[Update]: Monster Sanctuary has added New Game Plus and two extra difficulty modes.

If you're a fan of Pokemon but wish there was a greater focus on exploration and using your abilities to help you reach new and exciting places, then you might want to check out the freshly released Monster Sanctuary. It is essentially Pokemon meets Metroidvania, though with enough unique ideas and flare to make itself stand out from the crowd.

So not only will you be able to roam across the world in order to capture and train an assortment of monsters, but also specialize them through skill trees, as well as further enhance their potency with special weapons and accessories. Outside of the 3v3 battles, however, you'll also be able to use the monsters' unique abilities to help traverse the terrain, solve puzzles, and also open up new pathways.

Rather than babble on, allow me to share with you the launch trailer. It should give you a pretty good idea of just what Monster Sanctuary is trying to do. Have a gander:

Should you decide to jump in, it is worth mentioning that despite the cutesy pixel art style, Monster Sanctuary can get pretty challenging in the second half. Even if you're paying attention to your team's builds and synergies, there will still be duels where you get completely blown out because you just don't have the right kind of monsters for the battle at hand. So while Monster Sanctuary is not too challenging, do be prepared for it to bite back every once in a while.

You can learn more about Monster Sanctuary, as well as check out some of the user reviews, by hopping over to Steam. Have fun!