Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Our first choice for climbing something huge
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is the closest thing on this list to Monster Hunter: World's specific thrill of grabbing onto a creature many times your size and fighting from its back. Your party of AI companions, called Pawns, share tactical knowledge about enemies and terrain, and can be borrowed from or lent to other players online even though there's no live multiplayer.
We'd choose it first for a World player who specifically misses the physical struggle against a huge monster — climbing, hanging on, picking a weak point — rather than the gear-crafting loop itself, which here is a more traditional action-RPG equipment system.
There's no real co-op; Pawns are AI partners you share asynchronously online, not live teammates, which is a real departure from World's four-player hunts. Choose this for the solo, climb-and-fight thrill, not for a game to hunt alongside friends in real time.
GreedFall
For a world built on choices, not hunts
GreedFall takes you to a colonial fantasy island where diplomacy, deception and combat choices shape the story and your standing with its factions. Where World's structure revolves around hunts and the gear they produce, GreedFall is built around dialogue-driven politics and the relationships you form along the way.
We like it for a Monster Hunter: World player whose favorite part was actually the island itself — its factions, its strange flora and fauna, the sense of a place with its own history — rather than the hunting mechanics specifically. It's a genuine action-RPG with a story to follow, not another creature-hunting loop.
There's no co-op here and no monster-part crafting system; combat and companion relationships carry the game instead of hunts. Come for the exploration and the politics, and look elsewhere on this list if hunting itself is what you can't live without.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning
For a build you design yourself
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning's biggest draw is its flexible class system, called Destiny — you can mix skill trees from different archetypes freely rather than committing to one fixed role, which gives combat a different kind of experimentation than World's weapon-type-defined playstyles.
We'd point someone here who enjoys World's gear progression but wants more freedom in how a character actually fights, blending magic, melee and stealth however they like rather than mastering one of World's fourteen fixed weapon types.
There's no co-op and no monster-hunting structure specifically — this is a hack-and-slash action-RPG with its own large world to explore. Choose it for the character-building freedom, not for anything resembling World's hunt-and-craft loop.
Biomutant
For mutant powers and a tribal story
Biomutant mixes melee, gunplay and mutant powers across an open post-apocalyptic world, with a karma-driven story about tribal conflict and creature companions you can tame along the way rather than hunt down for parts.
We like it for a World player curious about a looser, more open-world take on fighting strange creatures — the combat variety and the narrative choices about which tribes to support give it a different shape than World's structured hunts, while still rewarding exploring off the path.
There's no co-op and no gear crafted from monster parts; progression here is tied to your character's own mutations and the story's choices instead. Pick this for the open-world mutant fantasy, not for a direct echo of World's hunting economy.
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
For gear-chasing in a different genre entirely
Fatal Bullet trades swords and monsters for a third-person shooter-RPG set in the Gun Gale Online VR world: building your avatar, chasing loot and gear upgrades, and following a branching story alongside an AI partner called ArFA-Sys.
We'd recommend it to a World player whose real attachment is to the loot-and-gear chase itself — watching a build improve piece by piece — more than to monsters or melee combat specifically. The shooter-RPG structure gives that same progression loop a very different setting and feel.
Online PvP is confirmed here, but we couldn't confirm dedicated co-op features on its official feature list, so don't go in expecting a guaranteed group-hunting experience. Choose it for the gear-chasing itch in an entirely different genre, not as a monster-hunting substitute.
