Guerrilla Games, the creators of Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West, have announced a new game: Hunters Gathering. The gameplay video of an early build shows how the new co-op game plays for PS5 and Steam. Many users feel like they have seen something like this before …
What kind of game is this?
- Hunters Gathering takes place in the world of Horizon and apparently a good while after the events of the games. Aloy herself assigns you the task of protecting the world.
- You choose one of the pre-made characters and go hunting for dangerous machines with two other players in various mission types.
- The gameplay is reminiscent of Monster Hunter, and the visuals are playful in a colorful cartoon style. Hunters Gathering will be released for PS5 and on Steam, currently without a release date. However, you can already register for the playtest on the official website.
What makes Hunters Gathering special? Unlike in Monster Hunter, you do not create characters but choose from existing heroes. Each comes with their own weapons, play styles, and “classes” that can change their roles.
During hunts, you should combine your abilities to be victorious. The gameplay already showcases healing abilities and strong combos in close and ranged combat with various weapons.
In addition, Hunters Gathering combines the game principle with roguelite elements. During hunts, you can find perks and upgrades for weapons and stats to continuously build a new build.
You will always play in a team, but you can also experience a solo campaign with bots. However, this will not be included in the playtest. The first playtest will already take place in February 2026.
“This brings all the old Dauntless players right in, 100%”
The video is receiving mixed reactions on YouTube. Shortly after release, the glimpse into Hunters Gathering has 5,704 upvotes to 3,371 downvotes (as shown via “Return YouTube Dislike”, as of 6:18 PM).
In the comments, there are plenty of comparisons, especially with Elden Ring: Nightreign and with Dauntless, the competition to Monster Hunter on PC, which ended in early 2025. One user jokes: “I didn’t know they were making Dauntless 2” (on YouTube), while another claims: “This brings all the old Dauntless players right in, 100%” (on YouTube).
There is already criticism that the game lacks character creation. There is little interest in the presented heroes. One user even complains (on YouTube) that Hunters Gathering looks less like Horizon than the recently presented mobile game.
Meanwhile, Guerrilla promises that they will not forget the focus on single-player games and will continue to work in this direction. Hunters Gathering has a very different style for this reason, in order to stand out and fit into the action-packed co-op gameplay.
While the studio works on Hunters Gathering, NCSoft is creating a real MMORPG in the world of Horizon. Whether the two games will interfere with each other is hard to say, but it could happen, since the gameplay is quite similar: First gameplay of the Horizon MMORPG excites: ‘It looks like a Monster Hunter, I’m hyped’
