Rise, the latest series entry in the series, is a top-selling single-player game for PC. You may be one of them, or you may have played dozens of hours past your limit. Regardless, join us as we find the best games like Monster Hunter.
Selecting Games Like Monster Hunter
The main series Monster Hunter titles are very similar, as they use the same design, gameplay, and characteristics. Subsequent games introduce new monsters, armor, weapons, maps, and combat or traversal abilities. Nevertheless, selecting games like Monster Hunter requires us to understand its elements. We believe MH fans would like titles featuring a mix or a twist of the following aspects:
Genre: Monster Hunter Rise is a third-person action-JRPG leaning heavily into combat. It also has an open-world design and co-op.Setting: You play as a Hunter in a medieval Japanese fantasy scenario full of mythological monsters.Co-Op: The latest games allow you to hunt on a party of four players. Monster difficulty scales up to meet the party size, though. Open-world: The map is fully open to explore and follow any questlines. However, enemy difficulty will limit your free-roam. Questing: Rise, and most MH games, has various quest types. There’re main and side quests, boss missions, co-op-only missions, arenas, exploration.Character progression: Your hunter doesn’t level up. Instead, stats and abilities depend on the weapons and armor you wear. Weapons: There’re various weapon types in the game. Each delivers distinct gameplay and skills.Bounties and loot: Defeating monsters drops loot and may reward bounties you collect on villages.Resources: You can also loot resources from monsters and nature. Resources come in various tiers.Crafting: Naturally, you can use the resources to craft ammo, traps, bombs, potions, weapons, and armor. Difficulty: Combat gameplay is challenging and tough. That’s because monsters have high HP, serious damage, advanced AIs, and varied behaviors.Weapons: Similarly, each weapon type has its own skills and button combinations. Moreover, ranged and melee weapons are vastly different.Skill-based combat: Most weapons include blocks, dashes, guards, parries, counters, and slashes. That means combat depends on timing and skill.Skills: Active skills come with weapons, whereas passive skills come with armor. Your skillset depends on your gear. Traversal: Traveling relies on parkour-like skills. You can run, climb, crouch, and roll. There’s also a grappling tool for traversal and combat. Mounting: Lastly, you can mount land or air monsters and even take them to battle.
Overall, games like Monster Hunter are very heavy on skill-based combat and free-roam exploration -as long as you have the skill.
Games Like Monster Hunter
Dauntless
Many would consider Dauntless as a “free-to-play” Monster Hunter. It feels smooth, delivers awesome combat, and uses a cartoony style. Moreover, you can play solo or play at a party with up to 4 people. Even so, the title is smaller than Monster Hunter’s titles. There’re fewer weapons, and they’re fewer monsters. Nevertheless, the enemies are powerful, varied, and smart. Sometimes they flee, evolve, or combat you in phases. And as you fight, there’s always a great OST and sound effects going alongside the action. Not only that, but there’s a time limit on most boss fights, plus a reward that depends on your performance. That said, hunts can go on for 20 minutes of intense back & forth combat. Then, combat relies on your skill. You aim, dodge, parry, block, counter, swing, shoot, chain combos, monitor your stamina and HP and use your skills at your will. On top of that, they’re no pay-to-win mechanics. Overall, Dauntless is an MMORPG where you can join other people to defeat powerful monsters. You can explore the world solo or enter arenas instantly from any hub village or area. Lastly, character progression, skills, and stats depend on the loot you pick up.
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Capcom has another monster-slaying action RPG, Dragon’s Dogma. It’s an older game that sets you on a quest to retrieve your heart from the dragon that ate it. You become a bloodless monster, weak at first. As the game goes on, you’ll progress with typical character progression systems. It will allow you to level up to unlock skills and find better and better weapons and armor. It’s also an open-world game. You can explore the world freely as you complete quests tasks, search for loot, and hunt monsters. You can’t do it in co-op; rather, AI companions (Pawns) travel with you. The AI is quite advanced, and it’s able to take your fighting style as an example to grow and develop. Then, the game relies heavily on action and combat. It’s acrobatic, fast, and dynamic. You’ll fight atop griffins, climb dragons’ heads, cut the head out of a hydra, and more. The idea is to find each monster’s weakness and then use your mix of melee and acrobatic skills to defeat the enemy. You enter the world by creating a character out of nine vocations. Then, you can train your Pawn in any combat style. Lastly, you can borrow other people’s Pawns or lend your Pawns to other players.
God Eater 2: Rage Burst
God Eater 2 is an action JRPG that feels, looks, and behaves like a Monster Hunter clone. In particular, its weapons (God Arcs) are the biggest draws in the game, as there’re many types featuring distinct move-sets and mechanics. Then, there’s the Aragami, the monsters you hunt. These are highly challenging and require you to use a mix of dodges, slashes, counters, parries, and skills to defeat. And after their defeat, you can devour corpses to get crafting materials, which is part of the main quest. Elsewhere, the game looks and sounds like an anime. Character and monster designs are eccentric, gory, creative, and varied. Similarly, the weapon arsenal is huge, giving you much room to specialize in the type of combat you’d like. There’re daggers, long-range rifles, short blades, maces, axes, spears, etc. Aside from weapon types, each weapon can transform into a more powerful version of itself. That grants extra customization levels and customizes your character in the character creation menu. Still, progression and stats come with your gear. Lastly, you play co-op with another player. However, a bug prevents you from being in a party with 3 or 4 players. Sadly, the developers haven’t fixed the issue yet, even though the issue is across multiple game forums and consoles.
Code Vein
Code Vein is an action RPG with a combat system akin to Souls-like games. Moreover, it shares the same universe as the God Eater series, so it looks like another Monster Hunter alternative. The twist is you use a vampiric-like protagonist rather than a hunter. The title has an anime and combat style identical to God Eater 2. There’re huge monsters, several weapon types, and a post-apocalyptic open world. Then, you can travel with an AI partner or in a co-op party with up to four people. There’s a rich plot to follow, though, plus a story-driven linear plot. You’ll go across a series of biomes, dungeons, and regions to complete the main quest. Your character improves by leveling up, as well as finding new fear. Either way, the combat remains very challenging to the end. You have to dodge, parry, block, counter, and use your melee and ranged skills to defeat the monsters. Lastly, you play as Revenant, and you can customize it freely. For example, you can mix and match weapons with abilities, passive buffs, and more. Some of your skills are vampiric, like draining blood and such.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a fantasy open-world action RPG by FromSoftware. Coming from the creators of Dark Souls, it features highly difficult combat, plus their signature obscure storytelling. By adding the company’s years’ worth of game design, they’ve created one of the most popular single-player games of recent times. Entering the world requires creating a character by picking gender, aesthetics, and class. Then, you enter a vast open-world with no markers and a single quest: becoming the Elden Lord. It requires multiple steps, though, and progressing the character, and yourself, to beat powerful bosses. Meanwhile, you can explore dungeons, castles, fortresses, and ruins across distinct biomes and areas. You can run, jump and mount beasts across the open world. There’re no parkour skills, though; traversal is more standard. Com is a skill-based system and relies on learning how to block, parry, counter, and break enemies’ guards. Also, your character levels up to unlock skills or magical powers and use more powerful gear. Additionally, you can trade with NPCs, gather resources, and craft items and equipment. The story is rich on Elden Ring, although it’s not apparent. You’ll discover the plot in environmental clues and fragments across the Lands Between. You can do it in co-op, but it’s a complex feature that kicks out fallen friends from your realm.
Demon’s Souls (Remake)
Before the Dark Souls trilogy debuted, FromSoftware created Demon’s Souls. It introduced the “souls-like” genre. This means a mix of challenging combat, death & rebirth mechanics, and gathering souls for power and currency. See, Monster Hunter combat is a test of stamina and mental strength. Hunts can go for 10, 20, or 30 minutes. Demon’s Souls is about finesse, perfecting the timing to parry, dodge, block, counter, and attack your enemy. Moreover, most of the enemies you’ll face are giant and horrible monsters. PS5 owners can play the remake. It’s fluid, beautiful, and just as tough as the original title. And just like Monster Hunter, the combat feels strategic, and there’s weight behind every weapon, plus a variety of move-sets. You create a class on Demon’s Souls on the character creation skill. Moreover, you can level up and unlock powers on the journey. Also, it doesn’t have an open-world design; it’s a linear game with a single world hub connecting everything. Overall, Demon’s Souls is another perfect addition to Monster Hunter fans. It’s significantly more difficult, though, and if you have never played a Dark Souls game before, it may take you hours to defeat each boss.
Horizon: Zero Dawn Complete Edition
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a similar open-world action-RPG title leaning heavily on combat. You aim and shoot with bows and other tribal tools and use your spear to dodge and attack your enemies. Additionally, you travel across the land by mounting creatures or using parkour. You play as Aloy in a post-apocalyptic world where there’s no technology. Machine creatures and tribal humans roam the land on various distinct biomes. You pursue the main quest by completing the main goal of each area to unlock the next. There’re also side quests, collectibles, and challenges. The gameplay revolves around hunting down machine creatures and humans. Each enemy has different skills, advantages, disadvantages, and behaviors. Then, you loot scraps from enemies, which you need to keep crafting ammo. If you don’t hunt, you’ll run out of supplies fast. Also, you can gather herbs and hunt for meat to heal yourself and improve your carrying capacities. Aloy levels up and unlocks passive and active skills across various trees, like shooting multiple arrows simultaneously. Damage, ammo type, and elemental effect come with weapons. Moreover, combat is skill-dependent, as you’ll be swapping your weapons, ammo, and tools while dodging and running. As for the plot, you’re to prove yourself to the Nora tribe by finding the origins of the machines, yourself, and a strange technology you carry. You can go to Forbidden West, the PlayStation-exclusive 2022 sequel as well It’s a sure step-up regarding visuals and combat.
TOUKIDEN 2
Toukiden 2 is about slaying huge monsters, the Oni, to protect humankind. So, instead of dragons, wyverns, and dinosaurs, you’ll be fighting monsters from medieval Japanese folklore. You can travel along or travel with a party of four players. The map is a quasi-open-world. It means many areas are locked with a gate until you progress on certain story parts. That said, the map relies on hunting grounds. As you complete the hunting ground, you’ll unlock new ones to keep going on the main story. You’ll also unlock new items and weapons. Meanwhile, you can use a bot to gather the loot of each area. Then, character progression relies on various mechanics or systems. In other words, you upgrade your character through multiple challenges, battles, and collectibles. Speaking of which, your weapons and armor also grant you passive and active skills. Overall, Toukiden 2 is about slaying giant beasts and progressing your hero with a series of light RPG mechanics. And even though it is not a fully open-world title, the experience feels free, vast, and challenging.
Attack on Titan 2 – A.O.T.2
If you like the Attack on Titan anime or manga, and if you like Monster Hunter games, this action RPG could be the best pick for you. The only reason why it is not at the top of the list is that its visuals are not quite good. Elsewhere, though, it’s a stellar game. It captures the dread and secrecy of the series (minus its original OST), plus its dynamic and dangerous combat style. Moreover, manga creator Hajime Isayama supervised the game. So, instead of fighting monsters, you’ll be slicing Kyojin necks with your 3D gear. The game covers the events up to season 3. Yet, instead of playing as Eren or another character, you create an avatar and become a soldier for Paradis. Then, you use your dual swords and mobility gear to swing around buildings and trees. The controller scheme is tough, and you require maneuvering to dodge attacks and counter titans. The combat against these giant opponents is fast, thrilling, and gory. You can also fight against others (PvP) or join others (co-op). Lastly, the game is linear, as you have to follow through a series of levels, quests, and battles to move along. You’ll unlock new moves like sneak attacks, hook attacks, and more during the journey. And whenever you’re not in combat, you’ll be in “Daily Life” sections where you can build relationships with other characters.
God of War
Action heavy? Check. A dash of RPG elements? Check. A power scaling that depends on your gear? Double-check. God of War packs the core Monster Hunter Elements while delivering a highly polished story. You play as Kratos in the Norsen realm. Your quest, alongside Kratos’ son Atreus, is about scattering the ashes of Atreus’ mother on the highest peak. And even though the God of War wants to live a peaceful life, the journey takes them into conflict with the realm. The world is semi-open. You traverse through wide areas with a mix of traversal skills to complete a series of linear quests across various episodes. Mobs await you at every corner, though, and every level ends with massive boss fights. Combat is skill-dependent, but not as much; Kratos is overpowered. He wields magical mythological weapons, and he uses these to dice, slash, block, parry, and counter his enemies. He also unlocks offensive movements along the journey, and he can command Atreus to use his magical arrows in combat. Lastly, damage and skills depend on weapons and gear upgrades. You loot the resources you need as you explore and use them to upgrade your gear. Kratos can also level up to improve the stats.
Tales of Arise
Tales of Arise is an action RPG with anime visuals and music. It’s the seventh entry in the Tales series, but newcomers can follow the story without issue. That’s because it’s the first worldwide release in the saga and because each entry is separate from the last. You play in the world of Dahna, a mix of natural beauty and tribal-like villages. You combat in real-time with a blend of slashes and skills, and you travel around by running, climbing, swimming, and jumping. On top of that, you can gather resources from nature to cook, craft, and upgrade your gear. The story follows a conflict between the worlds of Shione and Alphen. Your actions will decide the fate of both peoples on a lengthy single-player campaign, alongside AI companions. For combat, you use a series of systems to chain combos, counter, parry, and block. You can also chain special skills and fight alongside your companions against challenging monsters. Because of its pace and acrobatics, combat feels very similar to the latest Monster Hunter titles. Overall, Tales of Arise is an outstanding JRPG that mixes fast and skill-based combat with gorgeous anime visuals. However, the game is linear, and free-roaming is only possible after completing the campaign. Similarly, it uses a more standard character progression design as you level up to unlock skills.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a first-person action RPG. Set within the Warhammer universe, you can go solo or co-op (up to 4 people) against hordes of monsters and bosses. For this, you use a combination of melee weapons, firearms, skills, magical abilities, and more. The story happens in instances, interconnected areas akin to games like Diablo. Like so, you can loot equipment or gather resources to craft, mod, and upgrade your equipment from enemies and chests. The combat is bloody and skill-dependent. You aim, block, dodge, counter, parry, etc. It’s easier with a party, but you can do the entire game solo, as it has a full-fledged campaign. Moreover, you create a character with one of the 5 classes and three careers. From here on out, you level up, earn new skills, and find new gear to keep evolving your character. There’re over 15 talent threes and over 50 weapon types. Also, like on Monster Hunter, weapon types deliver distinct gameplay mechanics. Lastly, the game design offers corridors and wide areas where you hack, slash, and shoot through enemies. Questing is linear, and you’ll unlock increasingly difficult but beautiful regions as you progress.
