When something creeps, lurking around the corner, are you prepared? When a monster leaps, chomping your buddies, are you ready? In this week’s spotlight you had better be–your team needs you in Atlaz Games’ Monstrum: The Battle Against Monsters.

Monstrum is a round-based Sci-Fi Horror game that pits you and your friends against powerful boss monsters. The game has a variety of features which makes this classic gameplay unique and interesting. You are given the choice between one of three Monsters when you first join; you can pick the Freezer, King Zombie, or Minotaur. Once a round starts a random player is picked to be the Monster and the rest are a part of the Hunters team tasked with hunting down and killing the monsters.

As a human you are able to pick between four classes which are unlocked automatically. I tried them all out and ended up sticking with Assassin due to his quick speed and high damage, but you can also choose to be a Healer, Tank, or Assault, all of which have their own strengths. Once your team arrives and the map is voted on, you are set free to hunt the monster through dimly lit and atmospherically rich levels. The Hunters win if they can kill the Monster, and the Monster wins if they can kill the humans in time. On the Hunters team you have to rely on teamwork to win the game, you can’t succeed alone.

The sheer variety of content in Monstrum is what makes it stand out from the crowd. There are five total monsters you can unlock after getting your first one for free. You can unlock these by paying a premium, or by leveling up until you can afford to buy them in game. I could see myself playing this game for hours to unlock all the monsters. Every choice you make feels important and unique. Playing as a Healer feels completely different from playing as a Tank, but both are fun and balanced. Likewise, each Monster is unique and gives the player different abilities and options for how to catch to their prey.

That’s not to mention the fact that the maps are all unique, and really well made from both an aesthetic standpoint, and in the aspect of level design. I had a ton of fun running around as a Minotaur, charging my foes. Sometimes that was a good strategy on some maps, and on others I had to play more stealthy so that I didn’t get sniped. Playing as the Monster controls really well and is extremely satisfying, which is truly a feat due to the unique playstyle of each monster.

Monstrum was an exciting game for me. I loved how much you had to work as a team; it felt unique in that way. A lot of other “team” based games seem skewed one way or the other, but Monstrum felt perfectly balanced. You can’t always rush in as the Monster because you can die, but as a Hunter you can’t split off from the group too much or you’re dead for sure. If you haven’t already played this, you should check it out.

Until next time, keep on monstering on.