Future Monster Hunter Projects Should Learn From Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Requests

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Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise has been growing in popularity over the last few years thanks to the back-to-back successes of Monster Hunter World on PS4 and Xbox One, followed by Monster Hunter Rise on Switch. Both games made huge strides in world design, movement, and accessibility, later coming to PC in each case. It seems some Monster Hunter design ethos may have even inspired Game Freak's latest venture, Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

Legends: Arceus has been compared to Breath of the Wild, and this makes sense. That blockbuster Legend of Zelda game helped launch the Nintendo Switch in style by taking a typically linear action-adventure series and applying its history to an open-world formula. Plenty of games have exhibited traces of Breath of the Wild's DNA in the ensuing years, and the explorable vistas of Pokemon Legends: Arceus certainly seem reminiscent. Yet the gameplay loop in this Pokemon title seems more akin to a Monster Hunter game, which means Capcom might be interested in what Game Freak got right about its requests system.

Monster Hunter Rise was Japan's Most Downloaded Switch Game in 2021

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hyrule is completely open and Link has the ability to climb most surfaces. By contrast, Pokemon Legends: Arceus has a few maps like segmented chunks of an open world, and while players cannot climb every surface they can call upon Pokemon to help with traversal. This design is closer to Monster Hunter Rise, in which there are a handful of open maps that players can't fully scale without the help of mechanics such as Wirebugs and rideable Palamute companions.

The way Monster Hunter Rise and Pokemon Legends: Arceus handle their missions are also similar. In both games the player