I Initially Underestimated Monster Hunter Now’s New Feature, but Now I Open the App Daily to Connect with Friends

I find myself diving into Monster Hunter Now quite a lot. Honestly, it’s probably the game I spend the most time on regularly, whether on my phone or otherwise. Sure, I may not have a sky-high hours count to show for it since it’s a mobile game meant for quick sessions. However, I can truthfully say it’s rare for a day to pass without me launching it at least once.

My daily routine involves completing dailies, keeping up with seasonal challenges, upgrading gear, and occasionally splurging a bit in the store. These routines have kept me pretty engaged. But recently, a new feature has popped up that makes me even more eager to open the app every morning, even when I don’t feel like playing at all.

Around the end of last year, just before Monster Hunter Now’s third season ended, the Season 4 update rolled out this new Friend Cheering feature. Now, each friend on your list has a little heart on their profile. Tapping that heart means you’re cheering them on, offering a boost to their maximum health for the day.

Every time I log in, I’m greeted with notifications if someone sent me a cheer while I was offline. Everyone gets a set of complimentary cheers that refresh daily, and it’s easy to spot which friends have already felt your virtual encouragement simply by browsing the Friend list. While the boost is subtle and the HP increase is capped to avoid exploitation, it’s not something that’s going to dramatically swing the outcome of a battle.

And here’s the best part: cheering is totally free and doesn’t interfere with your regular game routine. You can ignore it completely, and your Monster Hunter Now experience would pretty much remain unchanged.

Now, I get this feature is likely an attempt to boost player engagement metrics. If Niantic can demonstrate to investors that people are spending more time on the app (regardless of whether they’re actively playing), that’s going to look appealing. I’m also aware that these community features can start for free, but might eventually be included in battle pass bonuses or even offered as purchasable items.

But I can’t deny the effect it has on me. It’s a bit like getting a match on a dating app – it’s exciting, even though there’s only a 20% chance it’ll lead to an actual date, and even less chance it’ll go beyond that.

Oddly enough, it isn’t even about the people on my friend list. There’s only one person there whom I actually know outside the game. The rest were all gathered from Reddit, where players often share their friend codes on the Monster Hunter Now subreddit for help with Friend Quests and such. So, I don’t have strong emotional connections with these folks, but I still want to cheer them on every single time I can.

Once upon a time, Daily Quests were the first thing I’d check when I opened the game. Now, the Friend List has taken that spot! I never quite caught the Gacha anime fever, but Monster Hunter Now is slowly becoming that game for me. Its gameplay isn’t as intricate or its world as expansive, and it’s definitely not as exploitative. Yet, it consistently brings me joy, more so than frustration – and that’s something truly valuable these days.