We’re starting off with something evidently at the core of Swarm: the Tems!

How were the Tems selected for every stage, or as playable characters?

To decide which Temtem were featured into Temtem: Swarm, we had to balance two elements: first, the need to cover all 12 types as accurately as possible, and a desire to add variety to the combination of Techniques they can use. If you’ve played the original Temtem game you might be confused seeing Tems use Techniques from a wider array of types, something that wasn’t as common in Temtem. This was an intentional change to ensure that gameplay in Swarm was as interesting as possible!
Second, the other element we kept in mind while choosing was the community’s sentiment towards the Tems, or Tems that were special in any way in the world of the original Temtem.

Some of the unrevealed Tems that will be added during the Early Access phase were chosen to add a little twist to gameplay once you have a roster of several Temtem, so stay tuned for the new Tems we’ll be adding!

How did you choose the starters?

This is a tricky question, because the starter has changed a couple of times since the beginning! For starters (heheh, get it?) all versions up until now only had one Starter, Platypet, but the Early Access version got a new starting Tem: Smazee!

But before these two took the spotlight, Pigepic was set to be the starter, and then you’d unlock Platypet on the Deniz map, which was the first map players would have access to. However, we realized Platypet’s kit was more interesting and appealing (this was a time when Wind Blade was less powerful than Wave), and it also had the perk of evolving twice, which is a mechanic we wanted players to discover as early as possible. That, paired with its double-typing and being a fan-favorite Temtem, ended up tipping the scale towards Platy.

This decision made us change the starting arena from Deniz to Cipanku, because, with Platy, it’d have ended in a Water Tem in a Water map situation. So instead of a Water arena, we went for an electric arena and chose Cipanku, which was already complete at that point in development and is also a really well-loved area in the OG Temtem game.

But back to Smazee! Are you ready to wreak monkey chaos on the arenas with this little friend?

Smazee is a cute and playful thing that will show you not to underestimate its prowess! Fearless and impulsive, Smazee scatters down the Swarm with Martial Strike, its basic tech, a Melee hit that punches nearby enemies.
As Smazee progresses and evolves it’ll acquire the Earth element as its complementary typing, and you’ll be able to unleash the power of Earth techniques.

Thinking of mowing down a big swarm? Say no more: Smazee’s ultimate, Seismunch’s Wreck, will grant it invulnerability for a few seconds while it destroys anything in its path using two huge stone balls!

But of course, don’t let the novelty of Smazee distract you from our beloved friend and starter, the one, the only, the adorable and intoxicatingly powerful Platypet!

Platypet can unleash surprising devastation against the swarm while warming your heart with its undeniable cuteness. Platy’s basic technique is Water Blade, a frisky (but painful!) splash that targets the nearest enemy, or wherever you want it to aim, and travels in a direct line. Platypet also gets to double-dip and pull from both the Water and Toxic type techniques
But if you reaaaaally need to drown that Swarm out, Platypet’s ultimate ability is Tsunami, which unleashes a massive wave that engulfs the swarm and leaves them floundering

Any of these two are great choices. Test around to see which playstyle suits you best, and unlock more Tems to explore more options!

How many characters can we expect during the Early Access period?

Right as the Early Access launches, you’ll be able to unlock a total of 7 characters, including the 2 starters, each one with their own Ultimate ability, and Skill Tree to explore and improve.

By the time we reach the 1.0 version of Temtem: Swarm, we plan on having a total of 13 playable Tems! We’re making sure you’ll change mains a couple of times until we reach 1.0.

We hope you’re as excited for Temtem: Swarm’s launch as we are! And if you still aren’t, we hope our daily devblogs will ignite that spark.
Have fun and Temtem up, and until then remember you can wishlist Temtem: Swarm on Steam, launching into Early Access on November 13th!