)? That´s how this game feels like.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure. It's a very cute action RPG made by the developers of the Ys and Trails series.
neutral · AI labelView post →[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/36214917/]Follow our Curator Page, MMM Reviews, for more in-depth reviews and recommendations Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is a third-person action-adventure game with light RPG mechanics. You play as Parin, a young child who meets various monsters that need her help to prevent the destruction of their world. Gameplay Gurumin is classified by the developers as an Action-RPG, but I personally think the RPG mechanics are so minimal that it’s hard…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →...Yeah, I love how quirky this game is with its characters and aesthetic but from a gameplay standpoint it's... kind of dull. #JarkesPlays #Gurumin
neutral · AI labelView post →I wish someday falcom can make more tons fun and cute game again like Gurumin and Zwei!!
positive · AI labelView post →Nice trip to the past. It's missing the manga pages and extras, unfortunately.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →IM SO HAPPY THEY PORTED THIS INTO THE PC GRAHHH I USED TO PLAY THIS ON MY PSP AND I MISSED IT SO MUCH EVERYONE SHOULD PLAY IT NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this game a lot as a kid on my PSP, and only recently became aware it’s on Steam, and I’m super glad to be replaying it again. The soundtrack is really good, and the game feels really nice once you understand the controls (which become quite intuitive pretty quickly.) Also, Parin is a really charming protagonist!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The video gives us a glimpse at early UI and the like for these games but some of them look pretty different. Gurumin, for example, has some kind of quick time event that plays out when attacking enemies, which is not in the final game. Here is a link to the catalog: archive.org/details/falc...
neutral · AI labelView post →122) Gurumin 3D: A Monstrous Adventure Another 2DS backlog game beaten. I think this one might be a hidden gem for the system. This one has some great platforming and combat mechanics and a cute story as well. Aside from some camera issues this game is fun. #justbeatit @polykillpodcast.bsky.social
positive · AI labelView post →Cute and entertaining beat-em-up/platformer hybrid with some minigames interspersed throughout. Playing the game on Easy or Normal is a fun and relaxing experience, the story and cutscenes have a dreamlike surreal quality and it feels like a fun late era PS1/PS2 platformer with the charm of a game like Tron Bonne. The only thing I can complain about is that the controls can be slightly imprecise leading to some frustration in some of the later levels and occasional "where do I go to progress??"…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bring back Themes for the Nintendo Switch 2 then I'll be Capital E Excited. I want my console to be a device of colorful gaming whimsy again, I'm not joking. 3ds was the peak of self expression. Miis, sharing your game on streetpass. Gurumin theme. It had it all.
neutral · AI labelView post →27. I wouldn't call it underrated, but definitely underexplored, Xanadu Next is a great game with a lot of depth, just a bit more challenging than your usual fare. Gurumin is definitely underrated, classic banger.
positive · AI labelView post →One of my first game in my PSP and I got the UMD for this. Nostalgia is real. Beat it now on steam again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not sure how much we have left to go, but join me to probably finish up Gurumin in an hour~? Plus we'll choose what retro game we'll be tackling next, so be sure to pop in with some suggestions! (current lean is maybe my first RPG ever, sorcerer's kingdom for the genesis)
neutral · AI labelView post →still working my way through SMT: Strange Journey Redux but I've been picking at Black Rock Shooter The Game (PSP) on the side. very 2010's vibe, I like the action RPG system with contained combat encounters plans to get to 3rd Birthday, Gurumin, and Metal Gear Acid when I can
neutral · AI labelView post →First Game Ever Played: Gran Turismo 4 Fave Console: PS2 Fave Game: Hellsinker Comfort Game: Gurumin Game You're Currently Playing: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Fave Gaming Soundtrack: Hellsinker, Gurumin, TWEWY Anticipated 2025 Game: Fate/Extra Record
neutral · AI labelView post →Linux performance in my experience wasn't good. It ran well most of the time, but it crashed in some stages starting from Spinach Cave. I had to switch to Windows to finish this game. However, I'm willing to give this game a pass due to its age, and there were some Windows specific features in the game. Compatibility aside, this game's really good. It's definitely a product of its age. It has everything from its time: awesome soundtrack which is the strongest suit of the game imo, charming…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Play as Parin, one of the most badass kid game protagonists of the modern age. Armed with nothing but a drill sword, she'll rip and tear though the evil Phantoms and the level itself and stop their plans to rebuilt their world at the expense of the peaceful Monsters. In all seriousness, it's a simple game: rip and tear through various levels with excellent feedback from enemies and environmental destruction. Plus, with upgradable equipment and being able to swap your drill's elemental types at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure pros: //fast game with modern day graphics with easy controls that moves from location A to B to C and so on //good amount of action and special effects cons: //some difficult battles/boss battles //some overpowered enemies //some enemies have unfair attacks //a lot of difficult platforming //platforming is at master level regardless of difficulty settings //some difficult puzzles //upgrades require a lot of resources //collecting resources are a grindfest…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Uhhhh… I guess I should say something eh? No? Yes? No one asked? HAHAHAHA Anyway, go play Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure. I’m heavily biased, but you should play it anyway because it’s a cool and fun game and it would be real nice if hype for this ancient ass game built up!
positive · AI labelView post →Gurumin is cute, enjoyable and earnest. It does get a bit repetitive, and it's also extremely anime-like, so keep those two things in mind before committing to it. The story follows a young girl called Parin, as she moves in with her grandpa to a mining city. She's the only kid around, and for a long time, she's lonely and bored, until she meets a nice little group of monsters that befriend her. Things seem fine for a while, but they eventually take a turn for the worst, as the little monster…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll admit I bought this for some nostalgia at first, but I'm playing it because it's still an amazing game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First played on a 3ds then the PSP. I'd be honest, This is my likes of game I'm going to install then don't play it afterwards 😬
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PLEASE BUY GURUMIN! Parin is worth every penny on her own, but the game is also lots of fun!
positive · AI labelView post →STREAM SCHEDULE 3/22-3/28 sundays are now MONSTER HUNTER DAY from here on out forever probably! and then i will be playing through GURUMIN the hit game abt a girl with a drill! end concept! im sold! the rest of the week will be other things! probably roguelikes, maybe TFT, it’s a mystery!
neutral · AI labelView post →Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades When it comes to writing a review, I usually try to beat the game I am reviewing before passing judgment; Because some games only start to shine as you get past the initial bad impressions they make. And if I have already played a game before (especially if it was on another platform), I will attempt to try it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hidden Gem 10/10 One of the most chill and beautiful soundtracks out there If you want something Retro with THE vibes, this is the game you want
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(looks it up) Oh wow, Gurumin was the first Falcom game directed by Takayuki Kusano, who would later direct Ys The Oath in Felghana, Tokyo Xanadu, and the entirety of the Trails of Cold Steel arc, plus Trails into Reverie. ...Well, everyone's gotta start somewhere before they get REALLY good.
neutral · AI labelView post →
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