I’ve played a lot of Monster Hunter Rise since launch. Like an unhealthy amount. It’s easily my new favorite in the series and serves as a great springboard for new players and a place for veterans to hone their skills. But while I enjoyed zipping back and forth with the new Wirebug and driving around with my Palamute canine companion, Rise still makes me uncomfortable at times. Rise’s monsters are easily some of the most creative, awe-inspiring beasts in all the games, which makes it all the more disturbing when you drive knives through their skins and make hats out of their wings.
I understand what Monster Hunter is, after all, the clue is in the name. I wish there were more ways to deal with the beasts of the series than kill them directly. This got me thinking wouldn’t a Monster Hunter Snap game be great?
This hypothetical Monster Hunter spin-off would, of course, take Pokémon Snap’s approach to the Pokémon universe. Pokémon Snap was a natural evolution of the series, offering players a way to interact with Pokémon without having to fight them. This has always been something my partner pointed out to me when I watched how I played Pokémon: “I love this Pokémon, why do you have to fight it?”; ‘I wish I didn’t have to fight all the time, I think otherwise I would really enjoy Pokémon’ – Obviously, there’s a lot of room for Pokémon games out there without having to lean into battle as the main focus. The Pokémon Legends: Arceus reveal earlier this year is yet another indicator of this shift, with more exploration and free-roam play, as well as the usual battles.
The Monster Hunter series has already begun to take steps towards a more empathetic view of the monsters that inhabit the world. Monster Hunter Stories allows you to hatch monster eggs and befriend monsters as they are more akin to the Pokémon series in the handling of monsters. It’s still about fighting, but from a much kinder angle than the usual stab, kill, and carve loop found in the core series. Monsters like the Rathalos, Mizutsune and Tigrex have become icons over the years, with different personalities that make them feel like real animals.
Imagine being tasked with shooting two monsters as they fight, you have to take pictures to take great photos and at the same time stay at a safe distance
Stories gives players a new way to interact with these creatures, forging bonds and giving a twist to the way the series usually looks at its monsters. The lesser known Monster Hunter Diary also took a new direction, focusing on village management and Animal Crossing-style interactions with Felyne characters.
Taking Stories’ monster-friendly ethos further could really work in a Monster Hunter Snap game. Taking pictures is already part of Rise, there are even missions that specifically ask you to photograph monsters in certain ways, such as catching a Bombadgy exhaling gas and rolling around. Monster Hunter’s monsters already exhibit unique behavior and follow strict routines, allowing players to find the way to photograph them. Imagine being given the task of shooting two monsters as they fight where you have to take your shots to get great shots while staying at a safe distance. The new Wirebug is a great fit for a photography game as it makes it easy to reach cliffs and hidden areas. You can be sure that there is a cat running the photo hut wherever you develop your photos.
You could be a researcher tasked with writing the first Hunters Notes volume and filling it out as you photograph each monster as it goes on its day. This would be a way of linking progression to something other than armor sets and weapons. Most of the time, I just want an excuse to spend more time admiring the beautiful locations I usually drive through, ASAP. These locations are also often filled with strange and interesting flora, as well as smaller creatures hiding behind the scenes. I would love to have the entire planet Earth and slowly document each area, perhaps visiting locations from a variety of Monster Hunter games. The many games in the Monster Hunter series are rarely interconnected, which means the overarching universe can feel a bit undefined at times. What better way to bring about this world than by letting players explore it at their leisure, document the differences between regions, and learn new things along the way?
Above all, I would like non-combative spin-offs to become more the norm. It makes sense that as games become more complex, with better visual fidelity and AI, the ways we interact with them should become more complex as well. This is something that genres like military shooters have been struggling with lately, with deeper explanations about it why you do the things you are asked to do. Nintendo has always been better at this than most, and since Monster Hunter has woven much of its history into the platform holder, it would be interesting to see the series expand to appeal to a more diverse group of gamers. . The Switch has sold extremely well and has excellent gyroscopic controls that could really shine here. I bet an MH Snap game would be a lot easier to sell than the often intimidating main games.
Monster Hunter’s last two main games have both seen great sales, finally making the series to mainstream Western audiences. Obviously, Monster Hunter is indeed a very popular property right now (hey, you’ve seen the movie, right), and I hope this success will allow Capcom to do a little more daring with potential spin-offs. With New Pokémon Snap on its way, it will be interesting to see how well it is selling, and whether this could be another sign to developers like Capcom that there is a craving for these types of games.
After so many Monster Hunter games, it’s definitely time to build out the world a bit with some smaller, weirder titles. Stories is a great start, as is having a new item in Rise through shared compatibility. I’ll honestly take every opportunity to jump back into the Monster Hunter universe, but please Capcom, consider making Monster Hunter Snap.