Monster Hunter Now is the most traditional Niantic game yet
A little over four years ago, Niantic reps sat down with Capcom to propose a Monster Hunter game similar to what Niantic had done with Pokémon Go. To hear the companies tell the story, Capcom agreed to it right there in the room.
Within a few months, Niantic had ramped up hiring at its newly created Tokyo studio, and built a prototype with monsters laid over a real-world map. Over the next four years, Niantic chipped away at the idea, built out the technology, tried some things that didn’t work out (like making all combat based around gyroscope controls), and settled on an approach that will feel very familiar to Monster Hunter fans.
Ahead of Niantic showing the game at this week’s Summer Game Fest Play Days, Polygon participated in a closed beta test for the game and spoke to Niantic CEO John Hanke and chief product officer Kei Kawai, as well as Capcom Monster Hunter executive producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and Monster Hunter Now producer Genki Sunano, to get a closer look at how the game has come together.
In short, the time spent seems to have paid off. Monster Hunter Now feels like the most traditional video game Niantic has made. Of course, this being a Niantic game, there are plenty of twists on what “traditional” means.
Like most Niantic games, Monster Hunter Now places you on a real-world map and asks you to explore the fictional universe layered on top. Here, that means digging up resources and fighting monsters while exploring swamps, deserts, and forests.
The first thing that stands out is how fast the interface works. You can spot a smaller enemy on the map, tap on them to zoom in and fight, take them out with a few quick hits, and zoom back to the map all in about three seconds. Bigger monsters come with a bit
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