What’s your favorite Monster Hunter monster? Relying on whenever you began taking part in the 20-year-old sequence, you’re most likely going to have a special reply to that query. The oldest, most grizzled veterans of the sequence are going to have gentle spots for the Khezus, the Diablos, the Fatalis. Later arrivals will reminisce fondly in regards to the Nargacugas, the Royal Ludroths, the Mizutsune. Personally, I’m most keen on the Tetsucabra (I like frogs, OK?)
Monster Hunter Now, up to now, has been one thing of a fan-service delight; there are monsters from (almost) each nook of the Monster Hunter universe, up to now. We’ve obtained latecomers like Magnamalo and Mizutsune rubbing shoulders with OGs like Rathalos and Rathian. You’ve obtained Diablos spawning in subsequent to Pukei-Pukei. It’s an exquisite hodgepodge of fauna from the sequence at giant, however with 46 creatures within the roster, there are numerous notable absences.
“There are not any monsters which might be off the desk,” Sakae Osumi, senior producer for Monster Hunter Now, tells me throughout an interview in the midst of the sport’s first IRL occasion in Shibuya, Japan. “We’ve been introducing new monsters, in addition to variants, for the previous yr, and we’ve additionally began introducing Elder dragons, these days, too.”
“This summer time was extraordinarily sizzling,” grins Kei Kawai, Niantic’s chief product officer, as he provides on to what Osumi is saying. “So it was kind-of becoming to see that Teostra – the Elder Dragon surrounded by fireplace! – added to the sport for this season. We at all times see that there’s some kind of ‘actual world’ scenario for the selection of monster we select so as to add.”
“That’s a fantastic trace for what’s subsequent,” replies Osumi, seemingly fairly shocked.
“I’m not hinting at something,” says Kawai, laughing.
The trade will get me considering… Does that imply, in an assumedly chilly winter, we’re going to see some extra Ice monsters arrive within the recreation? Maybe we’ll see Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak debutant, Lunagaron, added to the sport to observe on from Magnamalo. Maybe we’ll see everybody’s favorite horrible yeti bastard, Goss Harag, make an look. Hey, who is aware of, perhaps we’ll even see Velkhana arrive as an Elder Dragon Interception – it’d make sense, proper? And nothing is ‘off the desk,’ so…
Monster Hunter Now has solely been on-line for simply over a yr, and already we’ve seen the roster swell from 14 monsters to 46. That’s over triple the bottom quantity, for anybody holding depend. Positive, some are variants (as of the Shibuya Carnival, we’ve now obtained three completely different variations of each Rathian and Rathalos for instance), however given the variants behave in another way and feed into distinctive armour, I nonetheless categorise them as their very own, distinctive monsters.
However it was with the introduction of the Elder Dragons that the playerbase actually began to understand the scope of this recreation. The Elder Dragons, which will be fought in longer – and, often, tougher – fights than their lesser siblings, solely started arriving in summer time 2024. And, already, we’ve seen three Elder Dragonsget added to the title; Kushula Daora, Teostra, and the event-exclusive Nergigante (which is an excellent enjoyable struggle, by the way in which).
“The Elder Dragons are extra essential to the story and the way they work within the universe of Monster Hunter,” continues Osumi. “So we wish to be actually cautious by way of how we choose the timing so as to add them.”
He continues to notice that as a result of the Elder Dragon fights are so massive, and often require a tweaking of the central Monster Hunter Now gimmick to correctly match into the cell app, there’s an implementation problem in the case of these fights. However Niantic is inspecting the way it’ll get a number of the extra uncommon fights within the recreation – the solutions have been obscure, however I’m considering of the Dah’ren Mohran struggle from Gen 4, the place you should be in a shifting sand-boat. Or the Zorah Magdaros struggle in World which is mainly you versus a dwelling mountain.
“There’s a special aim in bringing the large monsters to the sport,” concludes Osumi, “and we’re nonetheless attempting to determine that out. So, we’ll see the way it finally ends up!”
Color me excited. The sport simply retains getting higher, and extra monster selection merely means extra to take pleasure in. And if we lastly get a Tetsucabra in there, then, nicely, you’ll be able to anticipate me to by no means take off that foolish armour.
Monster Hunter Now’s accessible on iOS and Android. This interview was performed throughout Monster Hunter Now Carnival Shibuya in Tokyo, and journey and lodging was paid for by Niantic.