CE Compatible

This game is an amazing cross between Pokemon and the Metroidvania genre, and is definitely worth a buy. Here are some pros and cons I found while playing:

Pros:
- Skill trees are very fleshed out. I feel like every perk effects how I use the monster in combat. This also makes grinding a lot more fun, because every level matters a lot more and I get to test out previous levels.
- No noticable power spikes in the story. While you might struggle against certain teams (My fire/wind team got destroyed by a water team), it never feels like you're underleveled for an area no matter how little you grind.
- Barriers are less obvious, and there definitely is exploration. You won't really get told "This is a barrier, beat the gym first" by the game, it encourages exploring to get new monster abilities to access new areas.
- Active, helpful Discord. One of the mods even has "ping me" in their Discord username.
- Encourages strategic playing. I've played Pokemon and never used buffs, or tried to "set up" other Pokemon. As soon as I started Monster Sanctuary I started to use buffs and debuffs, and trying synergies.
- Combat can be sped up to 2x in the settings. You don't realize how much you need it until you use it, but one HUGE feature. I'd personally like a turn skip/4x button, so I can just skip the 1v3 part of fights which tends to drag on a little.
- Movement is flawless. I kinda enjoy just running around, using random monster abilities like flying or a mount. I really like movement-based games (Titanfall 2, Ghost Runner, etc...) and have no complains here.
- Monsters seem to be balanced out really well. Scrolling through the competitive leaderboard, I don't see any monsters in a majority of teams (unless I'm blind).

Neutral:
- There is no reason to catch a monster more than maybe three times max. There is nothing like Pokemon's Individual Values or natures.
- Sun Palace minor spoiler: Shifted monsters don't have a synergy. It would be cool if light-shifted monsters worked better with other light-shifted monsters, or dealt extra damage to dark-shifted monsters.
- Competitive doesn't seem fleshed out. There's only one mode, and the ranking system seems inconsistent.

Cons:
- The game is in Early Access (at the time of this review), and the story isn't finished. This isn't as much of a con as it is a warning, YOU CANNOT FINISH THE STORY AT THIS MOMENT.
- The game doesn't make it clear what areas you can/can't access. This is made worse by the fact that to progress, most of the time you need to find some random room with a random chest with a key in it.
- Levers aren't clear on what they do sometimes. Some levers don't make it clear that they do nothing, and sometimes they move things off screen without showing you.
- Cutscenes are lengthy and aren't shortened after doing them once. For example, one of the few levers that shows the moving of a pillar takes about 5 seconds. The problem is it's in the same place I have to use a monster ability (The same button as flicking the lever). I've watched that cutscene at least 6 times. Same with walking into trainer battles.
- MINOR SPOILER FOR SUN PALACE Shifting is available before you finish the Sun Palace. I like that items aren't explicitly gated, but I was very confused when I got a shift stone before finishing Sun Palace.
- Crafting items aren't clear on where/how you get them.
- The Monster Journal doesn't show where to find monsters.
- Money feels like it's always in a surplus. I never really used potions or needed equipment from the smithy. Food seemed like a surplus, and crafting materials/skill resetters/skill potions aren't that expensive. IT would be nice to have more battle items, like maybe capture nets to make it so your rare reward will be a certain egg from the enemies.
- Combat mechanics could be explained better. A elemental advantage table is never given (One just in the combat menu would be nice, there's a lot of room). Also, the buff menu is huge and should be compacted is it doesn't go off screen.

Most of those cons don't detract from the game itself, they're more like individual nitpicks. The combat is really well done in general. Definitely worth a buy if you enjoy Pokemon-like games. I'd say this game is a solid 9/10.

Absolutely not worth the pricetag. The game promises such a different game every run but it's the same cycle.
Walk in
Neutralize target/Flip switch/Free NPC
If you feel like it, do character quest (so like open a chest or kill someone)
Leave
Repeat
The game's progression feels useless, you lose melee weapons super quick due to durability and the only ammo must be bought.
The melee combat is horrendous, you walk around and swing wildly and hope you hit someone.
Allies are useless and just get themselves killed, stealth is impossible with them.
The stealth is horrible, you just gotta run when the goons aren't looking at you.
There are so few enemies and so little variation the game gets dry, quick.

After playing more:
My refund got denied and I wanted to add on more of my experience:
If you wanna win easily on the last floor, you need as many people to like you as possible (electability)
Problem is, there isn't a visual indication when they are annoyed (and will bring it down), you have to hover over them to see it.
Then you have to kill all annoyed people.

You either have tons of money, or are poor. Debt is very misleading (If you kill the lender, your still in debt), and there's no reason to take it.
The rooms feel the same, and a large amount of buildings aren't randomly generated (jail, basic goon hideouts, apartments, etc...).
The character you choose pretty much forces your play style. No swapping allowed unless your willing to spend 300+ money.
There's little difference between killing someone, knocking them out, or sneaking past them.
Death can happen anytime with 2+ enemies, no matter how much you gear up (all armor is temporary).
Guns do so little damage (Shotgun is 12 dmg on a close range hit).
There are so few weapons (Guns: Shotgun, pistol, flamethrower, Melee: Baton, Baseball bat, Axe, Sword, Knife, and a few others).
Inventory management is a pain, and every mission gives more non-stackable junk to add onto it.
It feels like there is no reason to do missions, or stay around the floor risking it for vaults/chests.

My suggestion: The developer(s) could probably learn a lot looking at other similar games and taking elements. For example, look at SS13. Make a lot more systems more in depth (such as syringes! They're so simple! Add some depth for dedicated chemists!). Make weapons/abilities combo with each other like Gungeon, so players have to plan out what weapons to choose. Weapons are also 99% useless anyways, there is no reason to run n gun because regaining health is so hard and dodging is so finicky. Make classes less restrictive, they're classes not entire play-styles, and I hate playing a bunch of the classes due to the needless restrictions (though some add fun challenges, that's different).
There also needs to be a lot more variety, the city doesn't feel like a city at all because half the NPCs don't move or wonder on a certain path. Non-cops should roam around, interact with each other, talk, etc...
Quests need a huge overhaul. The entire game is based around quests! Maybe make them multi-stage, add more different options on how to complete quest (steal item from civilian by killing/knocking them out vs steal item, charisma check the civilian, draw them out of their house and sneak in (not doable for small houses)). I'd love to see SS13 (again, I know, but it's a similar game)-kinda interaction with more systems and some sort of building/disguise system.
Later levels having some sort of sewer system would be nice too, it feels impossible to escape cops and the gutters aren't usable by players (unless a certain class can, but then I bet it's just like the trees/bushes).
Minions could be expanded also, maybe some sort of relations system ("You sent my friend to their death/are walking into a death trap, I'm gonna leave unless we're real good friends" kinda thing). Animal minions would be cool also, and maybe better control over them if you want to use them as a distraction.

Those are just a few ideas I have that I feel would expand the game in a significant way, trying to break the "fun once, bland later" problem with most of the game's gimmicks because they never go into much depth other than stealth (which is mostly negated because the doctor is completely broken).

TL;DR Gameplay is stale and based off of your starting character, weapons don't vary enough, the random generation doesn't change anything, big quests are lame, doctor is omega boring and never gets stronger, guns are weak.
It does kill time though.