2026’s ‘Elden Ring Meets Monster Hunter’ Actually Plays More Like Final Fantasy 16

Zenless Zone Zero. Honkai: Star Rail. Genshin Impact. You undoubtedly recognize HoYoverse for its signature anime-inspired aesthetic and accessible mobile titles. However, the international gacha giant is broadening its horizons by developing projects that break away from its traditional mold. One such venture is Nodusfall, a monster-slaying action experience initially unveiled during the 2026 Gamescom Opening Night Live broadcast.

Nodusfall immediately distinguished itself as one of the most surprising announcements of the event. Discarding HoYoverse’s usual visual signatures, the title adopts a photorealistic graphical direction backed by a somber, gothic atmosphere more reminiscent of FromSoftware’s portfolio than anything the studio has previously attempted. Observers across the industry quickly characterized it as an “Elden Ring meets Monster Hunter” crossover.

At first glance, that assessment feels accurate. However, after experiencing a hands-on preview of Nodusfall at Gamescom, those initial comparisons began to unravel. While the structural influence of Monster Hunter is undeniable, the parallels to Elden Ring largely remain skin-deep, at least based on an hour spent playing the demo.

Nodusfall gameplay feels surprisingly close to FF16

Designed for cooperative play supporting up to four adventurers, Nodusfall placed me alongside three fellow journalists. Our party composition featured Suixi and Qiong as ranged archers, Grahmer wielding a massive broadsword, and Gamescom1—the standard swordfighter archetype—whom I selected (regrettably learning too late that character renaming was an option). Players can tailor their ability loadouts before heading out. Anticipating our lack of a dedicated healer and our collective inexperience, I equipped an area-of-effect healing spell just to be safe.

Your operations hub functions as a tent village perched on wooden scaffolding along a towering cliffside, integrated into winding cavern networks. Here, players can refine equipment, trade with merchants, and accept bounties from a quest board centered around tracking down colossal beasts. The loop strongly mirrors Capcom’s famous franchise, albeit entirely devoid of feline companions.

Recommended For You

Combat follows standard third-person action conventions, incorporating basic strikes, heavy maneuvers, evasive rolls, and a distinct approach to parrying. Rather than executing a split-second button press, players charge a heavy attack and release it precisely as an incoming blow lands to initiate a weapon clash. Holding the right bumper grants access to four customized abilities, each governed by individual cooldown timers. While executing these maneuvers feels fluid, standard impacts lack tangible physical weight, though signature moves compensate with cinematic flair—such as one character igniting a flaming blade and another transforming into a winged fiend to hurl spheres of volatile energy.

Our opening assignment, “Purge Evil Spirits,” required us to eliminate a supernatural threat. Venturing into the open wilderness, our squad mounted fantastical equine beasts that—much to the disappointment of certain Elden Ring enthusiasts—lacked any double-jumping capabilities. Our target was Quongqi, a towering 30-foot gryphon possessing three health bars and the capacity to summon devastating tornadoes. As the primary melee combatant, I drew the brunt of its aggression, validating my decision to slot a healing spell.

Once we reduced its health pool by half, the creature attempted to flee. We mounted our steeds to pursue it across the map, ultimately cornering the beast within a subterranean cavern lake. In cooperative sessions, depleting an enemy’s vitality sufficiently triggers cooperative finishing moves known as “joint executions.” These cinematic sequences are impressively over-the-top, featuring our collective squad summoning a spectral giant who drives a colossal battleaxe straight into the gryphon’s neck.

The mission culminated in a showdown against Maldrake, a dragon of similar proportions ridden by the aptly titled Maldrake Knight—a massive warrior capable of conjuring a 30-foot blade of pure light. (Thirty feet appears to be the standard unit of measurement across the world of Nodusfall.) The encounter mirrored our previous battle, featuring multiple health bars and high-octane spectacle. At one juncture, the knight launched me airborne before executing a devastating downward slam with his colossal weapon, prompting a teammate to aptly declare, “That was awesome.”

While Elden Ring battles are visually striking, they demand calculated patience and meticulous execution. Playing Nodusfall felt remarkably similar to experiencing a cooperative mod for Final Fantasy 16—a divisive entry that won over skeptics through its grandiose set-piece boss encounters. Summoning the spectral axe-wielder closely resembled invoking an Eikon from Square Enix’s action-RPG. Perhaps due to my choice of a protagonist mirroring Clive Rosfield, even basic offensive maneuvers carried the reckless momentum of Clive’s swordplay rather than the methodical discipline of the Tarnished.

This design philosophy suits a cooperative framework well. If Nodusfall adopted the punishing technicality of a FromSoftware title, veteran players could easily find themselves frustrated by matchmaking alongside newcomers.

Positioned as a free-to-play release with an upcoming PvP mode, Nodusfall has yet to detail how its monetization will function—a notable point given HoYoverse’s history. In official statements, the company confirmed that characters will not be tied to gacha mechanics and that microtransactions will remain strictly cosmetic, though developers are still fine-tuning the exact economic model.

Nodusfall currently lacks a confirmed release window. HoYoverse has verified a Windows PC launch while keeping other platform announcements under wraps.

HoYoverse provided Polygon’s flight and hotel for purposes of attending this preview. Read more about Polygon’s travel and ethics policy here.

Petit Planet is coming for Animal Crossing’s crown

The maker of Genshin Impact moves into a new space

Source: Polygon