Monster Sanctuary

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 43 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 43
  3. Negative: 3 out of 43

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  1. MaikelDB
    Dec 21, 2020
    10
    Have been playing this game since its early access release, and it's honestly one of the best games i have played this year. The platforming is easy but fun. The skill tree and battles have so many ways to approach it. The game let's you experiment around, because skill resetters are very cheap. Game is also very balanced even tho there are 101 monsters that are all usable (generation 1Have been playing this game since its early access release, and it's honestly one of the best games i have played this year. The platforming is easy but fun. The skill tree and battles have so many ways to approach it. The game let's you experiment around, because skill resetters are very cheap. Game is also very balanced even tho there are 101 monsters that are all usable (generation 1 Pokémon only had like 50 usable pokémon). I really hope that with the recent downfall of Pokémon, people pick this game up and give it a try and it gets the attention that it deserves. If you are thinking about buying this game, just do it. You will not regret it.… Expand
  2. Purplestahli
    Dec 22, 2020
    10
    The obvious comparison here is Pokemon. There are a lot of similarities, and a lot of things done way differently. The one thing this game has head and shoulders above pokemon is difficulty and depth of combat. The game isn't exactly "Hard" but it has nice spikes in difficulty and I found myself having to rework strategies and grind up in sections which is something that can never be saidThe obvious comparison here is Pokemon. There are a lot of similarities, and a lot of things done way differently. The one thing this game has head and shoulders above pokemon is difficulty and depth of combat. The game isn't exactly "Hard" but it has nice spikes in difficulty and I found myself having to rework strategies and grind up in sections which is something that can never be said for todays generations of pokemon where your hand is held every step of the way.

    One other thing this game has over pokemon is the sheer amount of fun and viable team compositions. The game is balanced very well so that you can generally pick whatever your most appealing playstyle and it should get the job done in most scenarios. Im about 20 hours in and im having to run around like crazy trying to level and gear up something like 30 monsters which I want to use in various compositions that ive thought up.

    I should qualify this statement a little further, obviously Pokemon has "More" viable Pokemon, but thats merely a consequence of them having 900+ individual pokemon. Monster Sanctuary has a little over 100 (Each monster having 2 additional forms so more like 300 unique play styles) but out of that number FAR more are usable and enjoyable in terms of percentages. Think back to RBY and the original 151. How many of those wound up being strong in the late game? Maybe 25%?

    The talent trees are all unique and have a ton of depth to them, or at least plenty enough depth to keep me thinking and invested in trying new things. What this game lacks in a story or exploration it makes up for with its core gameplay loop.

    The gameplay is what I WISH Pokemon could have evolved into.    … Expand
  3. SeanD
    Jan 14, 2021
    10
    I am compelled to write this review after seeing how this game doesn't have a single critic review over 88. It's very apparent that the critic reviews have underrated an excellent indie game while they continue to shill for big-budget releases like Pokemon (the latest installments of which, I must say, are terribly shallow and low-effort).

    Monster Sanctuary is a hybrid of a Metroidvania    I am compelled to write this review after seeing how this game doesn't have a single critic review over 88. It's very apparent that the critic reviews have underrated an excellent indie game while they continue to shill for big-budget releases like Pokemon (the latest installments of which, I must say, are terribly shallow and low-effort).

    Monster Sanctuary is a hybrid of a Metroidvania platformer/adventure game and a Japanese style turn-based strategy-rpg. The platformer aspect of the game is done excellently with it being semi-open at places allowing you to experience the game's 'dungeons' in a non-linear manner. And there are various platformer-puzzles located everywhere that reward exploration and out-of-box thinking.

    But the best aspect of the gameplay is the turn-based battle system, which is somewhat similar to Pokemon, but is has a much faster pace. Also, while it doesn't have the sheer variety of monsters, moves and items that Pokemon possesses now in the eighth generation, Monster Sanctuary makes up for it by having much more depth and customizability of each monster. Instead of being limited to four moves, 1 item and 1 ability, here monsters have an entire skill tree each and are able to get around 40 skills, each of which may be an active or passive skill. And during battles 3 monsters of a side are present simultaneously, similar to the now removed triple battles from Pokemon gen 5, which adds more to the strategy as there are much more possibilities of interactions between different skills of different monsters.

    The biggest difference here is that the game does not reward grinding and overlevelling and instead tries to make it easy to switch monsters every battle without the need to grind them as much as in Pokemon. Furthermore, there's a low level cap that is reached by both the player's monsters as well as the one the player encounters, so overlevelling to brute force through everything with little strategy is not possible. There are many quality of life features that such as being able to reset skills for cheap and being able to level monsters upto the level of your highest levelled monster -1. There is also a crafting system to upgrade items. All this means that there's almost never any bad strategic decisions that can't be rectified easily, unlike in other games where you need to put in considerable time to change your character build or in some cases have to restart.

    The graphics are in a Gameboy Advance era pixel-art style, but are still detailed enough and certainly add to the charm of the game. The sound design in nothing to write home about, but it's serviceable. However, the gamplay alone makes this a must-play.    … Expand
  4. Vecter
    Dec 14, 2020
    10
    This game reminds me that the future of video games belongs to Indy devs. Pure entertainment, smart and fun gameplay, nice DA. Everything you want and need. Just buy this game and enjoy.
  5. SJile
    Feb 1, 2021
    10
    This is one of the best games I've played in recent years. Enormous amount of consideration, thoughtfulness and time went into crafting this gem. Incredible value, top game of 2020 for my money.
  6. PrincessRose
    Aug 12, 2023
    6
    I love creature collecting and battling games.

    This game requires much more strategy to be able to beat some battles. I like that this game is more challenging than most other creature collector games. I like that you have to look at the skills and figure out who will work well together in a team. And not just press the one super move ability all the time to win like other games.    I love creature collecting and battling games.

    This game requires much more strategy to be able to beat some battles.
    I like that this game is more challenging than most other creature collector games.
    I like that you have to look at the skills and figure out who will work well together in a team. And not just press the one super move ability all the time to win like other games.
    Though at times I found it overly difficult.

    The diffculty is all over the place and not consistant. With Zosimos being harder to beat than the last boss which was very easy compared to him.
    I like that you don't have to constantly heal your monsters after battle.

    I like exploring and discovering but the areas are too maze like and boring looking.
    Not a fan of the puzzles. It's not fun and more annoying and unecessary content.

    This game is alright, it's quite a unique game but areas just look boring and uninteresting with not much of a story.
    The areas and story are a bit of a let down. I'd rate it as a slightly above average game as it has some good stand out things but also things I don't like. Iam on the fence about this game as it felt tedious, boring and a slog at times and I hated some of the puzzles. But I felt compelled to keep pushing on and was obsessed about collecting all creatures but didn't as it got boring. It's a bit disapointing that only a very few can be evolved and I don't like the game enough to play through it more than once. Don't think I can recommend as I can't stand the thought of playing it again and feel a feeling of relief that the game is finally completed and can try and find something better to play.    … Expand
  7. VajraEnki
    Mar 23, 2021
    9
    Entré a este juego porque soy un adicto al genero monster tamer, y me encontré, además de un monster tamer una mezcla de los géneros metroidvania y jrpg bien calibrada y muy disfrutable. Ya solo por eso merece atención. Luego a nivel de tamer no hay tonterías de captura: cuando ganas una batalla se te asigna una puntuación y de esta depende la probabilidad de que dropéen un huevo de laEntré a este juego porque soy un adicto al genero monster tamer, y me encontré, además de un monster tamer una mezcla de los géneros metroidvania y jrpg bien calibrada y muy disfrutable. Ya solo por eso merece atención. Luego a nivel de tamer no hay tonterías de captura: cuando ganas una batalla se te asigna una puntuación y de esta depende la probabilidad de que dropéen un huevo de la criatura en cuestión, me gusta mucho esta mecánica pues si quieres conseguir a una criatura en específico a menudo deberás montar un estrategia de combate adecuada a la situación. El mejor juego de género monster tamer que he probado.

    Hay unos 100 monstruos cada uno con su propio arbol de habilidades, y tu eliges que camino tomar; más tarde en el mid-game tienes la posibilidad de transformar cualquiera de tus monstruos a versiones de luz u oscuridad, lo que cambia su sprite, sus parámetros, y otorga una habilidad pasiva única tan relevante que modifica toda la estrategia. Tambien hace un buen uso del equipamiento (armas, armaduras, accesorios) y juega bien con la mecánica de ventajas y debilidades elementales. Es un buen jrpg.

    El mapeado y progresión es de tipo metroidvania, es decir constantemente encuentras secciones que no puedes explorar a falta de una habilidad, por ejemplo puede que necesites un monstruo volador para alcanzar un saliente alto, uno con habilidades cuerpo a cuerpo que destruya un obstaculo o uno eléctico para activar un interruptor. La variedad de movimientos de exploración es increible, alrededor de 20, y están distribuidas de manera inteligente logrando una exploración progresiva que rivaliza con la de Hollow Knight. Es muy buen metroidvania.

    Ahora viene lo malo.

    El juego está excelentemente balanceado hasta que llegas al último tercio de la historia. Sabes que algo está mal cuando para poder superar una main battle tienes que estar casi tres horas leveando y farmeando materiales, y eso no es todo, pues de 30 horas que dura el juego las últimas 10 las pasarás estando a nivel maximo y con armas y armaduras al maximo pero te harán polvo, te destrozarán y humillarán a pesar de que ya no puedes volverte más fuerte.

    Hay dos batallas en concreto que tuve que intentar más de 25 veces cada una antes de alcanzar la victoria, e insisto, ya no podía volverme más fuerte. Se suelen ver comentarios de que no es la gran cosa, que no es dificil, y bien podría responder diciendo "venga ya, comedme los huevos", pero supongo que depende mucho de que build te hayas construido en tu grupo a lo largo de la aventura. En mi caso era puro DPS y aun estado con todo al maximo me vi obligado a substituir la mitad de mis monstruos por otros especializados en buffs, debuffs y habilidades pasivas muy concretas, lo cual tampoco asegura nada porque hay un factor importante de aleatoriedad en las batallas (si todo el grupo enemigo se pone de acuerdo a atacar solo a tu DPS se acabó, en un solo turno lo revientan y te quedas sin DPS; si todos se ponen de acuerdo a atacarte al healer se acabó, si todos se ponen de acuerdo a atacar al debuffer se acabó...) A menudo dependes completamente de que uno de tus impactos sea crítico, si fallas ese golpe uno de tus compañeros morirá y con la party desbalanceada ya no hay nada que hacer. Es cruel, pues al final incluso con una estrategia perfecta dependes de la aleatoriedad.

    Pero una pregunta: El juego me demostró en los dos primeros tercios que el equipo de desarrolladores son buenísimos en lo que a balancear se refiere, ¿cual es el problema entonces? Y la respuesta es que el creador admitió abiertamente que buscaba hacer una experiencia increiblemente desafiante de cara al final. Y lo logró.

    Igual lo amargo de ese último tramo no cambia que me ha parecido un juego sobresaliente, tanto como metroidvania como jrpg, e insisto una vez más: el mejor monster tamer que he jugado.    … Expand
  8. SplitMind
    May 16, 2021
    9
    Monster Sanctuary is amongst a handful of games in a genre you could basically refer to as 'Pokemon', however Monster Sanctuary is possibly one of the best games this genre has ever seen. The fact that an indie game is able to blow Pokemon out of the water is a damning indictment on the state of Pokemon and the games industry as a whole.

    The graphics are extremely charming and alluring,    Monster Sanctuary is amongst a handful of games in a genre you could basically refer to as 'Pokemon', however Monster Sanctuary is possibly one of the best games this genre has ever seen. The fact that an indie game is able to blow Pokemon out of the water is a damning indictment on the state of Pokemon and the games industry as a whole.

    The graphics are extremely charming and alluring, as the designer opted for retro graphics harking back to 8-bit and days of 2D. Having said that, this does not mean the graphics look aged - far from it. The amount of detail and variation to be found is stunning. The only issue I had was that during longer sessions the screen would stutter, however a quick internet search discovered closing and reopening the game fixed this. The animations of the monsters are varied and interesting, and by the end of the game I was very grateful for the option to speed the game up!

    The gameplay is the heart and soul of Monster Sanctuary, and I have almost entirely good things to say about it. The depth and variety on offer is amazing. There are so many monsters, with many skills and strategies to experiment with. This can actually be a bit overwhelming, but a game like MS demands your investment. There are a plethora of monsters and the key is creating a supportive synergistic approach to battle, something it took me a while to implement. Speaking of which, the difficulty curves were something spectacular in this game. Even on easy difficulty there are champions and boss fights that had be stumped for a while. This can be deterring for some players and creates a more protracted experience as it demands you craft your team in a specific way.

    The world of MS is diverse, almost stereotypically so, with sections devoted to each of the elements such as fire, ice, and grass levels, for example. There are plenty of secrets to be found but many require you to backtrack and this is hindered by a simplistic map that doesn't indicate secrets you have discovered but could not reach yet. Having said that, most secrets aren't a big loss even if you miss them, other than champion fights.

    The evolution system didn't make much sense to me, as there was little guidance on what material evolves which monster, as well as there being a question of evolutions being a sideways move rather than actually strengthening your monster.

    MS falls into a trap of relying on switch and lever puzzles, a handful of which I ended up looking up online as they were quite bewildering, and unlit areas were more annoying than engaging. Following on from this, some of the later traversal can be a bit monotonous as you can get more obscure quests and don't really have a way of fast movement, so I appreciated the crystals that teleported me 'home'.

    The story of MS isn't over complex and easy to get to grips with. There is even a good bit of historical lore to develop the characters and the spectral familiars in particular benefit from the ability to talk without diluting the dialogue. Your purpose is clear and there aren't too many plot twists, with the game being well-paced also. Despite this, I found it did drag on a bit long by the end.

    Overall, Monster Sanctuary is a near-perfect Pokemon experience that shines an embarrassing light on the awful state of Pokemon. This little indie game is a fraction of the price of the latest Pokemon drivel and is a hundred times more enjoyable. I am very keen on Pokemon games and games iike Monster Sanctuary or Nexomon scratch that itch far better than Nintendo has for the past two decades. If you have the time and interest, Monster Sanctuary will scratch your neglected Pokemon itch also.    … Expand
  9. gabrieuum
    Mar 30, 2021
    10
    It's a great game, with a lot of content and possibilities. Every monster has special abilities to use in map, and the diversity of monster is amazing. Great game!
  10. Asikaso
    Mar 24, 2023
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game just fulfilled my wishes on a Pokemon Game and brings back the pixel art nostalgia from childhood it also filled the void that recent Pokemon games has created in my heart and at the same time, it’s not just that. First thought before buying the game was that it was a basic platformer with levels - boy was I wrong. Not an hour in the game and I’m already divested so much on it. This game offered monster combat on a turn basis with some complexity. First, limited resource on the skills points which will MAKE YOU THINK on how to allocate them on each monster and how to place your monsters in battles. I loved how big the map was and the puzzles to solve in each location. The music for every location in the map was fine. As a gamer who started on Pokemon, Monster Sanctuary offered great monsters designs and artwork on the monster journal and at the same time, I love the disparity on the colors of the light and dark shifted monsters from the normal ones. The devs ultimately KNEW THE ASSIGNMENT. I didn’t expect the story to be dark in the ending when the Marduk revealed he killed Eric but nevertheless, I loved it. I was hooked up to this game for weeks cause I wanted to complete the Monster Journal and have both light and dark shifted monster variations; getting one either in battles or in chests as eggs had the “shiny pokemon caught” feeling relieved. Only in this game, it’s easier to complete and the color variations are just BETTER. This is definitely a game where you can go back even when you’re done with the main story since you can still battle other wild monsters, collect them or battle othe players online but I never used the online feature.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

57
#57 Best PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. RPG Fan
    Sep 13, 2024
    87
    Monster Sanctuary has been out a while, but if you missed out on its original release, it’s worth revisiting. The combination of light 2D platforming and turn-based combat is too good to ignore, and the vast number of monsters, skill combinations, and equipment options make it a strategist’s dream. The fact that the whole thing is presented in gorgeous spritework alongside a popping soundtrack only makes this an easier recommendation. Apart from a few minor quibbles around monster organisation and the endgame grind, there are very few weaknesses to the overall package. Do yourself a favor and make house with these cute guys for a while; they’ll give you an awful lot of enjoyment in return.
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  2. KeenGamer
    Aug 3, 2022
    80
    Monster Sanctuary doesn’t tread much new ground when it comes to either platforming or monster training. At the same time, it perfectly combines both concepts together to create an experience that is not only fun, but creative. Players can create monster teams however they like without worrying that they are making a terrible mistake, and can come up with their own strategies. While everything else is normal, it’s a good sign that the game sticks to the fundamentals of what makes a game enjoyable.
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  3. PLAY! Zine
    Jan 8, 2021
    70
    Fun and innovative fusion of Metroidvania and monster taming genre with the fast and surprisingly complex turn-based combat system. Coupled with a huge roster of acquirable monsters and over 20h of gameplay, it is well worth its asking price of only 20$.
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