I was recently given a copy of Sanctuary of the monsters by the developer Mo Rai Games and by the publisher Team17 with the The Forgotten World DLC to review and the DLC did not disappoint. Overall, the game itself has had some drawbacks for me and what I like about a game, but if that’s your style you’ll really like it. So let’s go inside.
Sanctuary of the monsters is a monster collecting game with a metroidvania style world that explores gameplay and a highly strategic battle system. I really liked the metroidvania aspect, every monster you have will help you overcome different obstacles in the world and I really like that element. You will always have a monster lying around with you that you can access, but changing your monsters is very easy and you can switch to the ones that are not in your current team of 6 fighters. I appreciate that you always have access to all your monsters for an easy step to build a team that suits your needs.
Here’s the downside to the game for me, there are an overwhelming number of team building options. Combat mechanics depend on your team’s synergy and making them work very well together, not just individually. Each monster has a skill tree that offers many options for how to build them. I appreciate the variety it offers, but it’s too much for me to keep track of. There are tons of skills, attacks, buffs, and debuffs that all work together intricately, and if you like this level of depth for your games then it’s really well done. For me, I only like a surface-level type of skill point assignment, so I can get ahead quickly, so this was a drawback for me. The hardest part really is that if you don’t optimize your team, you won’t get very far in the game as either the champion monsters will take a long time to defeat, or you will fight other monster guardians who will defeat you every time. There is certainly some trial and error in team building, but that’s good once things are really set up to meet your needs.
The Forgotten world it is a good extension for the game. Not only will you have an entire world to explore, but you will also have a little more story that will hopefully lead to more DLC in the future. I also liked the look of the world, especially the new monsters. I’m a dinosaur fan, so having these new monsters that are very prehistoric and like dinosaurs was a huge win. As for the DLC, this was really excellent, and better yet, it was a free update to the game. It is accessible from Horizon Beach in the game, you just need a monster that allows you to swim and a monster that has the ability to materialize invisible platforms.
As for the DLC, this is the maximum possible. While I was ultimately too stuck on how complicated the battle system is, as far as the Forgotten Worlds ranking for how well it performs as a DLC, it definitely gets a 10/10.
by Anna Williams
Source: Geek Tyrant
