Monster Hunter Now is the latest mobile AR game to come from the studio behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, bringing with it a bunch of weapons, monsters, and of course everyone’s favorite partners—except for one.
Despite revealing Palicos, which are the cat-like partners that have appeared in nearly every Monster Hunter game, Palamutes, which were the dog partners first introduced in Monster Hunter Rise, have been nowhere to be seen, leading to many fans speculating that they might not appear at all.
In fact, most of the content shown from the game appears to be from Monster Hunter World over other entries in the series.
So when I got a chance to talk to some of the people behind the title at Gamescom, you can bet your Bowguns I was going to ask the question and finally get an answer. If you can call this response an answer.
“We are very happy to go with Palicos (the cats) but I understand the community has been asking for more weapon types, more monsters, and Palamutes.” Kei Kawai, Executive Producer of Monster Hunter Now, told Dot Esports. “We would love to expand the world of Monster Hunter [Now] over time, but obviously the launch is the start.”
Kawai went on to explain he had nothing to announce at this time, but its good to at least see that the team are acknowledging player’s good buys. So while it’s not exactly a yes, the potential of Palamutes being added in a future update along with more monsters, weapons, and items seems to be a possibility.Of course, this will all depend on the success of the title. Niantic games outside of Pokémon Go don’t exactly seem to stick around for much more than a year, so it remains to be seen what kind of success Monster Hunter Now will have when it finally launches Sept. 14 on iOS and Android devices.
