Highlights
- Despite the lack of official announcements at Tokyo Game Show, it is highly likely that a new mainline Monster Hunter game is currently in development.
- The multiplayer functionality of the next Monster Hunter game will be crucial, and a PvEvP mode similar to Destiny 2's Gambit could be an excellent addition to the series.
- The Gambit-style mode in Monster Hunter could involve two teams racing to hunt the same monster while also hindering each other, resulting in only one team claiming the spoils of the hunt. It could potentially be a major highlight of the game's multiplayer experience.
After months of speculation and potential leaks regarding the existence of a new Monster Hunter game, the Tokyo Game Show came and went without so much as a mention of anything Monster Hunter-related except for the new Niantic mobile game Monster Hunter Now. Still, one can only assume that a new mainline entry in the Monster Hunter franchise is currently in development, as the roadmap for updates to Monster Hunter Rise and the Sunbreak expansion has reached its terminus. While there's plenty of speculation regarding what the next Monster Hunter might include, one crucial component for Capcom to nail down will be its multiplayer functionality.
The Monster Hunter series is no stranger to multiplayer modes, with cooperative play and online multiplayer functionality being a part of the series dating all the way back to its first entry. Still, the format that these multiplayer modes have taken over the years has shifted from entry to entry, with each game offering more than just cooperative hunts for players to tackle with friends. While PvP isn't necessarily a great fit for the Monster Hunter franchise (hence why fans haven't seen it since Monster Hunter 2), a PvEvP mode similar to Destiny 2's Gambit could be an excellent iteration on the tried-and-true multiplayer experience in the Monster Hunter series.
How a 'Gambit'-Style Mode Could Work in the Next Monster Hunter
While the preferred competitive multiplayer experience in Destiny 2 is facing off against other Guardians in The Crucible, the Gambit mode (introduced as part of the Forsaken expansion) adds a unique wrinkle to competitive play by changing a pure PvP experience into a PvEvP one. There aren't many games that attempt PvEvP (or, Player versus Environment versus Player) and those that do are more typically MOBAs or MMORPGs. Even though the concept hasn't found strong footing in Destiny 2, it could be a perfect fit for the Monster Hunter franchise.
Rather than two squads of Hunters facing off against one another in an arena setting, Monster Hunter's potential Gambit-style mode could see two teams drop in at opposite ends of the map. After the match begins, each team needs to race to an assigned location to hunt the same monster, where the ultimate goal is still to capture or kill one of Monster Hunter's titular beasts, but players can also distract and hinder the other team's success to be the victor. The end result being that both teams are dealing damage to the same monster, but only one team walks away with the spoils from the hunt.
Destiny 2's Woes With Gambit Might Not Translate to Monster Hunter
The addition of the Gambit mode to Bungie's live-service powerhouse was meant to add something that sat between the cooperative PvE play of missions and raids and the competitive PvP matches in The Crucible. Unfortunately, a series of disappointing updates and changes to the mode have left fans convinced that Gambit is on its way out in Destiny 2, with Bungie choosing to focus its multiplayer resources elsewhere in the title. The mode may have ultimately been a flop in Destiny, but there's every possibility it could find greater footing in the Monster Hunter franchise.
For starters, Monster Hunter is already built around using traps and other various forms of subterfuge to help debuff and eventually take down its giant monsters. It would be a natural fit for the game to introduce new traps or change the effects of existing ones in combat to where, in a PvEvP mode, they effect not only the monsters but the other team of Hunters attempting to eliminate them. Further, the addition of such a mode would potentially be the only type of competitive play available in the game, giving players greater incentive to engage with it rather than view it as an afterthought in the face of other, better optimized modes. Regardless, the next Monster Hunter will undoubtedly feature multiplayer functionality, and a Gambit-style mode seems like it would be an absolute blast.
Monster Hunter Rise is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.