Monster Sanctuary News

Monster Sanctuary October Progress Update! Halloween Monsters!

October Progress Update! Halloween Monsters!

Dear Monster Keepers,

we wish everyone a Happy Halloween! Just in time for the spooky season, we want to share a special progress update with you featuring some of the spooky Monsters you will be able to find on the full release of the game! (Which is happening on December 8th, just in case you missed our last update: Monster Sanctuary is exiting Steam Early Access and will launch on PC Dec 8th)

If you have followed our Community Monster contests, you will likely recognize all of these Monsters, as all of them are contest winners!

Plague Egg

"Plague Eggs are usually reclusive and only rarely appear to attempt to cure illnesses and injuries on unattended patients. However, interrupting their 'operations' or attempting to capture them will provoke them to attack with magic, which curses and interrupts the biological functions of living creatures. Their cures sometimes resemble ominous experiments - for instance, they might save a human's life, but at the price of their legs. Conversely, sometimes they add enhancements to their patient's bodies, such as additional limbs or wings, but neglect to treat their illnesses."

Plague Eggs are the mad scientists of the Monster Sanctuary, with a very heavy focus on debuff skills, but also a good selection of support skills. They're very rare Monsters, but you might just get one from a certain Alchemist...

Thanatos

"Hundreds of years ago, there lived a king with his royal court in a majestic castle. One by one, the people living in that castle started dying under mysterious circumstances. At first, only servants and knights fell victim to this phenomenon. When it happened to close relatives of the king, panic took hold of the court. Many great warriors were summoned, patrolling the castle at all times. However, each of them lost their lives. After many weeks, an old priest came to the castle, feeble and barely able to walk. Thanks to divine magic, she hunted down the Thanatos that was responsible and banished it from our world, returning all of its victims to life."

Thanatoi can be quite deadly damage dealers, but they can also learn several very useful utility skills, including three different Multi-Buff auras. You will find Thanatoi as one of the new Monsters in the final area of the game, the Abandoned Tower.

Aazerach

"According to the Blind Starseer's own writing, she was visited by an Aazerach when she was very young. The demon took her eyesight, but granted her the same supernatural sense that Aazerachs possess. Over time, it allowed her to gain the demonic knowledge that led to the creation of the Ahrimaaya, the tome of demons. According to her later writings, she spent many years trying to escape other Aazerachs that were hunting her. Supposedly, Aazerachs watch over our world and step in whenever humans come too close to finding out about the worlds around us."

Aazerachs are dangerous damage dealers as well, but what makes them truly deadly is their ability to quickly apply many stacks of "Blind" on their enemies and some skills to profit off of those stacks. Aazerach will be a special Champion Monster that you will only be able to fight after completing the main story of the game - as such, defeating it will be no easy task.

New feature revealed: Ultimates

You may have spotted something new in the previous screenshots of those new Monsters' skill trees: a new row of three skills opens up after reaching Level 40! These are unlike any of the other skills a Monster can learn so far. They are Ultimates, special skills that can be used in combat and are quite stronger than other skills. Because of that, you are limited to using only one Ultimate per turn, and each Ultimate has a cooldown of three turns. They can be devastating single-target attacks, powerful multi-target attacks with different effects, strong support skills, or a mix between all of these.

A Monster may choose an Ultimate after reaching Level 40, and it does not require a skill point to be spent. A Monster can also always switch its Ultimate without having to use a Skill Resetter item.

That's all for this month's Progress Update! We hope you're looking forward to finding these new Monsters and teaching those Ultimate skills to your Monsters.

Creature taming metroidvania Monster Sanctuary launches on December 8

After a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter back in 2018 and then over a year in Early Access, Monster Sanctuary is now set for a full release.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2020/10/creature-taming-metroidvania-monster-sanctuary-launches-on-december-8

Monster Sanctuary is exiting Steam Early Access and will launch on PC Dec 8th

[h3]Uncover the encroaching mystery threatening humanity and monsters, and become the true Monster Keeper heir, as Monster Sanctuary escapes into the wild next month![/h3]

Monster Sanctuary is exiting Steam Early Access and will launch on PC on 8th December! As the youngest heir of an ancient bloodline of Monster Keepers, players set out to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps, all the while unpicking a mystery that threatens the long-standing peace between humans and monsters!

[h3]Begin your journey as the next great Monster Keeper with this new trailer: [/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

During its year in Early Access, Monster Sanctuary has expanded with a series of significant updates that broaden its fantastical world, such as the introduction of player vs player gameplay, and new areas to explore: the volcanic Magma Chamber, the claustrophobic Underworld, and the mechanical Mystical Workshop. Each have expanded on the menagerie of monsters available for players to track down and tame, and added new gameplay opportunities to explore. The full launch of Monster Sanctuary in December will see further content for players to explore as they epic adventure.

[h3]Key Features:[/h3]

Overcome and collect beasts: Creatures great and small are available to collect and battle, and can be upgraded via deep skill trees
Become the best Monster Keeper: A mysterious force threatens the peace between monsters and humans, and players will unravel these secrets through the story
Battle in strategic 3v3 combat: Player rosters of monsters can fight AI or other players in a turn-based 3v3 system, using elemental attacks and combos to devastating effect
Discover a deep Metroidvania world: From the depths of the Underworld to the heights of the Snowy Peaks, there is plenty to explore, and hidden areas to uncover using monster skills
Items and gear aplenty: Players will find a plethora of useful items on their journey, which may even open new avenues of navigation.

[h3]Denis Sinner, Managing Director, Moi Rai Games:[/h3]

“The full release of the game will bring an exciting five-year journey to an end. Monster Sanctuary originally started out as a hobby project of mine while having a normal day job, and back then I couldn't imagine that it would be released as a full-fledged game on multiple platforms with a publisher on my side. Ever since we launched the game into Early Access last year, the community feedback we’ve received has helped to improve the game and make it the best possible experience.”

Monster Sanctuary will launch digitally on PC on 8th December for £15.99/€19.99/$19.99.

Progress Update & Monsters Preview

Hey Monster Keepers,

We are quite busy finishing up the game and recently we started the closed beta for the full release update. This Beta test includes all of the 101 Monsters that you will be able to fight, hatch and train at the full launch of the game. It also includes the last two remaining areas: the Abandoned Tower, the final area of the game, and a secret optional area that houses a couple super-secret Monsters. There are also a couple new features in this Beta test.

If you are eligible for Beta testing (certain Kickstarter backers), you may find instructions on our Discord channel how to access the Beta test. The first step is to join us on Discord.

This Beta test will take much longer as usual, as the full release will still need quite some polishing, as well as bug fixes and balancing work. So for now, the release date is still simply "2020 Q4".

For this Progress Update, we'd like to share two of the new Monsters with you.

Sutsune: This deadly vixen is fully capable of taking Monster lives as well as healing, buffing and reviving allies. She also has the unique "Blood Magic" aura, which allows any Occult- or Mage-type Monster in the party to apply Bleed stacks. Her explore ability is the new "Secret Vision" ability. We have added even more areas and treasure chests that you can discover using new late-game explore abilities like "Secret Vision"!

Vertraag: This powerful god of time is one of several optional late-game Champions that the player can challenge towards the end of the game. They are hidden all across the Sanctuary. This Champion in particular is intended to be challenged only after completing the story content of the game. All of these late-game Champions are capable of using three actions per turn instead of the usual two like other Champion Monsters!

If you have played the Siralim series of Mongames, you probably already recognized Vertraag - he's a special cross-over Monster from Siralim! In turn, you may find a familiar face in the upcoming Siralim Ultimate.

Thats it for now - stay tuned, there is a big announcement coming later this month!

Monster Sanctuary September Update

[h2]Monster Keepers![/h2]

A new update is ready for Monster Sanctuary! This update adds an extension to the Ancient Woods, two new Monsters to collect, as well as a few new features!

But first, we'd like to announce that this will be the final update before the full release. The next content update will be the full release of the game. For that, we are already working on the final two areas of the game, as well as many new Monsters and a few more features. This update will be bigger than any other content update we released for the game - so it will also take more time than previous updates. As we've stated before, the only thing we can say as for the full release of the game is: Q4 2020. We might release more balancing & bug fix updates until then.
[h2]
New Monsters added[/h2]

Underneath the sunny Ancient Woods, a series of new dark cave rooms are waiting to be explored by you! Two new Beast-type Monsters can be found here:

Trolls, ghastly cave dwellers that will eat just about anything that stumbles into their underground lairs. They have the tools to bring down Monsters of any size, having a strong focus on the "Armor Break" and "Poison" Debuffs. Of course, they're also very sturdy at the same time, having multiple ways to regenerate their health.

Brutus, a massive gorilla-like beast of a Monster, which acts as a new Champion Monster. Brutus is quite a unique Monster in that it has no Elemental weakness, but can only deal neutral damage himself. Its new "Power Focus" skill allows it to drastically increase the force of its next attack!
The new areas are underneath the Goblin-infested area of the Ancient Woods, and there are two entrances. You need to have a Monster with "Improved Flight", as well as a Monster that can light up dark rooms.

[h2]Spectral Familiar Overhaul[/h2]

We have granted a visual overhaul to some of the very first Monsters that we created for the game: the four Spectral Familiars! No matter which one of the four is your favorite, Wolf, Eagle, Lion and Toad now look better than ever before.

We have also used this opportunity to add new skills to some of them and to change a few of their skills, refining their roles in the game.

[h2]New feature: Talk to your Familiar![/h2]

We have added a new feature to the game that we have been working on for a long time: the "Talk" feature! In the menu, you may now select "Talk" to talk to your Familiar. From there, you can ask your Familiar about any of your goals that are currently active. It essentially serves as a Quest menu like in modern RPGs, but we aimed to make it much more immersive and less intrusive! It's completely optional and it's never required to progress in the game.

Please note that, if you have already completed all the goals that are available in the current version of the game, you won't have anything to "Talk" to your Familiar about. But who knows, perhaps you missed a thing or two in the game?

[h2]Visuals for removing Buffs & Debuffs[/h2]

To make a few particular actions in combat clearer, there are new, improved visuals when a Monster removes Buffs or Debuffs from themselves or from other Monsters. So next time you attack an enemy with "Cleansing Flames" or heal one of your Monsters with "Restore", you will know exactly which Buffs or which Debuffs were removed!

[h2]Added many new Buff-improving passives[/h2]

We spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of new passive skills were still missing from the game. We realised there was a niche left untapped with passive skills that improve certain Buffs in different ways. These new skills should give Buff teams more of a unique identity and more tools to play with.
Previously, the goal of Buff teams usually was simply to amass as many Buffs as possible. We hope that this will make teams more viable that focus on specific types of Buffs, like Sorcery or Glory for instance - kind of like how there are Debuff teams that focus on specific types of Debuffs, like Poison or Chill.

[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

Removed egg specific hatch level caps - all monsters now hatch at the same level (0-3 levels lower than highest player monster, depending on the progress)
There are three new Keeper Duel challenges available at the Keeper Duel Trainer NPC in the Keeper's Tower (Knight Challenge, Champion Challenge and Dragoon Challenge)
Wild monster give ~20% more gold now
New unique item 'Dumbbell' - available from Brutus (Champion)
Spectral Toad underwent a bigger rework to give him more identity in his skill set, he is more focused on Healing and Debuffs, but should be still able to do some decent damage.
Also his Shifts are 'Heal Charging' and 'Mana Potential' now
Spectral Eagle has 'Charged Start' and new skills 'Impactful Shock' and 'Reborn from Ashes' now Spectral Wolf's Dark Shift has -1 Base Health but +2 Attack & Magic now, also it has 'Shatter' now
Most Tier 5 attack deal slightly more damage now
Damage of attacks with low hit count got buffed (3 hits or fewer)
Reworked Rocky slightly to feature more 'Weakness' debuff synergy in his third skill tree by adding 'Multi Weakness', 'Disoriented' and a new skill 'Tranquility'. His shifted stats got changed slightly in favor of dark shift
Shielding Leaves shield value and damage increased
Sizzle Knight got 'Multi Shock' and a new skill 'Impactful Shock' now - shifted stats slightly increased
Crackle Knight got a new skill 'Electrolytes' (instead of 'Stunned') - shifted stats slightly increased
Steam Golem got 'Auto Restore', 'Attack Mastery', 'Cleanse' and two new skills 'Observe' and 'Optimal Performance'
'Solar Rays' reworked to do more hits (6 hits at highest tier)
'Tackle' reworked to do more hits (7 hits at highest tier) and ignore 25% of enemy's Defense now
'Poison Eater' reworked do do many hits and deal additional hits for every poison on the target
'Deep Freeze' reworked to do additional 40% damage hits for every chill on the target
'Mud Cannon' does 6 hits on the highest tier now
'Weaponry' value increased to 15% (from 10%)
'Channeling Balance' value increased to 7.5% (from 4%) and it is unique aura now
'Berserk' gained charge stacks increased to 8 (from 6)
'Glitter' damage and damage reduction value increased to 5% (from 3%)
Qilin has 'Hex Support' now
'Shatter' Critical Chance value increased to 10% (from 7%)
'Hunt' Critical Chance value increased to 4% (from 3%)
'Improved Glory' Critical Damage value increased to 20% (from 10%) and it is an unique aura now.
-'Improved Sidekick' bonus damage increased to 50% (from 30%) and it is an unique aura now.
'Improved Barrier' bonus damage reduction increased to 7.5% (from 5%) and it is an unique aura now.
'Improved Regeneration' bonus heal value increased to 7.5% (from 5%) and it is an unique aura now.
Damage of 'Magic Attack' increased to 300% (from 240%)
Vaero's 'Cleanse' got replaced with 'Cleansing Sidekick'
One of Goblin Warlock's 'Hexing Support' nodes got replaced with 'Warlock Healing'
Grummy got new skills 'Regeneration Shield' and 'Broken Immunity'
Monk got 'Flurry of Blows' and a new skill 'Combat Guard'
Druid Oak and Ninki Nanka got a new skill 'Restoration'
Elderjel and Glowfly got a new skill 'Forceful Sorcery'
Glowdra' got 'Multi Sorcery' and 'Shared Sorcery' skills
Megarock got 'Multi Might' and new skills 'Forceful Might' and 'Static Glory', also base attack value increased by 1
Dracozul's got 'Copy Shield'
'Intelligent Swarm' Charge gain chance is now 100% (from 75%)
'Mana Charging' required mana value increased to 40 (from 30)
'Punishment' trigger chance reduced to 50% (from 80%) but fixed the skill (was not triggered at all previously)
'Charging Shield' shielding value reduced to 60 (from 75)
Oculus got 'Defense Healing' now
'Combo Healing', 'Power Healing' and 'Defense Healing' now heal the monster in the party with the lowest percentual health
Ninki has a new skill 'Regeneration Shield' now, also it has the monster type 'Dragon' now
Magmapillar got a new skill 'Mana Bolster'
Tanuki got 'Meditation' now
Mimic lost his 'Evasion' skill and has two instances of 'Gold Sense' now
Ornithopter's 'Critical Focus' replaced with 'Crit Chance Plus', 'Energy Conversion' with 'Combo Buffing' and 'Mana Proc' with another 'Combo Buffing'. Both shifts lost 1 Defense.
Armor Break Debuff now also ignores non defense related damage reduction but the value got reduced to 25% (from 40%) - Debuff description is not updated yet
Ring Focus value decreased to 75% (from 100%)
Dark Mimic's Base mana increased by 1
'Static' damage value increased to 20% (from 15%)
'Combo Initiator' also does an additional hit now when the monster attacks first
'Cleanse' remove buff chance reduced to 25% (from 30%)

Please visit our official forums on Steam to provide feedback on the update - and any issues you may run int, our wonderful Devs are always present :)

Enjoy the update - happy monster collecting!