Monster Hunter NOW Season 6 Hands-On Preview
Following up the unprecedented global phenomenon of Pokémon GO was no easy task, but the team at Niantic managed to turn out a second hit when they released Monster Hunter Now. Nearly two years later, the mobile RPG is about to enter its sixth season, and after getting our hands on the new features coming in this update, we can confirm that it’s their biggest (and best) update yet.
Gear Up and Get Ready To Hunt
The list of new features and content coming in Season 6: Scarlet Gaze in the Gloam is a long one, with new monsters, new encounters and even a new weapon to play with. Our early hands-on demo at Summer Games Fest allowed us to get time with a ton of these features, which do a great job providing more late-game content for the dedicated player base and rewarding cooperative play.
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Perhaps the biggest change coming in the new Season is Style Customization, which allows players to customize the moveset and stats for each weapon to their own liking and playstyle. For example, players using the Light Bowgun can choose to equip it with a Sliding Reload, which lets them simultaneously reload while sliding in one direction, or a Stepping Shot, granting them the ability to fire off a shot while making a move. These new additions bring a ton of variety to gameplay, allowing players to customize their approach to different monsters with even more nuance and strategy, as well as providing even more options for creativity in builds.
We can confirm that it’s their biggest (and best) update yet.
To unlock these new upgrades and customizations, players will need to earn specific crafting materials from encounters with the new Riftborne Monsters. Riftborne Monsters are high-powered variants of enemies (including Rathian, Tobi-Kadachi and Barroth) that appear at 8 stars and above, each possessing a body part embedded with rift essence that must be attacked to release the crafting materials stuck inside. Battles with Riftborne Monsters bring a dynamic new set of challenges to previously well-known fights, while also making them more feasible for high-level players.
New Foes and New Ways to Battle Them
One long-requested feature coming in Season 6 is the addition of the Hunting Horn, an iconic weapon from the Monster Hunter franchise that’s built for squad-based battles. Experienced hunters will be excited to find a new challenge in this weapon, which changes up the typical playstyle by adding a new rhythm-based fighting system, which activates special attacks and moves when long-pressing and tapping in different sequences. Players wielding the Hunting Horn will not only be able to attack with melee damage, but also buff their fellow players with heightened attack and defense stats, Special Gauge boosts, and new melody enhancements specific to each weapon.
Battles with Riftborne Monsters bring a dynamic new set of challenges to previously well-known fights, while also making them more feasible for high-level players.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Monster Hunter without the monsters, and we had a chance to join in on a full-fledged squad battle against the destructive new enemy Nargacuga. This was an insane boss battle, as the Nargacuga flung themselves across the stage at speeds we could barely dodge, spinning and evading attacks with a chaotic and agile moveset. The fight required heavy amounts of coordination and cooperation as a team, with perfect timing and execution being necessary for success.
This is going to go down as one of the most difficult fights, and it took us several tries with high-powered loadouts to finally beat the encounter (we’re happy to share that we were one of the only groups at Summer Game Fest that was able to pull off this feat). Even with this increased difficulty, the battle was still a ton of fun, with a group of adults who had just met minutes prior yelling and strategizing with each other like regular party members.
There’s plenty more content coming in Season 6 as well, including three more new monsters: Beotodus, Bishaten and Great Wroggi. There are several new equipment pieces and outfits for players to customize their hunter with, including armor inspired by the new monsters coming in Season 6. And, of course, a brand-new season pass full of other rewards will be available to purchase. Since checking out what’s coming after not having picked up the game in a while, we’ve become very excited to hop back in with the truly monstrous new season, Scarlet Gaze in the Gloam, when it launches for Monster Hunter NOW on June 19.
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