On his stroll towards Niantic’s workplace within the Bay Area sooner or later, senior producer Sakae Osumi seen everybody staring up. There was an eclipse occurring, pretty much as good a cause as any to tilt again and gaze into the sky, however Osumi had one other thought: What if a group engaged on a Monster Hunter–themed sport might replicate the state of affairs—however commerce within the sun shades and celestial occasion for a telephone and an enormous imply creature?

Monster Hunter Now is not only the reply to that specific query, however an even bigger, extra existential downside plaguing Niantic. In 2016, the cellular developer captured lightning in a bottle when Pokémon Go mixed the corporate’s augmented actuality expertise with the mega-popular franchise, permitting gamers to embark on their very personal Pokémon journey wherever they have been. It was (and nonetheless is) a worldwide phenomenon: greater than 1 billion downloads and annual events the world over (and possibly millions of {dollars} misplaced from gamers unwisely opting to play whereas driving).

In the seven years since, Niantic has struggled to create new video games that may even catch a whiff of that success. This yr, the corporate laid off a whole lot of staff, canceled two initiatives, and closed its Los Angeles workplace. In 2022, amid layoffs, Niantic canned four other games, following the dismal efficiency of its 2019 miss, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. As gamers lose religion that Niantic can create—and maintain alive—video games based mostly on their favourite franchises, Monster Hunter Now, launching September 14, could also be its greatest shot for regaining goodwill. If an almost 20-year-old, mega-popular collection from Capcom doesn’t have the juice, it’s onerous to think about the place the corporate might efficiently go subsequent.

So, does Monster Hunter Now have what it takes? “I cannot give you a better answer than we think it’s a fun game,” government producer Kei Kawai tells WIRED. “We built a fun game.”

OK, positive. But it’s a little extra complicated than that. From the outset, Kawai says, they sought to make one thing that wasn’t only a re-skin of Pokémon Go, even when it’s the firm’s most profitable sport. Thematically, Niantic and Monster Hunter creator Capcom noticed the franchise as a great match for real-world adventures and wished to discover a technique to make {that a} actuality. But to take action, Kawai and the group wished to sort out real-time motion. “It is definitely like a more ‘gamey’ game than other titles that we have built,” he says. “That was intentional.”

Kawai thinks about making video games in a multilayered method. Games must be enjoyable, clearly, and so they must be thrilling and fascinating. But in addition they have to problem gamers simply the correct amount. “A game needs to feel rewarding of your time so that you feel that you’re getting more than what you put in,” he says.

In a typical Monster Hunter sport, taking down your prey is a grand affair that may final anyplace from 10 minutes to greater than an hour, relying on its measurement and your ability. Sometimes you’ll have to strive it greater than as soon as to triumph. But for a cellular sport you could be enjoying exterior in the summertime solar, that’s lower than splendid. The group discovered that even three minutes felt too lengthy. Monster Hunter Now cuts encounters all the way down to 75 seconds.

You additionally don’t must be continuously connected to your display to play—excellent news for anybody who could have tumbled off a pier or two whereas centered on their telephones throughout a PoGo jaunt. Palicoes, the collection’ catlike companions, will discover monsters for you and seize these encounters for later by way of its “paintball” system. That approach you’ll be able to play while you’re residence or at an workplace with pals. “You can keep progressing while your phone is in your pocket, so we are not forcing players to look at the screen,” Osumi says.

The group wished to create a social environment for looking and capitalize on the repute Niantic has constructed for adventures. It encourages gamers to go exterior and meet individuals; monsters are simpler to hunt while you’re with a group, and with paintballs it can save you hunts to do later with pals. “I think this is a fundamentally social franchise,” says Kawai.

It’ll need to be—phrase of mouth could make or break a cellular sport. Even although the Monster Hunter viewers is big, not each huge franchise yields a wildly widespread cellular sport. Niantic discovered this with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Still, after a couple of years of fumbles, the corporate wants to attain. As of Monday, greater than 3 million gamers had preregistered for Now, however that quantity is small in comparison with the worldwide phenomenon of Pokémon Go, which hit 500 million downloads inside its first yr.

Only a couple of video games are destined to turn out to be chart toppers, and it’s potential Niantic could by no means replicate the success it had with Pokémon Go. Yet Osumi is assured in what Monster Hunter Now brings to the desk, if solely to attraction to gamers’ baser instincts. “I think this is a game that feels natural to everyone, because hunting is sort of in our DNA,” he says. Point, and lookup.