TL;DR

Former Atlus SMT/Persona developers join Lancarse / Furyu to put out this Persona-like game, which does a great job of evoking SMT and Persona (3) vibes, yet misses the mark of being a full-expansive JRPG.
This game's battle mechanics are that of a TRPG, with some unique mechanics such as radial movement rather than typical grid-based, as well as a unique set of skills and abilities.
While I did enjoy my ~80 hours with Monark, there's not much "deluxe" about this game (just some collector's item and OST download) and the worst thing about a game that reminds you of another game (Persona) is that you end up just wanting to play that game instead...

[Played on a Nintendo Switch Lite]

Monark is stunning the first time you enter the game. The graphics are so crisp and I can't believe I'm playing it on a Switch. There is a dark, gothic vibe to this title that makes me think of Persona 3 and all the darkness and grim aura of a Shin Megami Tensei title. You are trapped in your school "Shin Mikado Academy" by a barrier, covered by mist and also areas of the school get shrouded by mist caused by Pactbearers. As a group of the True Student Council, you go to another world through your smartphone (by calling numbers to enter battlefields), you seek to retrieve the Egos of the Pactbearers to clear the mist and free the academy from the clutches of the mist.

This game easily evokes Persona vibes (3, 4 and 5 mainly) ... I am reminded of Persona 3's setting a bit without being able to leave school, Persona 4's mist, and Persona 5's smartphone gateway to another world. This game does hint at being Persona-like, with a stylish characters as well as an awesome soundtrack (incl. vocal tracks that sync well in boss battles!) ... however, it truly misses the mark in this respect. While the story and concept of Monark was interesting at first, with a personality quiz to figure out which deadly sin you're most aligned with, rewarding you with a fiend party member of that sin... it is shown overtime that Monark's decision making doesn't make any real difference on story or relationships with the characters. It is very story-driven, and has full voice acting, yet it lacks the extra content that breaks it up between dungeon-crawling, story, and simulations (like a true modern Persona title)...

While I can't truly call this game a Persona-like, I can say I did really enjoy the battle mechanics and a lot of the unique parts of the system. You have to prevent your characters from reaching madness gauge to 100% (your characters go into a frenzy and are uncontrollable) and also you can increase an awakening gauge to 100% (you get stat bonuses at this state)... yet if you are able to get both to 100% at the same time you reach an even greater state: Enlightenment state (even more stat bonuses and your madness is still increased so some abilities that are powerful with high madness can still pack a punch).... This unique battle system includes radial movement as well as interesting tactical combinations, deciding between a party of human members or just using fiends instead or you can mix and match both!

Where Monark is lacking is its biomic diversity in battlefields and the fiends you recruit overtime don't look very different. Also, when you are outdoors at any point in the game, you can't use your right stick to adjust camera upward and look at the sky or anything. They should have just left the game to be one-stick altogether to give it a retro-feel, or just not been lazy programmers and made the camera fully accessible in all locations! The story is very anti-climactic, and really doesn't lead anywhere truly interesting. There's a lot of repetition, that seems to be content to just fill the story or add to the playthrough length. The characters' suffering and trauma is evocative throughout the breaking of their Egos, and that is the height of the story yet you can't get to know the characters outside of the main story in any side quest or side story settings. There are no side quests in Monark. There is some optional content or puzzles though. The puzzles get pretty repetitive, it is a lot of the same rinse and repeat that keeps it uninteresting as you are mostly just using the same logic every time.

I'm glad I got the experience of Monark Deluxe Ed, but I really have no idea why this game is Deluxe, as the game itself isn't upgraded at all. You just get some collector's items with the game (like a little book and digital DL of the OST... which actually: the OST is awesome...!). While I did love the nostalgia vibes I got from this Persona-inspired game, I think my desire to play a Persona game was so great that it truly distracted me from enjoying this title for itself. That's the unfortunate part of when a game reminds you too much of another game: you just want to play the other game instead. Monark is cool for being an ode to Persona from former devs of Persona, but it doesn't add too much to stand up to Persona at all. I am still happy that I got to play this stylish title, and it was worth the 80-90 hour venture.