One thing that never gets old in video games is fighting massive monsters, creatures, or wild beasts. Whether it is a god that must be climbed to be killed like in God of War 3 or just a big dragon all the way back in Dragon's Lair, fighting something far bigger, or just far meaner than your character is almost always a thrill.The top of the ladder of monster-hunting games is, well, Monster Hunter: World. The game is centered around hunting monsters either alone or as a team, then using the materials gathered to create better equipment. For those who have already slashed or trapped their way through World, here are more games that will scratch that beast hunting itch.Updated August 8, 2021, by Jacob Buchalter: In the time since Monster Hunter: World was first released, a lot of other games have come out trying to get a piece of the monster-hunting pie. Of course, this was happening even before Monster Hunter: World, Monster Hunter: Rise, or even Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, but never this often or at this frequency. So, with that in mind, we took another look through the vast number of games with a central focus on hunting creatures and picked a few more.
12 Dauntless
Epic Games' free-to-play online RPG known as Dauntless has been described as basically being "Monster Hunter lite". It allows players to go on group hunts to kill massive beasts, complete quests, and gather materials to be crafted into new gear.
The system is very similar to Monster Hunter, but with a few key divergences. First of all, Dauntless is a bit easier for those of us with a bit less free time for gaming, as an hour spent grinding in it yields far more results than an hour spent grinding in MHW. But, at the same time, Dauntless also has massively less content and is less mechanically deep. So, if you got your money's worth out of both Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter: Rise but still want another beast-slaying game to play, Dauntless absolutely works as a substitute obsession.
11 Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2, and by extension Red Dead Redemption Online, is one of the most visually and systematically realistic games of our generation. Rockstar put a lot of time and money into creating a gigantic world full of interesting things to do. And, one of those things is hunting, whether it's with Arthur Morgan or with your create-a-character online. There are a ton of animals to hunt in the game overall, and while you're getting this down, there are a ton of minute things to consider, such as:
- Your footstep noise.
- How many times you've studied the animal before.
- What quality it is in terms of fur/meat.
- What bait to use.
- What type of weapon you’re using.
- How recently Arthur bathed and whether you're approaching the animal from downwind.
- How comfortable you are with hyper-realistic skinning animations.
Seriously, it has enough to easily qualify as a hunting game for those looking for one. And, for those who may feel like this is an unfair addition, considering hunting isn't really what the game is centered around, remember that RDR2 is hands-down one of the most expensive video games ever developed, so just the hunting aspects of it alone likely dwarfs the dev budgets (and development time) for most of the other games on here.
10 Shadow Of The Colossus
The greatest game about hunting beasts is still one of the classics of the PS2 era, although the remaster on PS4 is the way to go if wanting to revisit or play this one for the first time. The game tasks you with hunting down several giant creatures, each one towering over you, with many being kaiju-sized.
Now, compared to the "monsters" of some of the other games on here, some of the Colossi might not seem like they should count. But, think back to the designs for Hydrus, Phalanx, or Dirge and remember just how monstrous their designs were. Plus, the entire focus of this game is the overwhelming loneliness and sad descent of Wander as he hunts these Colossi down to bring the love of his life back, making it a game entirely focused on hunting things down, as opposed to most other games where that's the main mechanic, but not the only one.
9 The Hunt: Showdown
This multiplayer shooter is a creepy atmospheric game about hunting down monsters, killing them, then getting out alive, with each step proving to be tougher than the last. The game is played in teams, with each team trying to kill the same target creature, which varies from giant spiders to demonic-looking humanoid monsters. However, the teams are also on the hunt for one another, wanting to be the only ones to complete the job. Because of this, the game is competitive in terms of who can hunt the monster first and get out, which is an interesting take on the sub-genre of monster-hunting games. Just to give some examples, there's:
- Scrapbeak: An ex-soldier turned horrible abomination.
- Assassin: A humanoid that creates clones of itself, throws spears, and travels in the form of a swarm of insects.
- The Butcher: The most "human" of the bosses, a towering and hulking figure with a glowing red hook and the ability to shoot fireballs.
- Spider: The most disgusting of the Hunt: Showdown bosses, the Spider is horrifying up close and horrifying from afar, considering it can climb on the walls and ceilings and poison you from afar with its toxic spit.
And that's not even counting all the basic mobs like Immolators or the Armored who you'll have to sneak around or fight through to even reach the boss monsters across the game's multitude of maps. All-in-all, The Hunt: Showdown is one of the more interesting takes and is a ton of fun with a group of friends.
8 Dragon's Dogma
A Capcom RPG that has gained a big surge in popularity the last few years, Dragon's Dogma is a take on the more classic RPGs with an innovative and experimental combat system that actually works. It features an old-school class system, an interesting AI companion "Pawn" system, and tight hack and slash combat with a surprising amount of variability and depth. Plus, other than Monster Hunter
And, thanks to the Dark Arisen DLC and the word-of-mouth advertising online from the dedicated player base, it still remains as a cult classic Capcom hit that constantly goes on sale. Plus, with the sheer amount of side-quests, monsters to fight, and different builds to try out, the replayability is a lot more than one might initially think.
7 The God Eater Franchise
Where Code Vein is the anime version of Dark Souls, God Eater is sort of the anime version of Monster Hunter. Granted, you’re going to be using gigantic weapons in either game, but the ones in the God Eater games are a step above even the absurd size of MHW's Greatswords
In any case, the God Eater franchise is one that shares a lot of foundational concepts with the Monster Hunter Games, such as:
- The core gameplay loop centering around loading into complex arenas to hunt down dangerous monsters (known as Aragami in the God Eater games) and turn them into new weapons/gear.
- A variety of different weapon types to use, each with its own movesets and unique gimmicks.
- A confusing, but somewhat serviceable story that’s mostly there to get players from one monster to another.
- Online multiplayer where players can gather together and go on a multitude of hunts together.
While arguably the core “feel” of the God Eater games isn’t quite as polished and fine-tuned as Monster Hunter World or Monster Hunter: Rise, they’re still incredibly fun games. Plus, each new entry adds new systems like Accelerator Triggers, the Engage System, or of course the Burst Arts. With God Eater 3 releasing back in 2018, it's been a while since the last entry came out, but each game has 80+ hours of content and they all hold up pretty well too.
6 The Toukiden Games
Not to overuse this comparison, but if Nioh is the feudal Japan version of a Dark Souls game, Toukiden is the same for Monster Hunter. In it, the character you control isn't a "monster hunter", they’re a “slayer”. Monsters aren’t called "monsters", they’re “Oni”, and instead of skills or gems, you’ll use the “Mitama” system to unlock, utilize, and synergize a variety of "skills".
Now, sadly, the last Toukiden game, Toukiden 2, is about 5 years old at this point, and likely feels a bit “dated” compared to MHW, its Iceborne expansion, or MH: Rise, but it still holds up pretty well in general. Where the Monster Hunter games tend to put an insane amount of value on player skill and established behaviors, Toukiden rewards creativity a bit more.
Because Mitama can vastly change how two players using the same weapons play the game, the variety in playstyles and builds is just a lot higher overall. And, the Oni designs, overall aesthetic, and interesting new mechanics make this an easy recommendation for any Monster Hunter fanatic who doesn't have 200+ hours to sink into the newest MH entry.
5 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
This epic Switch game has a lot in common with Monster Hunter as well, though you wouldn't expect it. Both games have:
- A crafting system.
- A cooking system.
- A variety of interesting monster "types".
- Gear/Weapons made from monsters.
- The ability to climb on monsters.
- Unique Monster interactions.
- "Legendary"-type Monster fights.
- Armor Set Bonuses.
- And a lot of climbing/terrain traversal.
While they may be very different games in entirely different genres, BoTW and MHW are ultimately both games about surviving in a world full of harsh monsters that are entirely focused on taking you out.
4 The Witcher 3
The main character of the popular RPG series, Geralt of Rivia is in fact, a monster hunter of his own. In his universe, Monster Hunters are genetically mutated mercenaries known as "Witchers" that kill or "get rid of" a variety of supernatural beasts for coin. Despite having a deep storyline that often features non-beasts as major narrative pieces or enemies, The Witcher 3 boasts some incredible monster designs, including:
- Noonwraiths.
- Cockatrices.
- Wyverns.
- Elementals.
- Endrega.
- Drowners.
- Cyclops.
- Trolls.
- Nekkers.
- Chorts.
- Fiends.
- And many more...
The creatures are varied in style, ferocity, location, and even in the way you'll have to approach a battle with them. Frankly, the build-up to the battle with a beast in The Witcher series has a lot in common with getting ready for a high-rank hunt in the Monster Hunter games, as Geralt needs to have 15+ different backup items ready to use against the monster at a moments notice. And, with The Witcher: Monster Slayer doing well (at least for an AR game in competition with Pokemon Go), we can only hope to see more of Geralt in years to come.
3 Far Cry Franchise
While the Far Cry games aren’t entirely centered around hunting, with FC3 and every game afterward, hunting animals became a pretty central feature of the games. Frankly, out of FC3, FC4, Primal, and FC5, FC3 still remains as the entry that most masterfully blended the hunting and open-world mechanics together, with concepts like:
- Animal parts are turned into storage upgrades, weapon upgrades, and more.
- Wild animals seem to attack you more often in general.
- The cluttered greenery made you really feel like you were slowly and stealthily sneaking up on your prey.
- There were a wider variety of animals to “hunt”, from ones that flew, ones that swim, and ones that hunt other animals in the forests.
That isn’t to say that FC4 and FC5 failed in the hunting department or anything. In fact, the hunting areas of FC5 are amazing and the AI is obviously a lot more refined for the animals. But, FC3 just seemed to integrate the hunting into the core gameplay loop much more naturally, while the other games have it as much more of an optional objective. That said, FC5 has the widest array of methods and tools for hunting out of all of them, hands down.
2 Horizon Zero Dawn
When it's time to hunt something a little more metallic, Horizon Zero Dawn is the perfect place to go. It's centered around hunting robotic dinosaurs simply dubbed as "Machines" to the tribesmen of the setting in order to craft better gear, clear out new areas, and complete side-quests for certain NPCs. To put it bluntly, the game is as close as you can get to a sci-fi Monster Hunter.
But, as far as the core gameplay loop is concerned, HZD and MHW are pretty different. Honestly, Alloy's adventures are a lot more similar to an Assassin's Creed game than they are to a Monster Hunter game. Yet, when it comes to the Machines and Alloy fighting them, that's when these two franchises really start to show their similarities.
1 The Wide Variety Of Hunting Simulators
And of course, this list wouldn’t make much sense without including the Hunting Simulator-type games on here. Stuff like all the different Cabella-licensed games, TheHunter: Call of the Wild, or even the iconic Duck Hunt. These games don’t have a big overarching narrative like The Witcher, an over-the-top[ anime setting like God Eater, or absurdly sized weapons/armor like Monster Hunter, they just simply let you play the part of a hunter with some guns going out to hunt some animals.
In particular, TheHunter: Call of the Wild is probably the most recent hunting simulator we’d recommend, as the sheer amount of content paired with its mechanical depth means 60+ hours of fun for anyone who happens to love this type of simulator game.