Hands-on: Monster Hunter Now: Fulminations in the Frost builds a foundation for the future

destructoid.com:

With the end of 2023 just around the corner, I feel confident in saying that Monster Hunter Now is one of my biggest surprises of the year. It’s easily Niantic’s best game since Pokemon GO, and with the game’s first major update on the horizon, it’s looking like the title will stay relevant heading into 2024.

For those just tuning in, Monster Hunter Now is a GPS driven augmented-reality game based on Capcom’s Monster Hunter series. While this seems like an odd pitch, it’s an entertaining concept that stays remarkably true to its source material. Though the combat naturally makes concessions to play smoothly on touch screens, Niantic’s take on the formula does appear to have resonated with players since launch.

That said, there’s certainly room for improvement here in a lot of ways, which has raised questions about what the game’s future will look like. Sure, we’ve had a few events pop up, but will the game ever see more than a slow drip feed of new monsters and quests?

Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long to see the answer to the question. On December 7, Monster Hunter Now will launch its first major seasonal update: Fulminations in the Frost. Among other improvements, this update will include four all-new monsters to hunt and two new weapon types. Ahead of the update’s launch, I was able to attend an event hosted by Niantic and check out Fulminations of the Frost for myself. And while I’ll need to spend more time with the new content to see where my feelings ultimately land, what I’ve played so far has delivered on what I’ve wanted to see from the game since it originally launched, albeit with a few concerns.

During my hands-on time, I was given access to a test account with paintballs spanning the four new monsters