Monster Sanctuary News

Monster Sanctuary Update 1.1

Dear Monster Keepers,

We are happy to bring you the first major post-launch update for Monster Sanctuary!
This update is launching today for Steam. For consoles, we’re still in the submission process and the Release is delayed until April 20th for those Platforms. We are very sorry for that and we hope to be able to deliver future updates on consoles without delay.

New Game Plus

All Monsters and many items from the chosen save file will be transferred to your new save file.
Monsters are reset to Level 1, but keep their Shift.
Equipment upgrades are removed.
Items that are not carried over: Crystal Shards, Craft Materials, Food, Key/Story Items, Level 40 Badges, Craft & Reward Boxes, Battle Items. These items are converted to gold on the new save file.
Inactive Monsters level up with your active ones until they reach their level from the previous save file.
Explore abilities can't be used until you encounter Monsters which can use them.
Similarly, you can only donate Monsters and eggs to the army which you have already encountered.
Some tutorial texts are skipped.

Casual & Master difficulty modes

We are adding two new difficulty modes to Monster Sanctuary (with the current difficulty of the game taking the role of the "Normal" difficulty that is chosen by default). They are called "Casual" and "Master" mode.

Here are the details of how these two new modes work:

On Casual, wild Monsters have less health & do less damage. In Keeper Encounters, enemy Monster equipment upgrade level is reduced by 1.
On Master, wild Monsters have more health, do more damage, and have many additional skills. In Keeper Encounters, enemy Monster equipment upgrade level is increased by 1.
The difficulty can be changed at any time by going to the options menu. It can be changed mid-game.

The new Casual mode aims to alleviate the difficulty curve of our game. However, it's only a slight decrease in difficulty, which means that players will still need to engage with our skill systems and think about their strategy in order to succeed.

The new Master mode was primarily designed with New Game Plus in mind. It is balanced towards providing veteran players, who have loads of additional options available to them thanks to NG+, a new, harder challenge. While it is technically possible to beat the game on Master mode with a regular save file, we highly recommend using this mode in conjunction with New Game Plus (preferably using an optimized team of six Shifted Monsters).

New PVP Matchmaking

This update also comes with a variety of changes aimed towards making the PVP mode more enjoyable! For one, it comes with a new PVP Matchmaking system.
Here are the nitty-gritty details of how the new matchmaking works:

The matchmaking takes the level of your 3 highest Monsters in the party into consideration (to prevent the potential abuse of having a low level backline).
It also takes into consideration the average equipment upgrade level of those Monsters.
Outside of a certain level range (based on Monster level + equipment level), players are not able to match.
The matchmaking also takes your PVP rating into account.
Initially, the matchmaking will only let players within a certain rating range match against each other. After a certain time in queue, you are put into "extended search", allowing you to match against others who are also in "extended search".
Players who have a rating of 1300 or above start in "extended search" by default (to prevent higher ranks of the ladder of not finding opponents).
You're also able to manually configure when your game goes into "extended search" (instantly/30sec/1min/2min/3min/5min/never).

New PVP Season

With this first update patch, we’ll also start a new PVP Season in Monster Sanctuary. This means that all players are starting in Bronze league again, which will allow you to once again get rewards for ascending to the higher PVP leagues.

This update features many balancing changes of Monsters, skill trees, and skills - almost all of which were made explicitly with the PVP meta in mind. We hope that these changes will shake up the current team compositions and open up new competitive options.

Balancing Changes

Monster changes

Steam Golem: gains Multi Burn + Fire Shield, loses double impact
Sutsune: Dark Shift gets -1 base Defense
Spectral Toad: gains 'Attack Plus', loses 'Combo Buffing', Light Shift gets -1 base Health
Qillin: gains 'Punishment' + 'Multi-shock' + 'Health Plus', loses 'Double Impact'
Crystal Snail: gains 'Aging' + 'Observe' + 'Volatile Shield' + 'Critical Break' + 'Sabeteur's Shield' + 'Multi Poison' + 'Restoring Shield', loses 'Earth Affinity' + 'Defense Overload' + 'Mass Protector' + 'Channeling Balance' + 'Shieldcast'
Ninki Nanka: gains 'Assistance' + 'Multi Sidekick' + 'Supply' + 'Healing Shield' +1 base Mana, loses 'Combo Buffing' + 'Mana Focus' + 'Transfusion' + 'Improved Mana Regen'
Ninki: gains +1 Base Mana
Vertraag: loses 1 instance of 'Purify'
Troll: gains +1 base defense and -1 base attack
Promethean: gains 'Chain Reaction' now
Changeling: gains 'Hexed Touch' and 'Death Blow', loses 'Mana Plus' and 'Defense Plus'
Akhlut: Has all 5 tiers of 'Heal' now, gains 'Observe' and his shift stat bonuses got newly reallocated
Vodinoy: Is a 'Warrior' in addition to its other types now
Toxiquus: Both shifts get +1 base Mana
Yowie: gains 'Protector' and 'Purify', loses 'Transfusion'
Goblin King: gains 'Crit Chance Plus' and two 'Crit Damage Plus'
Magmamoth: Dark shift gains +1 base attack and +1 base magic, Light shift got +1 base attack
Elderjel: loses -1 Base Mana, gains +1 Base Mana on Light shift
Imori: Gains Toxic Slash, loses Blessed Strike

Skill & equipment changes
'Armory' now increases all stats of accessories of warriors (except secondary effects)
'Weaponry' now increases all stats of weapons of warriors (except secondary effects), value increased to 25% (from 15%)
'Poison Eater' also counts as a heal action now, but the additional hits only do 20% damage now (instead of 30%)
'Magic Attack' damage increased to 6*60% (from 6*50%)
'Cookie Mushroom' damage bonus increased to 3% (from 2.5%)
Decreased 'Scythe' damage and crit chance values slightly (end values: 200 attack, 225 magic, 7% crit chance, 25% crit damage)
'Katana' has slightly increased attack and crit chance values now (end values: 200 attack, 15% crit chance, 20% crit damage)
'Hook' and 'Harp' now grant full heal / heal bonus when equipped in the off hand (this makes all weapons provide full secondary effect when equipped in the offhand now)
'Large Shield' now provides full defense value when equipped in the off hand
'Curse Chain' debuff spread chance reduced to 35% (from 40%)
'Blood Magic' values reduced slightly to 35%/35% (instead of 40%/40%)
'Bleed' damage against wild monsters now increases the execution score (by half the amount normal damage does)
'Combat Guard' damage reduction value increased to 7.5% (from 5%)
'Magnetize' redirect chance reduced to 25% (from 35%) but the chance increases when the attacker has multiple shocks (by 12.5% for every additional shock)
'Electrolytes' buff remove chance increased to 75% (from 50%)
'Polluted Water' debuff bonus increased to 10% (from 8%)
'Assault Shield' shield value increased to 30% (from 25%)
'Shadow Proc' damage increased to 75% (from 60%)
'Enlighten' shift passive, 'Shared Sorcery' and other share buff passives now share the buff even when the sharing monster is already capped out on that buff.
'Hexed Touch' debuff chance increased to 40% (from 35%)
'Optimal Performance' damage reduction and debuff resistance reduced to 10% (from 15%)
Oculus 'Intelligent Swarm' reverted back to have 75% chance to apply a charge stack (instead of 100%)

Update on the state of 1.1 + Monster Journals

Hello Monster Keepers!

Here is a small update on the state of things

State of 1.1 update

First and foremost: The 1.1 update is further delayed to April 2021 and we’re sorry for that. While we’re ‘done’ with the content of the update for quite some time, we heavily underestimated how long the whole process of getting the changes ported to consoles, having QA properly test everything on all platforms and having the update pass the submission process of Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft takes. This is mostly based on the lack of experience as this is our first game. Right now we have an unconfirmed target date of April 9th if there are no issues with the submission process.

As for the Content of the 1.1 update, we covered it in our last Update post: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/814370/view/4979262525030602590

What have we been up to ourselves meanwhile? Partly we’re already working on further updates we’ll release in the future for Monster sanctuary. Also we started prototyping our next project, which will be a Monster Taming game again, but with a slightly different direction this time (no Monster Sanctuary 2 for now - but we would not exclude the possibility in the future. A full fledged DLC for MS1 is also a possibility).

Hardcover Monster Journal

The Hardcover Monster Journal was a reward for certain backres who supported our Kickstarter campaign way back. We’ve received the hardcover Monster Journals and sent them out by now. Due to the pandemic, the shipping outside Europe may take some extended times in certain cases. We do have tracking IDs for the Monster Journals, so if yours didn’t arrive yet - feel free to PM us here and we will provide those.

As this was requested a lot: we did print quite some additional ones (about 150) to put online for sale, we’re currently in the process of setting everything up - we’ll do a separate announcement once they are available. Also we’ll do a giveaway for a couple ones in the near future on our twitter: https://twitter.com/moi_rai_

Thats it for now, hope you're not too upset and can wait a little more for the 1.1 update

Monster Sanctuary Preview of Update 1.1

Hello, Monster Keepers!

We have a lot of news to share with you since our last update.

Post-Launch Update 1.1.

The release of our first planned post-launch update is sadly delayed until March. We apologize for this delay - but we are still aiming to release this update on all platforms at once.

Apart from bug fixes (many of which for both the console versions as well as the PC version) and many balancing changes aimed to bring you a better PVP experience, this update will also include a few new features. On the topic of PVP, this update will also add better matchmaking that will attempt to match you against players of a similar Monster level and PVP rating. You are also able to configure this setting for yourself inside the game.

New Game Plus

The first of the two big new features coming to Monster Sanctuary: New Game Plus mode! This mode is unlocked once you have completed the main story content of the game at least once. When you choose NewGame+ from the starting menu, you have to select any of your existing save games - this will determine the extra Monsters and items available to you at start. You can then start your new save file on the same save slot or on any other save slot.

All Monsters and many items from the chosen save file will be transferred to your new save file. The restrictions are as follows:

- Monsters are reset to Level 1, but keep their Shift.

- Equipment upgrades are removed.

- You keep all items except Crystal Shards, Craft Materials, Food, Key/Story Items, Level 40 Badges, Craft & Reward Boxes.

- Explore abilities can't be used until you encounter Monsters which can use them.

We will unveil the full details of this game mode on the release of the new patch!

Casual & Master difficulty modes

We are adding two new difficulty modes to Monster Sanctuary (with the current difficulty of the game taking the role of the "Normal" difficulty that is chosen by default).

For the regular difficulty of the game, we aimed to design the difficulty so that players are required to choose the Monsters on their team and their skills very carefully. Finding good Monster and team builds requires a lot of deliberation, experimentation, and time (most of which is spent on the Monster skill tree menus). We realized that a portion of our player base does not enjoy this type of experience and instead expected something more in line with a traditional Monster catching RPG. The new Casual mode aims to alleviate the difficulty curve of our game. However, it's only a slight decrease in difficulty, which means that players will still need to engage with our skill systems and think about their strategy in order to succeed.

On the other hand, we quickly realized that the game was much too easy when played on New Game+. Having the ability to start with just about any six Monsters, with Shifts unlocked, a large selection of gear ready to optimally equip each Monster to from the beginning - all these factors made especially the early game a walk in the park. So for one, we decided to slightly increase the difficulty level on New Game+ by default - but beyond that, we also decided to add a new Master mode which is meant to provide a new, harder challenge for veteran players. While it is technically possible to beat the game on Master mode with a regular save file, we highly recommend using this mode in conjunction with New Game+ (preferably using an optimized team of six Shifted Monsters from the game).

Hardcover Monster Journal

We have a quick progress update on the status of the hardcover Monster Journals: We are expecting their arrival very soon! As we receive them, we will be shipping them out over time. They should be arriving in your hands by the end of February or early March.

Also, for those who missed out on them, we will put up a certain number of the hardcover Journals for sale online.

Physical Switch Version

We are excited to announce that we will be releasing a physical version of the game for the Nintendo Switch! It will be released by Limited Run Games. There will be a regular version and a Collector's Edition, the content of which we will reveal at a later point. These physical versions will be available later this year, but we cannot specify the exact date yet.

Monster taming metroidvania Monster Sanctuary looks like it will have a busy 2021

After releasing in late 2020, the monster battling metroidvania mix in Monster Sanctuary was quite a highlight and it's getting bigger and better this year.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/01/monster-taming-metroidvania-monster-sanctuary-looks-like-it-will-have-a-busy-2021

Monster Sanctuary Roadmap

Hello, Monster Keepers!

The game had quite a successful launch, and we received a lot of positive feedback, which we are really happy about. Of course we also received a lot of suggestions for possible improvements and criticism, which we are aware of. Today we wanted to share with you a very rough roadmap we have planned for Monster Sanctuary (which we are currently looking to confirm with our publisher).

Update 1.1

We had a bit of rest during the holidays, but not too much: We are already working on the next update for the game. Ideally we will be able to release it at some point in February.

Difficulty Settings: We plan to add two additional difficulty settings: ‘Casual’ and ‘Master’. You can swap between all three difficulties freely during a playthrough.

Casual: We received quite a lot of feedback with some players struggling, especially with Keeper Duels or the dreaded Abandoned Tower. We aimed the game to be challenging, but we still want to not completely exclude a certain player base from enjoying the game. The casual mode will slightly reduce the difficulty for wild encounters and Keeper Battles, but will not make those a walk in the park in any way.
Master: This difficulty is mainly intended for New Game+. It will make the game still quite challenging despite having the tools/advantages of playing on New Game+.

New Game+: You’ll be able to start a ‘New Game+’ using an existing save game, keeping all your Monsters, equipment, and most of the items. The monsters will be rolled back to level 1, will keep their shifts, but will not be able to use their explore abilities until you meet a Monster in the game that possesses that ability, to prevent sequence breaks. All equipment upgrades will be removed.

Matchmaking Improvements: We’re happy about the increased popularity of PvP and plan to add improved matchmaking - you will be matched against opponents that are in a certain average Monster level range to yours. Additionally, it will also look for both players to be in a certain ranking range. If it can’t find an opponent of similar ranking in a certain time, it will extend that criteria. We also plan to have the ability to challenge your friends from the Steam Friend list, but are not sure if we’ll be able to have it for this update already.

Fixing Disconnect -> Loss issue: On consoles, when a player disconnects in multiplayer, both players receive a loss. We are working on a fix for this issue.

Fixing Achievements issues: On XBox and Game Pass, some players encounter an issue that some of their achievements did not unlock. We are working on a fix for this issue.

Version Parity: We plan to have this update out on all platforms at the same time.

Future Updates

This is a list of features we plan to add in future updates.

Player Customization: A feature we promised in the Kickstarter, but could not quite have in the game in time for the full release: The player will be able to choose between a certain amount of different player sprites and different color schemes for each of those. We’ll add some more secret chests here and there in Monster Sanctuary where you’ll find those outfits.

Legendary Keeper Monuments: Certain Backers of our Kickstarter will receive Legendary Keeper monuments found in the game.

Minimap Improvements: Add the ability to put markers on the minimap and also have it display some additional information by itself.

Speedrun Options: Add a Timer, add even faster combat animation speed options, add possibility to skip cut scenes (Those will be available for normal gameplay as well).

Quality of Life features: We received a lot of suggestions for quality of life improvements and we will look into adding some of those into the game over the course of the next updates. Here is a list of the top priority ones:

Be able to inspect all Monsters, not just the enemies. Additionally, inspecting will display all buffs/debuffs a Monster currently has.
Sorting Monsters
Possibility to take back assigned skill points while still in the skill menu
Improved Monster donation (warning when donating Champion Monsters, be able to donate multiple Monsters at a time)
Display the number of items already possessed when buying additional ones
Option to increase all wild encounter levels

That's all for now

That would be all that's on our radar for the time being. However, we also really wanted to use this opportunity to wish all Monster Keepers happy holidays!