Monster Sanctuary

 Switch
Monster Sanctuary Image
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

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  • Summary: Embark on an epic adventure using the powers of the monsters you collect, and the team you build, to unlock an ever-expanding world. On your quest to become the ultimate Monster Keeper you’ll unravel the cause of a mystery that threatens the peace between humans and monsters.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. The Digital Fix
    Dec 8, 2020
    100
    While clearly inspired by other similar titles, Monster Sanctuary takes that inspiration and runs with it, carving out its own spot in the gaming world. I can't wait to see how things flourish in the future!
  2. GameGrin
    Dec 17, 2020
    90
    A great mix of a platformer, RPG and monster catching game Monster Sanctuary has so much depth and content to keep you busy for a long time. Feels like a great RPG from the 16-bit era, a ton of cool monsters to hatch, to aid you on your quest.
  3. MGG Spain
    Dec 8, 2020
    88
    An interesting mix of well-known details that manages to offer a familiar taste and yet be extremely fun. As you can imagine Monster Sanctuary doesn't have anything particularly new to offer, but it's a fun metroidvania with all kinds of pocket monsters that's also pretty deep.
  4. Nintendo Life
    Dec 10, 2020
    70
    An expansive and content-packed game, Monster Sanctuary would be easy to criticise as a grind if we didn't find that said grinding was never really necessary to enjoy it. It's a difficult one to review because a lot of what this reviewer personally found a little boring is exactly what's going to appeal to its core audience of number-crunching statisticians. While Monster Sanctuary's is a little plain at the outset, the right people will find it one of their favourite games of the year. It's a total timesink, but that's a term that implies said time is being wasted, when it really isn't. Every fight is pushing your team forward, and the potential for maximising the efficiency and power of your squad is seemingly infinite. It can feel more like organising a spreadsheet than playing a game at times, but it's impossible to deny that it's an accomplished game with a lot to offer - and that's without even taking it online to battle other players. If you like min-maxing, feel free to add a point or two to the score below.
  5. Starbit
    Mar 8, 2021
    70
    Monster Sanctuary blends a Metroidvania game with monster capture elements, and it does a great job at bringing those worlds together. With its enormous amount of content and a fun, well-designed sense of progression, Monster Sanctuary does not stand out as brilliantly when it comes to its exploration, which feels rather simplistic, but there are plenty of elements here to make it worthy for everyone who enjoys any of both genres represented.
  6. Siliconera
    Dec 16, 2020
    70
    Monster Sanctuary is a game that feels satisfying and rewarding. When you earn more skill points, get a new monster, or find a new Explore Ability, it opens up more of a sufficiently large world to explore. But this is also a challenging game that requires you to experiment with teams, learn how to build combos, and invest a lot of time battling wild monsters to make sure you have the special abilities, evolutionary items, and experience you need to survive.
  7. NintendoWorldReport
    Dec 22, 2020
    60
    I like Monster Sanctuary for what it tries to accomplish, I just wish I liked the execution as much as the concept. I could see the threads of its attempt weaving into a better cohesive whole, but instead each different ingredient feels incomplete or misses the mark of what makes each genre it pulls from so compelling. There’s still fun to be had if setting expectations right and wanting a unique twist that is no muss, no fuss, but I was hoping for more that Monster Sanctuary wasn’t quite there to give.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
  1. 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 hasThe 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
  2. WindowsVista
    Jan 2, 2021
    10
    This is a fun game. It’s like Pokémon with skill trees. You don’t have to worry about making the wrong decisions when picking skills becauseThis is a fun game. It’s like Pokémon with skill trees. You don’t have to worry about making the wrong decisions when picking skills because you can reset them for cheap.… Expand
  4. Lemontree
    Dec 11, 2020
    10
    Amazing game. Amazingly deep and so fun. What I wish Pokémon was more like. Controls great, the battle system is amazing and the explorationAmazing game. Amazingly deep and so fun. What I wish Pokémon was more like. Controls great, the battle system is amazing and the exploration is fun as well. Pixel art looks fantastic as well.… Expand
  5. Cancery1987
    Nov 19, 2021
    9
    I hate pixel art but I love this game so much
    Solid Monster Team battle, so much monster, items and skills...
    Far better than Pokemon
    Good job
  6. TrueHorse
    Sep 1, 2022
    8
    Sorry for fr om and hav ing. I get a 404 without that.

    Monster Sanctuary is a very solid game with a lot of content (took me about 50 hours    Sorry for fr om and hav ing. I get a 404 without that.

    Monster Sanctuary is a very solid game with a lot of content (took me about 50 hours to complete the story), an awesome skill system for your monsters and a decent amount of challenge, which I would recommend to everybody, who likes Pokemon, but wants something that requires more strategy to beat, to try out. Unfortunately it doesn’t do a good job at giving you the right expectations to enjoy the challenging parts immediately.
    At the start, the game teaches you, how the combat system works and then leaves you alone with your monsters and their skill trees, which I enjoyed a lot. Reading the skills always makes you think: “Oh, that sounds useful and combos well with that other thing. I want that.”, which makes every level up exciting. The same thing is true for new monsters, which have even more new abilities for you to get excited about.
    Of cause, this can’t go on for ever, since there are only so many abilities. So strategy and challenge have to take over, but the way they did was not very enjoyable. It was basically one fight, which was a big difficulty spike. Of cause I thought a bit about my team before, but losing this fight multiple times (which there is no punishment for), while I beat everything before in the first few tries made me question, if my team was bad. Or maybe I was just getting unlucky, maybe my level was to low. I just didn’t know and that didn’t feel good. Through out the next fights I slowly got into the right mindset of expecting to lose the first attempts and using them to find out, what my opponents monsters are doing, so I knew what monsters to take out first etc. the next times. That way I was able to beat the later fights (exempt the finale) in 1-10 tries while being underleveled, so I don’t thing the game is to difficult, the difficulty curve is just bad, but I can’t think of a good way to fix it either, without hav ing a bad new player experience.
    An other weak point of the game are the characters and the world. Part of that could be, because I took a longer break fr om playing the game in the middle of the story, but the characters always felt a little flat to me and the areas didn’t quite feel like a connected world and not very immersive. But that could also just be me. I don’t know.
    In any case, apart fr om those two issues the game is great. There are a lot of monsters, that all feel different and capable, a lot of interesting abilities to discover and use and only one music track, that in my opinion was not in between good and awesome. There is also a new game+, that I haven't tried yet, that even has a build in randomizer and perma death option, which they released in a free update, they definitely could have charged money for.
    So, as I sad, if you are a Pokemon fan, I recommend you giving this a try. Just don’t expect Pokemon levels of difficulty.    … Expand
  7. NeyXP
    Dec 20, 2020
    8
    Excelente mistura de pokémon com metroidvania, um RPG de turno que a tempo não me encanta tanto, belo jogo.
  8. redwing605
    Oct 8, 2022
    2
    The game's fun but I don't like it. Your trainer battles are too **** difficult. I should not have to be an expert to get by.

See all 18 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

60
#60 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

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