Pokemon Go developer Niantic and Capcom have announced Monster Hunter Now, a real-world action role-playing mobile game that will be released in September 2023 on iOS and Android devices that lets you and your friends Take down iconic monsters like the awesome Rathalos and Jagras on your next neighborhood walk.
IGN and other members of the press were able to attend the actual Monster Hunter Now showcase, and the team made it very clear that they wanted to keep the best parts of Monster Hunter intact during the transition to the mobile space. motion. Additionally, Monster Hunter Now is meant to be accessible to newcomers and veterans of the franchise.
Some veterans and newbies will be able to test that promise for themselves as Monster Hunter Now’s closed beta will begin on April 25. Players can sign up for the beta on MonsterHunterNow.com and the team has confirmed that those accepted will be able to fight monsters with Sword and Shield, Great Sword, and Light Bowgun. Now, into the game itself.
Like Pokemon GO, Monster Hunter Now will let players encounter monsters as they walk around the real world. However, it differs from Pokemon GO when it comes to battles as it becomes an action RPG reminiscent of its console version, if simplified a bit. Through touches and swipes, players will be able to use their favorite weapons to take down huge monsters in a stylish and powerful way. Niantic also revealed that there will be a story in Monster Hunter Now and that new and familiar faces will appear along the way.
Players can adventure alone or with up to four friends and will have the option to team up with other hunters near you who are also playing Monster Hunter Now. Niantic isn’t quite ready to go into all the details of how you can play with friends, especially those who don’t live near you, but the multiplayer experience is a priority for the game.
As for the battles, they will last up to 75 seconds and aim to be as fun and chaotic as a traditional Monster Hunter battle. Parts will fly away from monsters when you attack them, and the weapons and combat look similar to what fans are familiar with. Players will also have the choice of fighting in portrait or landscape mode.
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The rewards from those battles will be resources and monster parts that, in traditional Monster Hunter fashion, will allow players to create and upgrade equipment they can then take with them to battle to become stronger and repeat that loop.
The other two integral parts of Monster Hunter Now are your Palico companion and the Paintball mechanic. Palicos, which fans of the franchise will recognize as wonderful cat-like creatures, will accompany each player on their adventures and will also be able to utilize the aforementioned Paintball mechanics. .
Monster Hunter Now encourages players to go out and take a walk around their hometown, work, travel, etc. However, things can happen that make it impossible for you to finish the battle or encounter a monster. specific object. With the Paintball mechanic, you can tag a monster and then end that battle when you get home or whenever it’s more convenient for you.
Furthermore, Palicos will hunt monsters even when you are not playing the game and will tag them with Paintballs so you can challenge them at home, at work, etc. Also, this is a very useful feature. useful to not miss the monster, it will also give friends and family more chances to fight together when the time is right.
As for how you find monsters to fight, there will be Wayspots/landmarks around the game world that will give the player resources when they are found. Monsters will spawn around these, but they will also spawn randomly in the wild, which will be useful for those living in the countryside or places where there aren’t many landmarks.
There will also be an option to use AR to see these monsters come to life in your town. In a short video shown during the presentation, we saw a player run to meet his friends in a city, and as the camera pans, we catch a glimpse of a giant Rathalos hovering above him. above them with the horizon in the background.
We’ve opened an official Twitter account for the real-world hunting action RPG “Monster Hunter Now” from Niantic and Capcom announced today!
Service is scheduled to start in September 2023!🔽Sign up for closed beta test here #MHNowhttps://t.co/eP8oR2MGPa pic.twitter.com/g8CwYQmVX3
– Monster Hunter now (@MH_Now_EN) April 18, 2023
As mentioned earlier, Monster Hunter Now will be released on iOS and Android devices in September 2023 and will be a free game with additional paid items to purchase. The team wasn’t willing to go into detail on monetization strategies, but they did promise that there would be a “good balance” between a free experience and an “enhanced” experience with item purchases.
We would also like to remind those interested that the closed beta of Monster Hunter Now will begin on April 25, and registration is now open at MonsterHunterNow.com.
Monster Hunter Now has been in the works for about four years, and it’s a project that garnered a lot of excitement from the start. In fact, Ryozo Tsujimoto, Capcom’s director and CEO and producer of the Monster Hunter series, said he “still remembers the first meeting. I immediately replied, ‘Let’s do it!” without a second thought.”
For more, check out all our details and reviews of the Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion, will finally appear on more platforms on April 28, 2023.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and more Convulsion.
