For most people the Pokémon IP is a much bigger draw than a potentially better game though. Game Freak are in a position where due to the Pokémon IP they can release a game riddled with issues and still sell well.

creatures with machineguns

If I wanted that I'd just play Digimon. Not that the idea is bad, it just... feels to me more like an attempt at a replacement for Digimon than for Pokémon. Equipping everyone with machineguns and joining in into the slaughter feels like it absurdily misses the point of Pokémon for me.

(That said, I'm not con adapting some of the Palcreatures minus machineguns as fakémon if I find out I do like them)

Kindred Fates looks more interesting.

Normally I give a side eye to any game that looks like they specifically hired a lawyer to make sure their bootleg is legal, but the legit franchise is practically bootleg at this point so if this can out-Pokemon Nintendo then I'm all for it.

There's also Coromon, which even has a similar style.

I haven't checked in on it for a long time but I remember kindred fates also looking promising.

What happened to temtem? I thought that game would shake the pokemon company?

No game is ever going to replace Pokemon because you can see how many people complain about the state of the games, but they are still there consuming the franchise, so even when in their opinions the games are horrible, they are still there sucking the companys dick off. Pokemon has too many loyal fans.