By Jacob Miller | Oct 14, 2026
A Never-Ending World of Cute and Vicious Pets
The creature-collecting side clearly takes cues from Pokemon, while the art style and visuals may remind some players of Stardew Valley. Wildaria entered Steam early access on October 8, 2026, costs about $15 USD, and has since earned very positive user reviews.
What helps it stand out from other open-world creature collectors is its procedural generation. The world is described as "never-ending" because the game keeps creating new locations based on the four biomes in the early access version. Taming works differently too, using a more deliberate system than the standard Pokeball approach.
Players can collect pets with different stats and elemental abilities, then use them in combat or ride them. They can meet locals and trade, take on quests, explore the world, search for rarer creatures, fight animal gods, and fill out a Pokedex-style compendium called the Wildapedia.
The Bubble Lasso Twist
SpaceFudge says, "I didn't want taming to be a ball thrown at the character and an RNG dice roll." So he built the Bubble Lasso, the game's version of a Pokeball. When a player throws it at a target, a minigame starts that is loosely inspired by fishing in Stardew Valley. Players have to keep repositioning and holding the lasso in the right direction to catch the animal. There are ways to improve the odds, but the mechanic keeps catching from feeling dull or repetitive.
What Comes Next
According to the Steam page, early access includes over 40 collectible creatures, and a few more have been added since launch. That may become a pattern. For the 1.0 release, the developer plans over 100 more creatures, which could make Wildaria one of the biggest GBA-style creature-collecting games on Steam. Future updates will also bring multiplayer.
The game is expected to stay in early access for about two years, with regular updates and patches. A 10% launch discount currently lowers the price to about $13 USD, but it ends on October 15. In the coming days, it will be interesting to see whether Wildaria can win over more fans of Pokemon-like games and carve out a name in a crowded genre.
