Monster Sanctuary Demo

Game experiences are much more rewarding when you get to see your characters evolve over the course of the story, regardless of whether it’s a shooter or an RPG. Higher levels, better weapons or more powerful spells always provide you with a sense of achievement and power, which is why most modern video games follow this recipe. However, the rewards must match the effort you put in, otherwise the whole thing becomes tedious.

Monster Sanctuary is a 2D RPG with action and platformer elements, borrowing some of its ideas from classics like Castlevania and Pokemon. It features world exploration, character progression and a turn-based combat system, which adds a bit of strategy to the mix as well. The goal is to collect various types of monsters and use them in battles against other monsters, all while watching them grow stronger.

The story puts you in the role of a young Monster Keeper, the heir of an ancient bloodline. Your mission is to gather a party of creatures and help them grow in power, but there are other things to keep an eye on as well. As it happens, the world is on the brink of a war between humans and monsters, and you must find out what caused the conflict in an attempt to bring peace and put everything back in order.

As mentioned before, the battles take place in turns, much like in a classic RPG or most of the Pokemon games out there. Your monsters have a number of abilities that can be used in combat, many of which belong to a particular element. Hence, abilities based on fire deal more damage to monsters with a fire weakness, so it’s important to pay attention to each type of enemy you stumble across.

Depending on the rating you receive at the end of a battle, the game rewards you with items. A higher rating means more chances for a rare item to drop, including monster eggs. These eggs can be hatched into new monsters, which are then added to your party.

Every creature under your control can level up and learn new talents, which is especially exciting when you factor in the diverse skill trees available to you. Thanks to this, you can customize your monsters as you see fit and make them fit your play style.

In the end, Monster Sanctuary is a very well-designed game, even if it’s still under development at this point. The vast array of customization options allows you great freedom, and the difficulty level ramps up at a comfortable pace.

The world exploration is a nice touch as well, while the turn-based combat system rewards your ability to think quickly and finish your enemies in as few turns as possible. Thanks to this, the replay value is incredibly high, so we can only hope that the full version is going to stick to these ideas.