Our Q&A With Steamforged Games About the Upcoming Kickstarter Campaign
We’ve landed in the New World, we’ve shouldered our crazy-looking weapons, we’re ready for a monster hunt. What happens next? What does the basic structure of gameplay look like?
Working as a pair of hunters or as a party, you’ll venture out on quests made up of three phases:
The gathering phase, where you’ll trek through the lush Ancient Forest or the arid Wildspire Waste, gathering resources and searching for a monster that could appear at any moment.
Next is the hunting phase, where you’ll attempt to slay the monster in fluid and dynamic combat that makes full use of the board and miniatures.
Last comes the HQ phase, where you’ll craft new weapons and armour upgrades using your hard-won loot from monster battles.
The actual hunting of the monsters — what is that experience like? How does combat work once your group tracks down their prey?
Just like in the video game, the tabletop monsters can be wild and unpredictable, with changing moods and attack preferences. When hunting, you’ll use a choose-your-own-adventure style quest book to determine what state you encounter the monster in and how to make the approach.
The choose-your-own-adventure element immerses you in the New World, and gives you five ways to approach each monster before engaging in combat. There’s the beauty of the landscape to enjoy as you would in the video game, and you’ll feel their tension build as you get deeper into the hunt.
What was the biggest challenge in adapting the video game to a tabletop format?
The main challenge was really getting across the reactive nature of the combat in Monster Hunter World. We’re delighted with how well the hunter turn system works, with the amount of hunters that get to take a turn and the number of attack cards they can play being dictated by the behavior a monster has performed. This mechanic does a great job of demonstrating the differences in monsters’ behaviors. Some attacks are quick, leaving the hunters a small window of time to capitalize versus those with a bit of a wind up allowing the hunters to really pile on the pressure.
What part of the game are you most excited about?
We’re just so excited to see such a beautiful world realized on the tabletop. We really couldn’t pick out a specific section, it’s the experience of all the parts working together that’s so truly exciting to see unfold.
Let’s talk minis: what kind of monsters can we expect to see in miniature form?
So far we’ve revealed that backers can expect to see a range of hunters and monsters at each pledge level. If you look close enough you might be able to see what’s included, but we’re announcing the full lineup for each pledge in our Spring Showcase livestream on Saturday, March 6 from 12-12:50 pm Pacific / 3-3:50 pm Eastern.
I love that the game is co-operative and there are multiple ways to approach each monster hunt. Given the nature of the game and the way the campaign stories are structured, how long does it take for the average group to complete a full campaign play-through?
The core game campaign is up to 25 sessions, each one lasting 60-90 minutes.
Sound amazing! When does the campaign launch on Kickstarter?
It launches in April 2021, but we’re revealing the exact launch date during our livestream. We’ll also be offering the chance for one lucky viewer to win a pledge!
