Capcom’s beloved online action RPG Monster Hunter: World is getting turned into a board game, with a Kickstarter campaign coming next year. Designer Steamforged Games has made a name for itself by adapting popular video game titles into tabletop experiences, including Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, and even Dark Souls. Most of its titles are funded through Kickstarter, and the new project is no exception.
Monster Hunter: World is an unconventional choice for a board game. While it does have a story, it’s primarily an open-ended experience, which tasks players with going out of their way to explore, discover new monsters to fight, and gather materials for bigger, better weaponry. This formula has proven a hit with fans, who praise the game’s wealth of content and vastly improved accessibility when compared with earlier Monster Hunter titles. The game first launched back in 2017 but still sees plenty of love from players, thanks in no small part to post-launch DLC updates such as the major expansion Iceborne.
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Steamforged Games is now set on commemorating that love in board game form. As reported by Polygon, Monster Hunter: World – The Board Game will see a Kickstarter campaign launched sometime in 2021, and upon release will likely land in the $100 range. Steamforged is going all out on this new project, featuring large, detailed plastic models of the franchise’s iconic monsters and the titular hunters intending to slay them. Players will need extra sets for higher-level encounters and new biomes. The game will be a cooperative multiplayer experience, just like the video game it’s based on.
Monster Hunter: World – The Board Game is taking a unique approach to adapting the video game’s adventures. Its gameplay takes the form of expeditions that can last multiple sessions. These expeditions will see players exploring the environment, tracking down monsters, and, of course, fighting them. Players even upgrade their weapons and armor at the end of the expedition, and they can take these improvements into later expeditions against more difficult monsters. Combat also has a deckbuilding element; each different class of weapon comes with its own pool for attacks and special moves, and upgrading weapons increases that pool to allow for more effective cards.
There’s clearly a high emphasis on keeping the board game true to the video game. The sense of progression that’s so key to Monster Hunter seems very prominent, as is the feeling of exploring an environment, tracking down a menacing beast, and defeating it in fast-paced, high-stakes combat. If it all comes together, it will be an impressive transformation of a prominent and beloved video game into a rich and engaging board game format. Steamforged Games has already proven its worth on video game adaptations; if it can stick the landing, then Monster Hunter: World fans will have a lot to look forward to.
Monster Hunter: World is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: Polygon
