I’ve found myself returning to Monster Hunter Now quite often. To be honest, it’s probably the one game I play more frequently than any other, whether on a mobile device or a console. Granted, I don’t have hundreds of hours logged – it’s designed for brief play sessions, after all – but it’s unusual for a day to pass without me at least launching it once.
I make sure to complete my daily tasks, keep up with the seasonal challenges, ensure my gear is upgraded, and occasionally, I’ll even make a purchase in the store. Essentially, I don’t really need additional incentives to stay engaged with it. However, a new feature has been introduced that compels me to open the app every morning, sometimes even when I’m not in the mood to play.
Near the end of last year, as Monster Hunter Now’s third season was wrapping up, the developers rolled out the Season 4 update, introducing the Friend Cheering feature. Now, every friend on your list comes with a little heart on their card. By tapping it, you can send them a cheer, which in turn boosts their maximum health for the day.
When you log in, you can easily see who has sent you a cheer while you were away. Each day, you get free cheers that refresh, and as you scroll through your Friend List, you can spot which friends you’ve already given a cheer to. While the health boost is modest and there’s a limit on how high your HP can climb from it (probably to avoid any exploitation), it’s not likely to tip the scales in battle.
The best part? Cheering is completely free and doesn’t interfere with your daily tasks. You can ignore it entirely, and your experience with Monster Hunter Now would largely remain unchanged.
I get why this feature was added – it’s all about increasing player engagement. If Niantic can demonstrate to investors that players are spending more time in the app, it’s a win, regardless of whether they’re actively playing or just logging in to cheer. I’m also aware that community features like this often start as free perks and eventually become part of battle pass incentives or transform into store items.
Yet, the impact on me is clear. It’s reminiscent of the thrill from dating apps – that excitement when finding a match, despite the realistic odds of it leading to something significant.
My connection with the friends on my list is pretty minimal. Only one person is someone I know beyond the game; the rest are folks I connected with through Reddit. The community on the Monster Hunter Now subreddit frequently shares their friend codes to assist with Friend Quests and similar tasks. So, while there’s not much of an emotional tie with these friends, I find myself eager to cheer them on whenever I can.
Previously, the first thing I’d check upon launching the game was the Daily Quests page. Now, it’s the Friend List! While I never quite fell for the Gacha anime craze, Monster Hunter Now is becoming my go-to game. Its gameplay isn’t as intricate, nor its world as expansive, and it’s certainly less exploitative – but it brings me joy far more often than it causes frustration, which is a significant plus these days.
