New Open-World Game on Steam Is Like Monster Hunter Meets Palworld

A brand-new open-world game on Steam called Monster Fantasy seems poised to combine the epic battles of Monster Hunter with the creature-collecting elements of Palworld, resulting in an interesting hybrid. Monster Fantasy describes itself as an action RPG with cozy life-sim features, but what has caught the eye of some Steam users is its familiar premise and visuals.

There are many games like Monster Hunter on Steam, and Palworld‘s success across different platforms has started a new wave of more aggressive creature-collecting titles. But Monster Fantasy apparently wants to walk the fine line between the two games and create a universe where players can live a peaceful life with monsters only after beating the creatures to a pulp.

Monster Fantasy Lets You Fight Giant Creatures

Monster Fantasy throws players into an open-world map populated by 50 large-scale creatures that resemble Monster Hunter bosses. Combat is divided into melee and long-range attacks, with classes like Mage, Warrior, Archer, and Martial Artist each featuring their own skill sets. Defeating creatures rewards players with resources and materials needed to craft better gear and weapons, but players can also take advantage of knocked-out monsters in other ways.

You Can Tame the Defeated Creatures and Ride Them

According to the developer, Monster Fantasy players will be able to use a tool similar to Palworld‘s Pal Spheres to capture defeated monsters. These creatures can then be tamed and used as mounts, which is the core similarity between Monster Fantasy and Palworld. It is unclear at the moment whether players can ride all types of monsters in the game, but if the trailers are anything to go by, they seem to be able to ride both flying and land-bound creatures.

Monster Fantasy Has a Touch of Life Sim

As a Monster Hunter and Palworld hybrid, Monster Fantasy doesn’t forget about staple life sim mechanics to keep players engaged when they are not hunting down beasts. In Monster Fantasy, players can craft, forage, mine, fish, and cook to fill their leisure time with useful activities. Of course, most of these actions ultimately help players become better at defeating monsters, which is the fundamental gameplay loop. For example, crafting allows players to unlock high-level armor and weapons, while cooking lets them create buffs for combat or potions to heal.

Monster Fantasy is planned to release in 2027, suggesting that its development process might still have a long road ahead. However, the game began a playtest on Steam on September 22, allowing some eager fans to check out one of its earliest builds. Needless to say, the playtest version doesn’t look polished and has limitations in terms of combat and gameplay features. Still, it can give fans of monster-collecting games a rough idea of what the final product might look like when it releases.

Released

February 28, 2025

ESRB

T For Teen // Violence, Blood, Crude Humor