How NodusFall Compares To Monster Hunter After An Hour With The Game

Nodusfall Is Less Like Monster Hunter Than You Think Published Sep 4, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. For a little while, rumors had been circulating that MiHoYo was forgoing its gacha tendencies to make a Monster Hunter competitor. Those rumors were confirmed true at Gamescom Opening Night Live on Tuesday, when the Chinese studio revealed Nodusfall. The game is described by its developers as “a brand new multi-mythology co-op action game,” and its trailer certainly made it look like a Monster Hunter competitor, yet after completing a nearly hour-long hunt, it’s not as much of a rival as you might think. Nodusfall Has Monster Hunter Vibes, But It’s Less Similar Than You Might Think The Monster Hunter series could do with a competitor. I’ve logged hundreds of hours across World, Rise, and Wilds, but there’s a pretty clear feeling from long-time fans that it’s starting to get a little stale. Nothing has epitomized this more than Monster Hunter Wilds, a game with only 70 percent positive reviews on Steam and a Metacritic User Score of 7.1. Sure, many of these complaints have come from Wilds’ well-documented performance issues, but it's hard to argue that some solid competition would be bad for the series. That’s where NodusFall comes in. Kind of. The crux of NodusFall is very Monster Hunter. In my demo, I got to pick one of four classes, opting for a ranged attacker, and, along with my three fellow teammates, we set out to hunt a giant, mythological creature. Hopping on our mounts, we traversed the map, collecting materials as we went, and at this point it all felt very much like Capcom’s storied series, with a hint of Elden Ring's environments. Then we encountered our prey. Monster Hunter is revered for its slow, methodical, visceral combat. NodusFall feels nothing like that. It’s much faster-paced and more floaty, more akin to Bayonetta or Devil May Cry than Monster Hunter. This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it fits NodusFall’s style perfectly, but it’s the first major disparity between the two for those wondering. Speed aside, combat is equally as deep as Monster Hunter here. You have a huge range of combos, special moves, and transformations to help you take down your opponent, and it feels like the type of game where, in combat at least, you’ll still be finding new moves months down the line. NodusFall is a tough game. The first monster we fought kicked us to the ground and downed us more than a handful of times. It had multiple phases and was a serious challenge. Partway through the fight, though, the creature was completely devoured, and our true enemy emerged. This is where things got really difficult. Following it to its underground lair, we got battered. Not only were we downed multiple times, but our team was fully wiped at least twice. Multiple health bars and transformations didn’t help our rhythm, but there’s no doubt this will have Monster Hunter-levels of difficulty. I came away from the combat thoroughly impressed, but I left with big concerns about what came after. Our demo was cut as soon as combat finished, but as far as I could tell, there was no harvesting a monster for its resources, which is core to the gameplay loop of Monster Hunter. At this point, it became clear that NodusFall wasn’t a Monster Hunter clone, but I’m not sure where the hook is. Of course, you can go out and hunt monsters over and over, but what makes Capcom’s series so revered is that grind. Fighting monsters, harvesting them for parts, crafting better equipment. It's unclear what post-battle looks like right now, but the fight I took part in was a lot of fun, so I hope it has a really solid hook.