Is Monster Sanctuary Worth it? | Monster Taming Review!

In this video, we dissect various aspects of the newly released title, culminating into one question. Is Monster Sanctuary Worth the Cash? We will explore the game's Lore, the Gameplay itself, including the traversal of the overworld, the battle system, progression, etc; and the Monster Designs. I hope you enjoy this video, as it took a ton of work to put together :)
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• Let's Play Monster San...
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End Screen Music: Coromon Ice Mountain Theme
• Coromon - Ice Mountain...

[@minegagadoli]

Also: -Every single monster is viable, so you can make any team you want without getting underpowered; -There isn't any kind of evolution but there are transformations that change how some monster works into a totally different playstyle without being superior to the original form; -The "Shiny" variations are pretty common and have powerful passives and stat boosts, and there are 2 different shinies for each monster that can be found in the wild or you can turn your monsters INTO shinies using Shift stones; -There are teleportation stones in every single biome, so you dont need to expend much time running around and there is a item that teleports you to the base if you are stuck somewhere or is just lazy; -There is a infinite arena where you fight nonstop to get a lot of loot; -You can get most of the champions by opening reward boxes, so you dont need to get 5-stars in every single one of them; -There will be more updates after the release(including new game+ and character costumization); -Every single monster you get will be in your inventory, but only the 6 that are in your team will get exp; -The weakness and resistances are bit more complex than just water > fire > grass, since it includes elements, physical/magical damage, debuffs and even resistances that can change during battles, so doing super-effective attacks are harder in this game; -Before attacking you can see how much damage your attack will do to every single enemy, including the minimun(no-crits) and maximun damage(if all hits crits); -You can upgrade the gear of your monsters from level 1 to 5; -When you hatch an egg the newly-born monster will have almost the same level your highest level monster, so you dont need to expend too much time leveling up new monsters; -Every time a battle starts, you aren't teleported to a "battle arena" like most monster taming, instead your battles hapens right where you were; -Since there isn't any evolution tree, this game actually have more monsters then pokemon gen-1 for example, that have 150 but almost half of them are just pre-evolutions of a evolution tree, having in reality around 80 pokemons, so don't think this game is lacking monsters; -There isn't any kind of RNG in monsters stats since it all depends on skill tree,gear and shifted form; -There are some gear that have special passives that change completely how you use a monster, like getting shield when buffed,having more stacks of some buffs,getting charge stacks,causing debuffs that aren't in the moonster's skill tree, and so on; -There are tree types of status effects: buffs,debuffs and stacks. Buffs and debuffs are easy to apply and lasts forever, unless you use an ability or passive that can remove it, but stacks works differently since they can be both a buff or a debuff and they are removed from a monster after a certain action is taken(For example, you can only remove blind from your monster if it attacks an enemy);

[@GymLeaderEd]

Yes! Thanks for including all this I'm going to pin the comment. Regrettably it was hard to condense all of the awesomeness into one vid :p

[@minegagadoli]

@@GymLeaderEd this game has way too much content

[@GymLeaderEd]

@@minegagadoli I love the way they execute it too. A game like siralim, while great leaves me overwhelmed, but MS just does it so well

[@zerokura]

I forgot that after every battle your monsters are all healed and full mana for the next battle so only time you need to heal is during battle if you dont have a healer or maybe when your monster dead in battle.

[@Cipher_8]

@@zerokura also to switch out you gotta do it before one faints. Otherwise you can't bring in one from the bench to replace it.

[@wolfclaw719]

Glad I found this video when I did; I was really on the fence about the game when I saw it a few months back but I just stumbled over here and thought "Well this game sounds up my alley." and what do you know its 50% off at the time I'm writing thins comment, talk about a lucky break.

[@tv_kidd5708]

Great review dude! Got the game at 3AM and haven't put it down yet. Definitely worth buying

[@LowbrowDeluxe]

Woo! Release day is finally here! Can't wait to find out what those mysterious blob statues were about on my next run through.

[@Eldritchsquish]

the "visual glitch" when showing the damage the enemys take is showing the amount of bonus a critical hit can do, i think

[@XEmiyaArcherX]

yeah I think it shows how muchs they take if no hit crits(the red part) and how much max damage is possible with all crits(reddish part)

[@GymLeaderEd]

The red bar stays after the opposite turn phase. I know what ur talking about but it is a glitch lol

[@phillipmitchell2254]

@@GymLeaderEd Right, I haven't watched the full review yet, but if they're talking about the red life bar that persists after a hit without draining, I do believe that's a visual bug. Nothing that can't be easily patched, hardly game breaking.

[@jakekahl2949]

great review! bought the game recently and im loving it! i like how you get to pick your legendary/starter at the beginning!! This allows for you to mold your team around it, instead of trying to fit something that def needs to go into your party and taking something out you like.

[@GymLeaderEd]

thanks :)

[@nonathepomeranians7396]

You got me captivated for the whole time during this video! Well done on the review. thanks so much!

[@liberalminded1]

Incredible game! I'm not much of a fan of the monster taming genre, but this game hooked me. Nice review! Definitely worth the purchase price and I think it's underpriced as well. Wish there was a physical Switch release.

[@dropelaves]

This aged well. Good for you buddy :p

[@phoenixeclipse9570]

Great review Ed! I loved how you did the introduction.

[@GymLeaderEd]

Thanks so much I'm glad you liked it :)

[@ohitsdannie]

Yesssss so excited!! Thanks for this video dude quality content per usual 🙏🏼

[@GymLeaderEd]

Thank you so much

[@jesus20456]

Monster sanctuary is such a joy to play! thanks for making this video!

[@MrAsianadam]

Thank you for the look into this game, I was worried about if itd be right for me but i may get it now after watching this.

[@XEmiyaArcherX]

Only played early access but this game is among my top 3 favorite monster taming games alongside Temtem and SMT3:nocturne. Btw anyone who didn't play nocturne SHOULD try it ASAP. Great review as usual.

[@GymLeaderEd]

Remake is coming ;)

[@XEmiyaArcherX]

@@GymLeaderEd Oh yeah, so may monster taming games coming out these months I somehow forgot lol.

[@DragonsRocks017]

I actually came here to find out if I should get it on my switch cause while I'm kinda low on money I REALLY wanted to know if this game was worth it 😂😂😂 after this I'd like to say it will be

[@DragonsRocks017]

My probably number one monster taming genre game I've ever played tho is probably the first or second fossil fighters I'd have to say probably the second one. The third game was horrible compared to them though....

[@XEmiyaArcherX]

@@DragonsRocks017 I dont know that series, but will check it out, thx for the recommandation.

[@in-craig-ible6160]

Monster Sanctuary is so good in all of it's aspects - battles, monsters, music, story - a very nice new entry to the monster taming genre.

[@misosoup6529]

The effort put into these indie games are amazing!

[@nathanielbutler2553]

Ok ed, I'm in! Thanks for the review!

[@Bogrin]

Great review! I’m really struggling on who to pick between the eagle and wolf as my starter! I love wolves but the gliding looks so cool with the eagle!

[@zerokura]

Am going pick the frog again since i like nature types but the lion is nature so maybe ill pick lion so it is abit hard to pick.

[@joshua7426]

I picked frog cause of hp and def, first boss fight will be easier with it

[@Kittyjingles28]

No worries just pick the wolf and then gain a bird type, win win.

[@Bogrin]

@@Kittyjingles28 After playing about 5-6 hours I ended up restarting with the frog to build a poison team with the mushroom and the little purple tentacle guy! Forget the names because I always nickname haha

[@absolutelypro4612]

@@zerokura all 4 of em are considered nature dumb ass

[@chrischeever484]

This game was awesome. Honestly, the main issue was that I wanted more of this exact game - the skill trees really put a new spin on things to the point where I wish it was in more games.

[@villaincatwolfsama6508]

👍

[@nexusofgames8640]

Definitely picking this game up this holiday season! You'll see my playthroughs very soon.

[@Lordodragonss]

As far I played it (12h by now) I really enjoy it. I wish they get rid of that white aura when monsters attack though. LOVE how each monster is usefull!

[@MonsterTamerHero]

i already played this game for like 10 hrs or so earlier when it is in early access maybe before 3 months , I have to start again with a new save as with the full release :) Thanks for doing this review, actually i think this game is underrated but i really love the concept and mech about this game which is totally different and gives me that old school feel when games are not 3D (specilaly Super Mario is going to save the pricess lol) :)

[@TheShy007]

Thanks for review it convinced me to buy dis game.

[@RescueSquadCulp]

Am excited liked 👍

[@deej8983]

Glad it’s not expensive, I’m giving this a shot

[@PRDGL_WindyBW]

It's a tamer game *and* a Metroidvania? My two favourite games are Nexomon: Extinction and Hollow Knight. *TAKE MY MONEY, DAMNIT!*

[@SirPreyas]

I know this is a 2 year old vid but I still have to say this for the record: Yes, I have bought and played this game. Yes, this is a good game and I highly recommend it. The monster battling and platforming is fun and the music is nice too! I actually have a couple tracks on my Spotify playlist!

[@Wgtztwizard]

I had my doubts about the price, but between the facts that I love "get them all" games, that the game looks entertaining and that it is visually beautiful and now I have seen your review ... I will buy it tomorrow for the Switch.

[@archeduardo]

I can't wait for the full release today

[@pastel86z]

finally here! cant wait to play it.great review.if I didn't already know about this game,your review would've sold me on it.one question:can you save anywhere?

[@GymLeaderEd]

Yup

[@adrienneelfrink2744]

I have been highly enjoying it, it is one of my favs lately.

[@godgothamgame]

I already have it and i also I agree especially with that HP Help bar I wish there were more of monsters to this game tho overall I give it at 8 it super fun wating on that monster crown

[@minegagadoli]

But there are way to much already, and this game kind of dont have evolution trees, so there actually way more than other monster taming games

[@minegagadoli]

For example nexomon extintion: there are 300+ nexomons but 200 are just pre-evolutions that will be gone the moment you start to level up it

[@incineroar9933]

Just bought this game and it's very fun! I do not recommend getting the spirit eagle for anyone looking to try this. It's pretty difficult to get a monster who can crack open walls in the first area.

[@thatanonwholurksmoar7386]

Few questions. 1. Will there be future support on this game? 2. Is the NG+ increases the difficulty of the game? 3. 100 monsters? I thought it was 101, unless that's part of an update that still isn't out?

[@GymLeaderEd]

Yea there is 101 and there is a free patch planned to add ng+ among other things :)

[@thatanonwholurksmoar7386]

@@GymLeaderEd Thanks for the quick answer

[@minegagadoli]

The new game+ will come in a post-lauch update, and there are player customization and speedrun mode planned for future updates

[@saratchandramv1886]

Im in love with it so far. Bought it yesterday. Played 6hrs straight. So good. It also has good challenge. I thought Will was a weak kid who reads books. And damn he humbled my "awesome" team in our first duel. ( i tht my team was awesome tho :/ ) P.s. i thought its a 3v3 always..and didnt even skill up or give items to my other 3. Which fucked up my duel with Will!

[@Mahasuchi1]

I wish it had better attack animations than just flashing white and making a pose and the items could be better represented graphically, but I can't really complain. The rest of the game is beautifully well made and while the attacks are a bit simple at times, the combat is really solid and strategic. I very much agree that there are many ways to achieve victory in this game and it shows the devs worked hard on it.

[@HeavyMetalCowboy90]

That “thick shark with legs” looks an awful lot like an Orca whale. Just saying lol. Also, I bought the game because of this review.

[@GymLeaderEd]

Hahaha thanks

[@zerokura]

Already have it on steam but dont use PC all the time so going buy it on my ps4 since i use it alot lol.

[@teighan7829]

I got the game for under $8 CAD on the Nintendo Switch and have played the game for like 4 and a Half hours tonight and WOW HECK YEAH ITS WORTH THE CASH!! 👌 I wish they sold a Physical copy, if it was around $25 CAD I may just pick it up in physical as well

[@kyle7447]

Short answer: YES

[@rafalb692]

very well put review.

[@OniBoiXD]

great review 👏 👌...looking forward to your next 😊

[@Bogrin]

Could be a spoiler!!!!! Wondering if there are “shiny” monsters to hunt? I saw something about shifting to dark and light forms or something but would be cool if you could hatch rare colour variations!

[@spacebearcadet746]

The variations come from an item to light shift or dark shift monsters. Will have to look up item name.

[@spacebearcadet746]

Shift stone. The item adds different stats based on the shift, as well as additional passive bonuses.

[@gnarly_charley]

Great review Honestly though this game has really uninteresting visuals and environments. Plus I wish the boss battles had big baddies, not regular sized monsters. That's just a minor complaint It kind of holds me back from wanting to play it

[@robertmaguire1067]

Late to the party but just downloaded it. ❤

[@darshankalaiarasan375]

I am planning to buy monster sanctuary. I noticed it has a deluxe edition with some extra contents, and it is a little expensive than the game. My doubt is won't we get a monster journal in game if we don't buy the deluxe edition? I don't care about the soundtrack that much.

[@destructo2030]

I am enjoying right now, I never played anything like it.

[@engineergaming3830]

my first ever monster tamer game

[@dgeneratio1]

I get to try this on Xbox Game Pass so a Win for me :)

[@zaguldo]

Thanks for this, I'm not going to buy it right away(gonna be hooked on Cyberpunk 2077 for a while) but you have convinced me that I definitely want to get it at some point.

[@nazeersadek6705]

I’m getting for sure now after this good review

[@DogginsFroggins]

Also on gamepass which is doing a special 1$ for 3 months access, so there is zero reason to not get this game since it runs on a toaster.

[@rafalb692]

wat you mean runs on toaster ?

[@DogginsFroggins]

@@rafalb692 really low system requirements.

[@rafalb692]

@@DogginsFroggins ok, I get it now.

[@garra123454]

I bought this on sale

[@Sleighzal]

I had so much fun exploring i forgot to go to the shop to spend money

[@SanjayKumar-db7dw]

Yea I picked this up at freeswitchgame(.)com. Isn’t it comming out for iOS as well?

[@DragonsRocks017]

I actually do only have one problen with the game so far, why is there such a small amount of evolutions? I wish at least the starters could evolve but only the baby dragon into three things, slimes which they all become the same thing and like 5 other monsters can evolve

[@shuushi1189]

man i like this game but i wish there is co op option... man coop pokemon type games are so damn rare

[@mob5227]

I got the game free on xbox, SO FUN! What's ur guys starter and lineup? :)

[@ANorwegianGamer1]

A review should have both pros and cons

[@GymLeaderEd]

these were my opinions on the game. In my opinion the only real con is the formerly mentioned monster reskins. I like the combat, the story, the gameplay, the difficulty, etc. I'd basically have to make up cons just to appease that notion. Most of my reviews go more in depth into problems i have i.e. games being overgrindy, too buggy, bad scaling, etc. But I didn't have these problems with this game.

[@ANorwegianGamer1]

@@GymLeaderEd Good to know. I'll give it a go, then.

[@montanastax]

We need more avatars to choose from.

[@GymLeaderEd]

Customs are coming with a free dlc

[@angelduenas746]

Does it have Co op or is it pvp?

[@rafalb692]

It has online pvp

[@MikeH-om4lo]

Is this game really hard or do I just suck at it?

[@GymLeaderEd]

Haha no its actually pretty difficult

[@joshua7426]

Never really found it difficult at any point.

[@nicole-ruggiero]

It looks fun but I wish the characters were cuter tbh

[@jex_xx3820]

Easy 10/10 for me

[@joshua7426]

"Thick shark with legs" .... umm thats a orca aka killer whale. The health bar issue isnt a glitch, its crit potential dmg being shown.

[@GymLeaderEd]

No the red stays even during the opposite turn phase. It's a known glitch. And yes I messed up with the whale haha

[@joshua7426]

@@GymLeaderEd ah i thouvht you were referring to the red that flashes 2 different lengths

[@GymLeaderEd]

@@joshua7426 haha no ;p

[@seimen4348]

Thats a shame. I would have liked to play it, but i really hate level scaling. I mean, i need 3 hits with level 1 for a rat and with level 10 i still need 3 hits. Where is the progression in that?

[@GymLeaderEd]

Ah the scaling works a little differently the enemies scale to the first time u encounter them. So if you run into that rat and take 3 hits, then go back to where u found the rat and fight another later you'll be outleveling it

[@seimen4348]

@@GymLeaderEd ok, that sounds better.

[@seimen4348]

@@GymLeaderEd i just saw: its in the gamepass. So, i try it at the weekend.

[@samibari7205]

Unfortunately I don't see this game getting the massive popularity Push that temtem got so it may not get asamy sales

[@joshua7426]

Its already more popular than temtem. That game has pretty much died.

[@absolutelypro4612]

@@joshua7426 did it ever even reach early access? Been waiting for temtems

[@newbkillz7989]

Word is this is on gamepass on xbox.

[@GymLeaderEd]

Yupp

[@calebb7012]

Most of these designs are really uninspired and look straight out of something like Starbound from 2013.

[@GymLeaderEd]

I disagree I really like them lol. The ones I'm sorta meh on are the blobs and the goblins

[@chriscangelosi9438]

Terrible creature design hmm 🤔 scarlet nexus comes to mind 🤣

[@AndresFnt]

Me: Graphics aren't important. What's important is if the game is fun and has replayability. Also Me: This game looks like $#!t