For anyone wondering about the game — play tests over in Japan for Monster Hunter Now were pretty positive. Character and monster models look right out of the game, and the overworld map & UI look like Monster Hunter, too. Here's a basic overview of the gameplay from the demo:
Here's a basic overview for gameplay in Monster Hunter Now.
- Combat is comparable to the Monster Hunter Explore mobile game. Tap to attack, flick to dodge, hold for special charged attack (or guard) depending on the weapon.
- Demo only had four weapons: longsword, sword & shield, bowgun and great sword.
- Different weapons/armors will show on your character.
- There are hunter ranks.
- Monsters will have different levels (stars) and that'll correlate to your hunter rank.
- You do get a pet palico.
- You can "paintball" monsters to hunt them later when convenient.
- You can set your palico to automatically paintball monsters for you when you're out for walks, so you can hunt them later in your own home, or wherever with friends.
- Battles last 75 seconds. You can cut off tails and break parts.
- When you go to hunt a monster, you can choose to hunt solo or with friends. The second option will allow players from upto 200m around you join in.
- Progression is similar to normal monster hunter, you gather materials & resources to upgrade your gear and weapon and level up your hunter rank.
- Gathering still plays a huge part of the game. Along with Monsters, ore deposits, bones, herbs, etc, will spawn on the field.
- Gathering materials is just a simple "tap tap tap" on them.
- The overworld map utilises landmarks and location data (points of interest) for Monster Spawns & Resources.
- Character is customizable.
- Portrait or landscape mode is available.
- Monsters will glow red just before an attack.
- Monsters will still be unique with their attack patterns & glow.
- There are quests and main quests.
- There are items/potions and also an in-game store.
- There are two overworld map options. One similar to Pokemon GO where it follows your character up close, and also the other one allows you to zoom out and see everything surrouding you.
- Biomes play a huge role, with the map being split up into zones like Swamps, etc.
It has been in development since 2019, and it looks like Capcom has a lot more hands-on with the development than Niantic's other IP titles. From everything we've seen so far, it looks promising. However, we don't know how Niantic will monetize it.
This also isn't being developed by the Pokemon GO team, rather their Tokyo-based team.
Edit more information:
In a Q&A they said that they plan to add more weapons and monsters as the game progresses. They've also got other popular weapon types prepared for launch. Multiplayer is 4 player.
The more players in a battle = the damage of the enemy increases. Light bowgun has two types of bullets. If you play in landscape mode, you can use gyro aiming.
They've also said as of right now, there are no original monsters for the game. They also said they'd love to do special battle events for Elder Dragons.